Reading Response 1
Article Annotation Analysis Organizer
Thesis Statement:
Edward L. Ayers contends that the Civil War was more than a war of
armies but something that remade the everyday life of ordinary
people. By a close reading of Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin
County, Pennsylvania, he shows how slavery, politics, and loyalty
affected families and communities in intensely personal ways
Supporting Evidence/Main Idea 1:
Ayers begin s by compar ing Fran klin a nd Au gusta to show how
different life looked on either side of the Mason–Dixon Line.
Augusta's agriculture was dependent nearly entirely on slave labor,
which tied its white residents to the defense of slavery as a part of
civic identity. Franklin was established on free labor and the
developing market economy, where people viewed slavery as
immoral and economically reactionary. These conflicting
foundations do an excellent job of explaining why every county
entered the war with such conflicting opinions and drives (Ayers,
pgs. 25–28).
Supporting Evidence/Main Idea 2:
He also points out that loyalty was frequently complicated. In
Augusta, white citizens overall supported secession and the
Confederacy, but some were worried about how war would affect
their farms, their trade, and their families. In Franklin, Union loyalty
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