Um, when was the civil War?

[tackitt27]

Ha.....love for some of you to walk the halls of a high school today and just see the kids. Then you'll understand why the scores were so low. With No Child Left Behind now, we are forced to get chicken salad out of chicken you know what.

[samgrant]

A few years ago at work, out of the blue, one of my co-workers (a black lady) asked me when was the Civil War.

I was flabbergasted that anyone would not know, at least vaguely, the when one of the most important, decisive events in American history occurred.

I would expect that most folks would at least know that the year 1776, was associated with the Declaration of Independence, but they might not associate 1789 with the ratification of our Constitution.

But the War Between the States, arguably the second most important event of our nation's history? That folks cannot at least put it in the 1860s just astounds me.


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[ole]

I'm reluctant to assume that today's teenager is any dumber than I was. There, electratig, does that make you happy?

ole

[cash]

Originally Posted by samgrant

I would expect that most folks would at least know that the year 1776, was associated with the Declaration of Independence, but they might not associate 1779 with the ratification of our Constitution.

1787 for Delaware, with the Constitution becoming effective in 1788.

Regards,
Cash

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by cash

1787 for Delaware, with the Constitution becoming effective in 1788.

Regards,
Cash

Whoops, sorry for that, effective 1789. That's why I don't fault folks on that date. It is somewhat confusing, and exactly why I made the distiction between that date and 1776.

Still, my main point stands that everybody should at least know in what decade the Civil War occured.

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[william42]

Sort of a funny story. I ran an ad in the paper in 2001 to sell some Civil War related items. The lady who took the information over the phone at the paper verified with me each item, quantity, price etc. before telling me, "Ok it starts in tomorrow's paper."

I picked up the paper the next morning, and looked in the classifieds and found my ad. It read, under "Items for sale": Silver War Items - 2 replica Colt .44 revolvers, powder, caps..etc. She got everything else right, dotted all the "i"s and crossed all the "T"s.

A guy did call and asked about them and used the term "Silver War" in his inquiry but cracked up laughing before he could finish the question. I told him that it never occurred to me that I needed to spell "Civil" to the rep at the paper. He came over and bought my stuff, much as I hated to part with it. (He was a Johnny from Kentucky! I handed the revolvers over to him butt first, so as not to inadvertently transmit the wrong message.)


Terry