The Civil War: Arguing the Revolution’s Meaning
How did Americans make sense of the American Revolution during the tumultuous Civil War era?
Consult these primary sources as you explore.
Primary sources
Abraham Lincoln: Address at Cooper Institute, New York City
A speech delivered by President Lincoln in 1860
Jefferson Davis: First Inaugural Address
Delivered at the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery on February 18, 1861
Judah Benjamin: The Right of Secession
Delivered in the U.S. Senate in 1860
Address of the People of South Carolina
To the People of the Slaveholding States in 1865
A Talk with Jefferson
A conversation with Thomas Jefferson, published in Harper's in 1863
The Revolutions of 1776 and 1861 Contrasted
An article by George Fitzhugh in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1863