Did the American Civil War create a new America different from Europe?

in #kr-newbie4 years ago (edited)


I'm Korean so I speak English wrong and don't know much about America. Just watching American movies and TV shows, I only understand America vaguely.

However, as I read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, I learned something new.

While Japanese colonial rule, Korea imported English, Western-History and culture. It was not a western culture, but a westernized Japanese culture.

The Japanese rebelled against the Christian nation, the United States, because they worshiped the Japanese emperor as a god. Thus, Christianity was described as fanaticism, ignorance, and medieval barbarism.

The Japanese expressed Americans as vulgar humans who only reveal money. So, I misunderstood Americans as revealing free sex and money.

However, as I read Gone with the Wind, I learned that the ideas that were infused by the Japanese were a misunderstanding.


First of all, please understand my poor English. The rise and fall of Irish immigrant families, led by Scarlett O'Hara, made me understand the USA nation's founding and birth.

Gerald O'Hara came to the United States with bare hands as a poor Irishman and, after all the hard work, succeeded as a slave farmer. The first people to come to the United States did not consider physical labor because they all started out as  physical workers.  If he was royal in Europe, he would have been a physical worker in the United States. So, all Americans were in equal positions.

The process of Gerald O'Hara's success as a slave farmer was very realistic and fun.

Slave farmers in the south of the United States enjoyed the fact that, like black slaves, they lived like European royalty and nobles.  In the film, the spectacular and majestic South American mansions, dance parties and costumes seemed to see the European royal palace.

It was interesting to see that the Southerners of America thought they were Europeans. In short, the southern part of the United States was to imitate the European royal family.

However, as the Civil War broke out, the southern nobility fell. The process of the Gerald O'Hara's collapse through the Civil War was very realistic and fun.

I especially enjoyed the appearance of American women, children, seniors, common people and black people.


Scarlett O'Hara's transformation was really shocking.  Scarlett O'Hara, though not a nobler, was born in a family of successful Irish immigrants and grew up like a princess while attended by black slaves.

She lived like a fairy tale princess while dating a lot of men like Cinderella. But the wretchedness of war took everything from her. Through the death of her most beloved and trusted mother, Alan, she transforms herself.

She grew up like a princess in a fairy tale, but becomes a tough woman for her family's revival.

To protect Tara's farm, she even takes away his sister's fiancé. Even though she was married without love, She was dedicated to the revival of the family.

Since the southern part of the 19th century America was a purist medieval society, Scarlet's act of three marriages was criticized.

However, after the war, widows were remarried in the southern United States, where only ruins, widows, and orphans remained.

The southern part of the United States, with its purist medieval culture, transformed itself into a new society through the Civil War.

Southerners who lived as nobles, possessing black slaves, became commoners after the Civil War, was changing the social structure and order of the southern United States.

Southern feudalism collapsed as Southerners, who possessed black slaves and lived nobles, became commoners after the Civil War. 

As the North, the capitalist society, conquered the South, the feudal society, the present America was born.

In particular, I believe that the North created the present American centralism as the Europeanism of the South collapsed.

Through the Civil War, the United States was cut off from Europe and a true America was born.












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Well, not really @silvergrifin007 ...

"Through the Civil War, the United States was cut off from Europe and a true America was born."

... as what defines America was a different war. The Revolutionary War, in which our independence was won from the greatest power on earth at that time - the English empire.

All associated with this war and the struggle for liberty resulted in the writing of what many consider two of the greatest documents man has ever been inspired to create - the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. As you make a profession of being a Christian, you may find their Christian foundations to be inspirational to you.

On this ...

"I'm Korean so I speak English wrong and don't know much about America. Just watching American movies and TV shows, I only understand America vaguely."

... while American movies can certainly be entertaining, it would be a mistake to place much confidence in them as a source of education.

If interested to learn more about America and / or if you have any questions, I will be happy to do what I can to help you. As part of that commitment, as you have time and interest, here is the link to an excellent website on American history, particularly the beginnings of our country.

Have a great day! 😊 👍

There are some flaws in this analysis but the perspective is still highly enlightening.

I can't quite say America was not different from Europe until the Civil War, because even before the '76 Revolution, the British Empire took note that the American colonies had become a separate culture. Edmund Burke (a member of the British Parliament) made repeated references to this in his arguments in favor of simply letting the colonies go.

The primary culture shift during and after the Civil War was not so much a change in the lives of the gentry (the rich stayed rich and still lived like royalty; whether they now had to pay their servants a wage as employees or simply provide them with food and clothing as slaves, the expense to the rich and the living standards of the poor were about the same in everything except name).
The main change was that before the Civil War, the United States was a union (much like the EU or USSR). After the Civil War, it was a single national entity. In other words, before the war, people would say "The United States of America ARE going to (do this or that)." After the war, people would say "The United States IS going to (do this or that)."

It's also not so much a case of Northern Capitalism vs. Southern Feudalism. For that description to be accurate, the plantations would have to have been granted by the governor in return for crops, troops or whatever (which is very much the way Mexico continued to run until after Santa Anna fell). It was more like Northern Industrialism vs. Southern Agrarianism.

Still, it's interesting to read this perspective on how American history looks to the rest of the world.

Looking at the English dictionary, I am translating Agrarianism. I will write the answer later.
Thank you for your answer.

You won't find it in the dictionary in that exact form. Look for "Agrarian," and the "ism" suffix is added to mean "a way of life or system of thought."

It means a system where agriculture is central to everything in life.

There are nobles in America too. But a huge part of slave owners where commoners, that's true. But they were'nt so wealthy as you think. They were just farmers. Middle class. They were able to buy a dress for daughters, but were NOT able to buy a new house or neighboring farm.

P.S. Sorry for my english

That's a really easy conclusion, thank you.

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