The Reconstruction of a Nation

By Larry Porter

The Reconstruction of a Nation, an epic verse poem, includes the forty years that led up to the War, those organizations, politics and cultures that brought on this tragedy. It tells the story of the events that led to the Southern states succeeding, feeling they had no choice. It then begins the War, itself. It details all of the major battles, by year. The story is told of the civilian population on each side. The undercurrent of politics on both sides, and what effects they had on the war effort are addressed. Women involved in the war effort from both sides, had contributions to make and made them, as roles were often reversed, and there was no choice, but to survive. And several women became significant, on each side, acting as spies.
The War came about so suddenly, neither side knew what to do with prisoners. More prisons were constructed than had ever been before. And prisoners were treated equally, extremely poorly. Newspapers became the social media of the day, with Mathew Brady publishing battle scene pictures shocking the public, while loved ones, for the first time, were able to follow their relatives through battles.
Finally, after Sherman burned his way to the sea, the War came to a close. Then the North laid the plans for the reconstruction of a defeated nation. The poem explains the events that led to how and why Reconstruction was so bad for the people of the beaten South.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Porter
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370276301

Larry Porter

Larry Porter has been writing since 1976, when he had his second project, a children’s play, Treehouse, produced in Atlanta, Ga. He has written fourteen full-length plays. Another, The Gospel According to Jesus, was produced in Asheville, NC. He has written numerous short stories, eight novels including Chance Mountain, Ivan the Backward Man, True Globalization, The Carousel, The Blue Barrel, The Visitor, and After America: Rebuilding. He has a memoir, Self-Storage Business and a collection of short stories titled Heaven? dealing with the afterlife. He has written four screenplays. His latest project is writing history in verse. A compilation of four epic poems titled History in Verse includes The Experiment, a history of the US, The Reconstruction of a Nation, a history of the Civil War, The Quest for the West, a history of the settling of the US west, and The Sixties, a history of the decade of the 1960s in the US. Look for a new series of totalitarians of the twentieth century coning soon. He lives in the North Carolina Mountains where he continues to write.

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The Reconstruction of a Nation

by Larry Porter

copyright 2018 Larry Porter

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The Birth

In seventeen hundred and seventy-six

Independence was declared.

By the colonists of America

Their imprint being aired.

There followed then, by 'eighty-one,

The thirteen all agreed

The Articles of Confederation

Could fill the nation's need.

It gave the colonies impetus

A league of friendship, each.

A document proving worth

The world to beseech.

The silent George across the sea,

To rule he used iron fists.

The George, the wunderkind folks knew,

Had a different twist.

His army made of men untrained,

Most coming from their farms.

Came to fight for humble George.

Brought with them their own arms.

The minutemen fought a valiant fight

Outnumbered ten to one.

For ten years they never caved

And finally, they won.

The dream was forged by a clutch of men.

Wisdom was their name.

It's said it had the touch of God,

And so it should remain.

As many said, the words they wrote,

Divinely were begotten.

But if that's so, one wonders why

Two groups had been forgotten.

In seventeen eighty-seven came

A most profound compact.

It stated unequivocally

Man ruled by this contract.

No longer would a monarch rule

The people through dictate.

Instead it would be they, themselves

Whose laws would rule the state.

This Constitution made the states

Much stronger than before.

The world had never seen the likes,

Not something to ignore.

And so was born a new nation,

One giving mankind hope.

But could it last where others failed?

It faced a slippery slope.

Mankind soon showed its ugly side,

The time was very short.

He proved he just would not abide

The rules that were put forth.

One of the Founders, Mr. Adams

As VP he signed on

To the Alien and Sedition Acts;

Free speech turned into carrion.

That beast was put back in his cage,

Divisions quieted down.

For thirty years few cracks appeared;

Powers worked as one.

Washington in his farewell address,

Which never was performed,

Said "If it's parties that you form,

This gem will be transformed."

They didn't listen to his words,

Deciding they knew best.

Some becoming Democrats

The Whigs made up the rest.

However, until about 1820

Manifest Destiny ruled.

Jackson's thinking that we were supreme,

Treatment of natives was cruel.

People moved t'ward the setting sun,

Leaving divisions behind.

They concentrated on a new life

As though it was designed.

1820 – 1860 Lead Up

The period named the Antebellum,

From twenty until sixty,

Saw industrial progress made

Up North, and in Dixie.

As people moved further west.

New territories bloomed.

They got in line to become states

As status was assumed.

Cracks became much more profound

Between the Mason-Dixon.

North cities grew as farmers left

Their gardens and their chickens.

In the South the cotton gins

Made pickin' so advanced,

Production rose to unheard heights;

The South became financed.

The Northeast saw the power loom

Build companies by the dozens.

Hiring people everywhere,

Sisters, brothers, cousins.

Elias Howe threw in his hat,

Aiding and abetting

The textile manufacturers,

Capital was jetting.

With most folks living in big cities

The North developed problems.

Capitalists knew they had them trapped

The wages kept at bottoms.

The term they used was wage slaves

They saw no way out.

The factories kept them under thumb

And rings run through their snouts.

In eighteen hundred thirty-seven

Panic struck the banks.

The factories told the help go home

With not so much as Thanks.

They had no way to buy their food

Or other things they used.

While those who stayed back on their farms

Smiled down at the abused.

The cracks then widened twixt the two,

The farmers and the slaves.

The farmers felt the workers had

Dug their own dumb graves.

The telegraph and railroads made

Communications grow.

Allowing news to reach the West

Increasing herald flow.

With news received while still current

The people could decide

Which side they thought was best to take,

Which one they chose to ride.

No longer would they stand beside

And watch the world go by.

They all developed their opinions

Adding to the pie.

Women had more leisure time

As men went off to work.

They didn't have to hoe the rows

Nor beans put up in quarts.

Mothers began emphasizing

Learning for the girls.

Morals and ethics taught

As well as other worlds.

This movement swept the country wide

As Southern rich agreed

Their daughters should be so well read

A dowry had no need.

McGuffey Readers came on scene

In eighteen thirty-six.

These allowed for everyone

To use the self-same scripts.

Elizabeth Cody Stanton made

A movement, her life's work.

To give these women their own voice,

Not just their needlework.

In New York she cast her lot

Toward helping women vote.

Also, abolition was

A cause she'd help promote.

Through this era people came

With European roots.

Protestants went mostly South

While Catholics set their boots.

The numbers swelled to unheard heights

From Germany and Ireland.

They were mostly Catholic bred,

The North was their dreamland.

Scots and English flooded in,

Protestants, they be.

The Appalachian Mountains called

Like flowers do to bees.

The Catholics worked the factory shifts

In Northeast towns and burgs.

They preferred the city life

To oaks and conifers.

Protestants took a different route.

They hated city life

They wanted land to call their own,

Sans conflict, fuss and strife.

They never joined the landed gentry,

Staying independent.

Plantation owners in the East

Felt they were transcendent.

So here we have divisions wrought

Throughout the countryside.

People pulling this