Turning Points in American History
Watershed Moments and our Progress Toward the American Promise
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The Civil War and the Principles that Brought us Together
Shedding Blood and Striving Together
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The second week of April holds some of the most significant dates in the Civil War—and the most consequential dates in American history. Here's why:
The newly formed Confederate States of America attacked Fort Sumter on April 12th, 1861, marking the first shots of the civil war.
Barely four years later, the Confederacy’s most renowned general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865.
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Then, as the fog of war slowly lifted across the country’s bloody landscape, an actor-turned-fanatic murdered Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865.
Over the course of four years, the turn of spring brought America great tragedy and great hope. Lincoln captured the sentiment best in his famous Second Inaugural address.
In the speech, delivered a month before his assassination, Lincoln faced the nation knowing the high costs all Americans were experiencing from a brutal and bloody war. No American expected the magnitude of the war, nor did they expect slavery to end because of the war—yet all Americans knew that the war threatened to destroy our nation's founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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It was those principles that became a rallying call to push through the brutal war.
With our country's future at risk, Lincoln brought together millions of men from all walks of life, including nearly 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors.
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Shedding blood and striving together, the men who fought for the Union paved the way for what Lincoln called at Gettysburg, "a new birth of freedom," and carry on the torch of the American promise.
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By pledging “with malice toward none; with charity for all” at the end of his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln breathed new life into the United States of America's founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Even in some of the darkest days of American history, our nation fought to maintain those principles at all costs.
All Americans, then and now, understand that to “finish the work” of the Union that guided Abraham Lincoln requires more than just unity: it requires that we strive together.
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At the Jack Miller Center, we are committed to bringing these essential lessons of American history to the forefront of our nation's classrooms. Join us!
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The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our classrooms ™ — Jack Miller
If we want our country to reduce racial disparities, preserve individual freedoms, and continue our progress toward our country's founding ideals of justice and equality for all, we must educate coming generations.
Consider a tax-deductible gift to the Jack Miller Center. Your donation, large or small, is an investment in the future of our country—for you, for your children, for your grandchildren.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org
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