Definition of Relief in Geography

Definition of Relief in Geography In geography, a locations relief is the difference between its highest and lowest elevations. For example,  with both mountains and valleys in the area, the local relief of Yosemite National Park is impressive. A two-dimensional relief map displays the topography of a given area. Physical relief maps actually have raised areas that represent different elevations. (You may have seen them in school.) However, if youre going for a hike, theyre not very practical to carry in your pocket. Flat Maps Flat maps represent relief in a variety of ways.  On older flat maps, you may see areas with lines of various thickness to represent variations in the steepness of locations. With this technique, known as  hachuring, the thicker the lines, the steeper the area. As mapmaking evolved, hachuring was replaced by shaded areas that represented variations in the steepness of the land. These types of maps may also show altitude notations at various locations on the map to give viewers some context. Differences in elevation on flat maps can also also be represented using different colors- usually lighter to darker for ascending elevations, with the darkest areas being the farthest above sea level. The drawback with this method is that contours in the land dont show up. Reading Topographic Maps Topographic maps, which also are types of flat maps, use contour lines to represent elevation. These lines connect points that are at the same level, so you know that when you travel from one line to another, you are either going up or down in elevation. The lines also have numbers on them, specifying which elevation is represented by the points connected by that line. The lines maintain a consistent interval between them- such as 100 feet or 50 meters- which will be noted in the maps legend. As the lines get closer together, the land becomes steeper. If the numbers become lower as you move toward the center of an area, they represent the site of a depression and have hash marks on them to distinguish them from hills. Common Uses for Topographic Maps Youll find topographic maps in sporting goods stores or online sites that cater to outdoor enthusiasts. Since topographic maps also display water depths, locations of rapids, waterfalls, dams, boat ramp access points, intermittent streams, wooded marshes and swamps, sand vs. gravel beaches, sandbars, seawalls, breakwaters, dangerous rocks, levees, and mangroves, they are extremely useful to campers, hikers, hunters, and anyone going fishing, rafting, or boating. Topographic maps also show aboveground and buried pipelines, as well as utility and telephone poles, caves, covered reservoirs, cemeteries, mine shafts, open-pit mines, campgrounds, ranger stations, winter recreation areas, and dirt roads that likely wont appear on your basic roadmap. While topography refers to land, a chart that shows the varying depths of water is called  a bathymetric  chart  or  map. In addition to showing depths with lines as on a topographic map, these types of charts may also show differences in depths via color-coding.  Surfers might review bathymetric charts of beaches in order to locate places where waves are likely to break bigger than in other areas (a steep ascent in proximity to a beach means larger waves).

Major Themes in Much Ado About Nothing

Major Themes in Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare’s treatment of love in ​Much Ado About Nothing​ differs from his other romantic comedies. Sure, it shares the same​ stagy plot, which finishes with the lovers finally getting together, but Shakespeare also mocks the conventions of courtly love that were popular at the time. Although Claudio and Hero’s marriage is central to the plot, their love at first sight–type of relationship is the least interesting one in the play. Instead, the audiences attention is drawn to Benedick and Beatrice’s unromantic backbiting. This relationship seems more believable and enduring because they are painted as a match of intellectual equals and dont fall in love with each other based on superficiality. By contrasting these two different types of love, Shakespeare manages to poke fun at the conventions of courtly, romantic love. Claudio uses highly contrived language when speaking of love, which is undermined by Benedick and Beatrice’s banter: â€Å"Can the world buy such a jewel?† says Claudio of Hero. â€Å"My dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?† says Benedick of Beatrice. As an audience, we are supposed to share Benedick’s frustration with Claudio’s transparent, pompous rhetoric of love: â€Å"He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier...His words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.† DeceptionFor Bad and Good As the title suggests, there is a lot of fuss over very little in the play- after all, if Claudio weren’t so impetuous, Don John’s rather weak plan to ruin Don Pedros reputation and disrupt the marriage of Claudio and Hero wouldn’t have worked at all. What makes the plot so intricate is the use of deception throughout, via trickery, lies, written messages, eavesdropping, and spying. Back when the play was staged, the audience would have understood that title is also a pun on noting, or being observant, even bringing the deception theme into the title. (The words are thought to have been pronounced similarly back then.) The most obvious example of deception is when Don John falsely slanders Hero for his own mischief, which is countered by the friar’s plan to pretend Hero is dead. The manipulation of Hero from both sides renders her a passive character throughout the play. She does very little and becomes an interesting character only through the other character’s deceit.   Perception of Reality Deception is also used as a force for good in the play, as in Beatrice and Benedick’s scenes where they overhear conversations. Here, the device is used to great comic effect and to manipulate the two lovers into accepting each other. The use of deception in their storyline is necessary because it is the only way they could be convinced to allow love into their lives. Phrased another way, the theme could also be called one of perception, or how truth can differ from reality. Both couples have to discover the true nature of their beloved. It is interesting that all of Much Ado’s characters are so willing to be deceived: Claudio doesn’t stop to suspect Don John’s actions, both Benedick and Beatrice are willing to completely change their worldview after overhearing things about each other, and Claudio is willing to marry a complete stranger to appease Leonato. But, then again, it is a lighthearted Shakespearean comedy.

