Perspectives from the South

Reading through the documents this week that focused on perspectives of Southerners, one phrase seemed to resonate with most of the writers. "Military despotism" seems to be a prevalent fear among the writers of these documents. They fear that, especially through the acts of military conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus, the government is acting in a manner un-republican. I found it to be interesting that a fear of un-republican government taking over the South would be so prevelant. In the fourth document, The North Carolina Legislature voices their concern over what they perceive to be an un-repbulican government. It reads, "...That the act of the late Congress, entitled 'an act to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in certain cases,' violates the fundamental maxim of republican government..." I find this to be especially interesting considering the fact that the Confederate government was founded by its blatant abandonment of republican government by their refusal to accept a legitimate election. Now, in a number of these documents, they cry foul at an apparent abandonment of republican government. These documents also show the desperation many Southerners felt by 1864 and 1865 as the war was drawing to its conclusion. In the 6th document, Cornelia Peake Mcdonald wrote about how she witnessed many Confederate soldiers deserting. Lee's army was continually being defeated and many soldiers were hearing about the hardships of their wives and children they had left at home, so they deserted the army to take care of their families. Besides, they never signed up for the war anyways. This was what made conscription so bad. It took men away from being the provider for their families. This is what Eliza Adams wrote about in her letter to President Jefferson Davis as she pleaded with him not to make her son go into the army as his role at home was so important since he was the last son of her 6 left at home. She couldn't afford to lose him. Overall, those in the South were not at all happy with the way the war had unfolded. It was only draining them more and more of family and subsistence.