North vs. South (The United States Civil War)
The Civil War serves as the impetus for much of the action in Little Women. Indeed without the Civil War the realities of Alcott's own life might have been drastically different.
A brief summary:
The United States Civil War began on April 12th 1861 and ended on May 9th, 1865. It was the bloodiest war in American history; more people died during the Civil War then all the combined deaths of those Americans who died in the Spanish American War, World War 1, World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War and the War on Terror. A total of 650,000 soldiers died during the war with millions more injured, and that does not even touch on the civilian lives lost in the South and the utter destruction of the South's infrastructure. The period immediately following the Civil War is called Reconstruction for obvious reasons.
The Civil War began just after Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States. The southern state legislatures realized that this progressive reformer President might end slavery in the southern states, or at least not allow any more states to be admitted to the Union as slave states. The southern states realized that this would hurt the very rich plantation owners and elected officials in the south, so they began spreading propaganda talking about the issue of "states' rights". They claimed that the Federal Government couldn't regulate slavery since that authority was guaranteed to the states. Historians doubt whether Lincoln would have actually ended slavery if the Civil War hadn't begun. Regardless, the decision was soon ripped out of his hands. The South succeeded from the Union which propagated the start of the war. After two years of fighting things were not going well for the North. Lincoln recognized the only way to drum up more support would be to formally emancipate the slaves in the South, guaranteeing freedom if the war was won. With new recruits and the Union victory at Gettysburg it was only a matter of time before the Confederate Army ran out of soldiers and the southern economy collapsed. They formally surrendered in May of 1865.
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Interesting facts:
The death toll was so high because the army was still using 18th Century tactics but the weapons they were using were exceptionally efficient. This was also complicated by infection (like scarlet fever) and amputations. Alcott knew first hand the price of this war because she served as a nurse at a surgical hospital in Washington.
The Civil War also brought about America's first immigration crisis. As Irish people fled the famine in Ireland they came to America in droves. Traditionalist Anglo-Americans hated these newcomers and race riots often broke out in New York. As such, many male Irish immigrants were given US Army enlistment papers as they walked off the boat from Ireland. They signed without realizing what it was or being able to make a choice.