Helvetica and Objectified Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Helvetica and Objectified - Essay Example Design of objects has some of the same factors as document design. It is aimed at a particular audience. If text is also displayed the two together, object and text, carry a meaning made from the combination. There are wonderful ideal of design to which many designers adhere, but ultimately, those designers who must earn must design for production, with the needs of the target audience and the process of its use taking a secondary role. Good design needs no marketing. Marketed design is fashion. Therefore, design for production is aimed at marketing the final product with the highest profit margin possible. Good design should have lower prices, but fashion pushes the price up. Therefore, designs which can be mass produced in factories manned by untrained labor and sold as fashionable gets the most attention of many companies. Apple computers capitalized upon the hunger for fashion (status symbol) in the western public for years, designing first for the look and second for function. This resulted in products that have an avid following and are useful to most. However, they are proprietary, more expensive and they sometimes miss the mark by a mile, as in the first Apple Air, several small desktops and some of the music players. Consumers see Apple as exclusive and somehow better, but most do not realize that this â€Å"better† is bought at the price of variety. Anyone designing for Apple must do it their way and be licensed by Apple. Designing for PCs or Android devices only requires complying with the system requirements. This produces better Apple products, since all must pass their rigorous tests, but more variety for other systems with a number of flaws in many products, but lower prices and more availability over all. One point was made very clearly in the documentary, Objectified (2009): that designing for mass production and fashion and designing

DQ2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DQ2 - Essay Example Job analysis is basically concerned with establishing the qualities and roles needed for an individual to perform the job and these range from qualifications, physical as well as mental capabilities. In the practice of HRM, this information is very useful as it would enable the recruiter to select the best candidate for the job from a pool of other applicants. Without detailed information about job analysis, it would be difficult to conduct job description which is very important in determining the position held by an employee as well as remuneration. If an employee is fully aware of the position he or she holds in the company, there would be less chances of confusion and duplication of duties since all the workers would be aware of the positions they hold within an organisation. The information gathered from a job analysis is very crucial in that it determines the value of a job within the organisation thereby allowing the management to make informed decisions in terms of compensation and benefits to the workers. Usually a salary that is commensurate with a person’s qualifications and skills is determined from information obtained from conducting a job analysis. The process of conducting a job analysis is also important in that it promotes good relations within an organisation. It often helps the organisation to be more objective in making performance appraisals as well as making informed decisions when employees are considered for promotion or even demotion. A well prepared job analysis is always advantageous in that it can help the employer to prove that any action that may be taken regarding employees would be legal. In most cases, decisions made from information obtained from a job analysis are often regarded as objective with little chances of b ias since they would be relying on practical data. 2. In recruitment of employees, there are

