(Union preserved, settlement deferred)
Purpose:
Demonstrate that the war resolved secession but exhausted the country.
Focus:
- Escalation into total war
- Shifting war aims and improvisation
- Temporary centralization of federal power
- Human, economic, and psychological exhaustion
- The desire to “return to normal”
Constraint:
Military events serve political consequences, not tactical detail.
What this part removes from Reconstruction:
Endurance and tolerance for prolonged enforcement.
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