The Freedom of the Press During the American Civil War

        During the American Civil War, the North and the South held opposing views towards both the slavery system and the future of America. Then, it is common to overgeneralize the terms “South” and “North” to be collective wholes and to neglect the contradictories within the South and the North. David B. Sachsman, an expert on American journalism during the Civil War period, argued several times in both of his books – Words at War and The Civil War and the Press – that there was no freedom of press since each of them had to represent its unified stand.

        According to my research on the newspapers during the 19th century United States, however, I strongly believe that there was actually a large degree of freedom of the press in both the North and South. The freedom of the press was first indicated by different views from the South and the North. Then I am also going to analyze various points of view within North and within South. The conflicting ideas even had great impact on President Lincoln’s opinions and the progress, or at least the speed, of the Civil War.