Two notable anniversaries

Today marks a pair of momentous anniversaries, each recalling a very different period of history, yet both, in a way, reinforcing the power of human spirit and innovation.

On this day in 1861, 150 years ago, Confederate soldiers in South Carolina fired the first shots of the Civil War.  After the state seceded, Union troops barricaded themselves in Fort Sumter, on an island in the mouth of Charleston’s harbor, and Confederate forces attacked.  What followed was a bloody, protracted, four year slog over slavery and the intersecting authority of the states and the federal government.  Over 620,000 Americans died in this conflict – roughly the same number of casualties as in all other wars combined – and they were fighting over the preservation of both our country and, indirectly, our brand of representative democracy.

Abraham Lincoln expressed the gravity of the stakes most famously in his Gettysburg Address:

...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Another eloquent paean to the triumph of American democracy comes from Sullivan Ballou’s well-known letter to his wife, Sarah.  Ballou, a major of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers in the Union army, expresses the emotions he is feeling on the eve of a major battle, and captures heartrendingly his conflicting loves of family and country.  The version below comes from Ken Burns’ seminal documentary, The Civil War, and is set to Jay Ungar's beautiful musical piece "Ashokan Farewell."  Its poignancy drives me to tears.

Both Ballou and Lincoln would likely be saddened by some of the anti-government rhetoric saturating the nation these days.  I have no issue with people who believe in the efficacy of conservative, market-based solutions to our country’s problems, but we must never cast our government itself as an antagonist.  So much has been sacrificed in the building of this institution and every American should live with an abiding sense of reverence for the system – this nation that we have struggled to develop and maintain - even when we may disagree over specific actions and policies.

Exactly a century after Fort Sumter, 50 years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.  Until seeing Google’s “doodle” banner today, I had no idea these dates coincided.  A very cool side-note, this website tells you when satellites will be passing overhead in the night sky wherever you live – apparently this week is an excellent time to spot the International Space Station.  Where the Civil War was, in some ways, a test of the durability of one of humanity’s most important developments in civil and political philosophy, Gagarin’s spaceflight was a showcase of ingenuity and innovation.  Though set, at the time, against the grim backdrop of the Cold War, we can now celebrate this milestone for what it was – our first breach of the final frontier of human exploration.

That both of these important events came at times of great tension and conflict is, perhaps, no coincidence.  For better or for worse, it seems that much of our greatest progress has been born out of necessity, during times of danger.  With that in mind, when confronted by tough situations, we can, I suppose, only aspire to do right by our forebears and hope that the lens of history views us kindly.