How I would like to develop.

American studies has been quite an interesting experience. Entering the second quarter of Sophomore year, I feel like I am satisfied with the first quarter of American Studies thus far. The experience has been different from what I am used to when I think about history. In Mr. Hoffman's class, we also get to experience the unique perspective of someone who has been in the armed forces. It helps me personally gain perspective in history more clearly. I personally think that I have been doing well this year in terms of understanding what we are learning about, and how it all fits together. Going into the remainder of the school year, I would like to be able to look at things the way that other people in history saw it, how they approached the situation more clearly. This is more difficult since I almost always have an opinion on what we learn in class. Learning all of the ways that people in history looked at things helps when putting everything together to clearly understand how history works. In other words, In simpler words, I want to develop throughout the year by putting aside my opinions and thoughts for a little bit just so I can more clearly understand how other people think and what other people felt in regards to an issue or point.

How does the civil war fit into history?

The civil war has a place in history as the defining moment of the change that followed afterwards. The civil war was extremely bloody, and will forever be ingrained in our nation's history as the war that had more casualties than any other war ever, at last as of now. The civil war could be argued as unnecessary by some, and that may be correct, but I believe that we should at least respect the people that died for the cause and say that the war was indeed important in defining what the United States is today. Now we are a truly free country that will never oppress its citizens and the civil war was important in determining that fact. I personally shudder to believe what the US would be like if we had still lives with the laws of the post-civil war United States. I likely would not even be living here since I am a first generation American. My parents would have rather chosen another country to move to, or perhaps I'd still be in Pakistan. Therefore, I feel as if the civil war was important in our history since it determined a lot of the freedoms and rights that we have today. 

A Noble Battle, and an Execution Block.

On Monday, we talked about two great battles of the American Civil war, the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Cold Harbor. These two battles contrasted greatly. The battle of Gettysburg was a good battle between generals that were evenly matched. The battle of Cold Harbor was a complete butchery of Union troops led by General Grant in a rather impressive defensive victory for General Robert Lee. My opinion here is that General Grant waited far too long to pull back his troops and accept defeat. For example, at one point there were over 100 casualties per minute. On top of that, there was no part in the battle where they stopped to retrieve the dead from the battlefield, they simply continued, dead bodies lay there for several years! I believe that as a general, you have responsibility of your troops, and this includes being sympathetic towards those who have died for the cause and keeping your men out of situations that cause an unnecessary loss of life. Ulysses Grant fails to do either one of these things in the Battle of Cold Harbor.