As we look ahead to Andover’s celebration of the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Civil War battle of Spotsylvania (where so many Andover heroes died in combat) late in May, the Center at Punchard will be offering a special 5-session program entitled
NORTH AND SOUTH:
Why the Civil War Happened
Led by Don Robb, popular presenter of historical topics, the program will focus on split between the North and the South, two very different regions and peoples who had come together to form “a more perfect union.”
What happened to divide these two peoples? Why could they not reconcile their differences? What were the cultural, social, moral, economic, and political forces which finally drove them so tragically apart?
The sessions will explore two interconnected questions:
- When did the Civil War really start?
- Was the Civil War fought about slavery?
The programs will run on Thursday afternoons from 2:00 to 3:30 pm on the following schedule:
- April 3: How did northerners and southerns differ?
- April 10: What were the effects of the compromises that each side made to create the Constitution?
- April 17: How did the compromises begin to fall apart?
- April 24: How did western expansion drive the two sides further apart?
- May 1: Why did the conflict finally come to a head in 1861?
Participants will examine historical data, reflect on statements and actions by people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adfams, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, William Lloyd Garrison, Robert Haynes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, John Brown, Stephen Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.
In each session, specific links will made between national events and incidents here in Andover.
Join us for a lively program of exploration and discussion about the causes of the most significant event in American history.