SAN ANGELO, Texas — Snow fell rapidly onto visitors at the Fort Concho Commissary as they made their way from their cars to the warmer historic interior Sunday.
Angelo State University's Civil War Lecture Series is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the conflict that divided the people and the nation of the United States in two. Admission is free to the public. Former President Abraham Lincoln's 203rd birthday gave an extra special air to the day's focus: emancipation.
"I would assume that you would not have braved the elements if you were not interested in the Civil War," said Joe Muñoz, ASU's senior executive assistant to the president and assistant to the president for multicultural initiatives, who served as moderator for the lecture. David Dewar spoke on "The Moderate Republican View," while Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai spoke on "The Abolitionist Stance." The panelists are both assistant history professors at ASU.
"In digging into this topic, I discovered the history of the history," Dewar said. "Historians argue with the past, and I think it's their job."
He said the Civil War's history has changed throughout the years, with each new generation bringing up different views.
"Those who live through an event see it through their eyes," Dewar said.
The lectures discussed the Northern and Southern opinions on slavery and the movements that led to civil war. The two panelists ripped apart misconceptions about the war and its most important leaders.
President Lincoln was not an abolitionist and did not believe that blacks and whites could live together peacefully. He supported the idea of containing slavery to certain areas and "letting it die out," Wongsrichanalai said. The terms 'abolitionist' and 'anti-slavery' are two different concepts. Those who were anti-slavery simply rejected the spread of slavery.
After the lectures, the panel was opened up to the audience for discussion. Audience members brought up several topics that are little known and rarely discussed.
Some of the topics from that discussion were:
An Underground Railroad to the South existed parallel to the northbound one, with Mexico accepting escaping slaves into its northern provinces.
Near the beginning of the war, President Lincoln was trying to come up with a way to buy slaves and then deport them to the British South American colonies of Belize and Guyana.
A number of blacks in the North owned slaves themselves.
In England, the enormous cotton textile industry suffered because of the Union's blockade of the Confederacy's exports while the wool and armament business boomed because of the Union's military's demand for supplies.
Robert Bluthardt, director for the lecture series, emphasized all the technological innovations up to that point were put to the test on the battlefield. He said "the war was unfortunately very destructive, but has many interesting topics to ponder. There's no end to it. Every year, hundreds of books come out."
http://www.gosanangelo.com/new...ses-on-emancipation/
Angelo State University's Civil War Lecture Series is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the conflict that divided the people and the nation of the United States in two. Admission is free to the public. Former President Abraham Lincoln's 203rd birthday gave an extra special air to the day's focus: emancipation.
"I would assume that you would not have braved the elements if you were not interested in the Civil War," said Joe Muñoz, ASU's senior executive assistant to the president and assistant to the president for multicultural initiatives, who served as moderator for the lecture. David Dewar spoke on "The Moderate Republican View," while Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai spoke on "The Abolitionist Stance." The panelists are both assistant history professors at ASU.
"In digging into this topic, I discovered the history of the history," Dewar said. "Historians argue with the past, and I think it's their job."
He said the Civil War's history has changed throughout the years, with each new generation bringing up different views.
"Those who live through an event see it through their eyes," Dewar said.
The lectures discussed the Northern and Southern opinions on slavery and the movements that led to civil war. The two panelists ripped apart misconceptions about the war and its most important leaders.
President Lincoln was not an abolitionist and did not believe that blacks and whites could live together peacefully. He supported the idea of containing slavery to certain areas and "letting it die out," Wongsrichanalai said. The terms 'abolitionist' and 'anti-slavery' are two different concepts. Those who were anti-slavery simply rejected the spread of slavery.
After the lectures, the panel was opened up to the audience for discussion. Audience members brought up several topics that are little known and rarely discussed.
Some of the topics from that discussion were:
An Underground Railroad to the South existed parallel to the northbound one, with Mexico accepting escaping slaves into its northern provinces.
Near the beginning of the war, President Lincoln was trying to come up with a way to buy slaves and then deport them to the British South American colonies of Belize and Guyana.
A number of blacks in the North owned slaves themselves.
In England, the enormous cotton textile industry suffered because of the Union's blockade of the Confederacy's exports while the wool and armament business boomed because of the Union's military's demand for supplies.
Robert Bluthardt, director for the lecture series, emphasized all the technological innovations up to that point were put to the test on the battlefield. He said "the war was unfortunately very destructive, but has many interesting topics to ponder. There's no end to it. Every year, hundreds of books come out."
http://www.gosanangelo.com/new...ses-on-emancipation/
