Today in History (April 12th)

April 12th doesn't stand out to many people as an important day in history. At least, I never really thought about it, until this year.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the first shots of the US Civil War. My mom always called it "The War Between the States" or "The War of Northern Aggression" because "there was nothing civil about it." There is a lot of truth to that. More people in the US died during the Civil War than during any other war. In fact, the Civil War nearly accounts for half of all US deaths during war. The reason it was so costly, was we were fighting ourselves. Every death, friend or foe, was the death of an American.

There is a lot of discussion in the media today about how contentious times are today. While it's true the public is more polarized than at any time in recent history, it's not true that it's the most contentious. (Look up Sumner and Brooks if you don't believe me.) The line between sides is not as obvious or clearly geographic as it once was. There are red states and blue states, but if you really look at how votes break down, it is more a question of urban vs. rural. If you look at California, which is considered a blue state, you'll find that the cities have a super-majority of Democrats, but the entire rest of the state is Republican. In fact, in many states if you look at a voting map, you'll see a similar trend, blue in the cities and red everywhere else.

I'm getting a bit off track here. I mainly wanted to make the point that 150 years ago, this nation began to tear itself apart. From the ashes of that war, a stronger nation emerged. The strength of the United States is in our motto "E Pluribus Unum." So, I'd urge everyone to remember the lessons of history, and be civil to each other.

Of course, I would be remiss as an Aerospace Engineer, from failing to point out that 50 years ago today, the first man in orbit. While Yuri's flight was not the trigger for the space race (much as the shots at Fort Sumter were not the start of the Civil War), it is still an important date in history. It also marked the beginning of an amazing time in World history where science grew by leaps and bounds.

So, April 12th might not be a red letter day in history, but maybe it should.