Human Resource Management Process Research Paper

Human Resource Management Process - Research Paper Example Human resource, as the name implies, refers to the workforce, and the management of the human resource is essentially the management of the workforce. The workforce is one of the most fundamental resources of an organization because all work is conducted through the workforce. Management of human resource includes addressing the individualistic and collective needs of the workers and keeping a check on their daily performance so that their salaries or other organizational benefits can be adjusted to suit their performance. Planning is the first phase of human resource management process. In this phase, managers assess the specific skills required to accomplish the tasks that need to be done in the project at hand. Different tasks require people with different sets of abilities. Some tasks require more physical input, so they need to be assigned to physically strong employees. Other kinds of tasks that require more mental input need to be assigned to employees that are mentally sharp and have a good academic record. Once the required sets of skills have been identified, the managers assess the various options for recruiting the employees. There is a whole range of methods that can be used to recruit the workforce. These methods include but are not limited to a face-to-face interview, interview over phone or skype, physical test, and tests directed at checking the intelligence quotient (IQ). Interviews can also be classified according to types in addition to the means of conversation. There are behavior-based interviews that tend to estimate an individual’s personality by listening to the individual’s behavioral response to a situation that he/she is likely to experience in the kind of job he/she is applying for. Interviews may be structured or unstructured depending upon the choice of the manager. In structured interviews, the manager assesses the responses of individual candidates against a particular set of questions. There is no addition or subt raction to these questions. The questions are chosen with the mutual consensus of expert professionals. In unstructured interviews, there is no definite set of questions that are to be asked to the candidate. The conversation can take any route but it ultimately leads the manager to make a rational assessment of the skills of the candidate. Interviews may be conducted individually or in the group. In the individual interviews, candidates are called into the office one by one for interview whereas, in group interviews, candidates are called in in groups. Big companies usually recruit the employees by conducting panel interviews of each candidate individually. In such interviews, the candidate is supposed to satisfy a whole group of experts, that tend to analyze the candidate’s abilities in their own ways. The candidate is first given a brief demonstration of the organization, it works, and its culture, and then each professional avails his/her turn to ask the question.

Characteristics of capitalist society

Characteristics of capitalist society Introduction According to Ian McIntosh (1997), Marx and Weber are on converse edges on the topic of capitalism. Weber considers developed capitalism, the essence of rationality since capitalists chase earnings in eminently reasonable ways therefore reasonable demeanour carries the expansion of capitalism. Whilst Marx assertions that it failed to rendezvous the rudimentary need of most people; that is utilizing goods/services to make a earnings at the end of the enterprise period. For Weber, capitalism is equal to the pursuit of earnings via continuous reasonable capitalistic enterprises. Weber thus sees up to date capitalism as being distinguished by the buying into and re-investment of little capital back into the output method and not by unlimited greed. His recount of the bureaucracy, nearly parallels Marxs notions of capitalist humanity in that, its structure was a hierarchical one much like the bourgeoisie at the peak with the proletariats at the bottom. Macionis states that Industrial capitalism appeared as the legacy of Calvinism (Macionis, 1998). Weber accepts as factual that Calvinist outlook on a predestined eternity provoked Calvinists to understand experienced prosperity as a signal of Gods grace. Anxious to come by this reassurance, Calvinists chucked themselves into a quest of achievement, applying rationality, control and esteem and hard work to their tasks. As they reinvested their earnings for larger achievement, Calvinists constructed the bases of capitalism (Macionis, 1998). According to Macionis, Weber utilised these traits to differentiate Calvinism from other world religions. Catholicism, the customary belief in most European nations provided increase to other worldview of life, with wish of larger pay in the life to come. For Catholics, material riches had no one of the religious implication that inspired Calvinists, and so it was Weber who resolved that developed capitalism became established mainly in localities of Europe where Calvinism had ? powerful hold. Whilst there was unending argument between these two academic ideas, it is apparent thatboth examined capitalism as been important, and better yet its reality pattern part of the key component on which their sociological paradigms are based. Evidently, capitalisms implication and likewise its effect on humanity is debatable, but its significance is unquestionably clear. Durkheim too, another of the academic theorist, had his outlook on the notion of capitalism. In detail he did not use the period capitalism, but rather, organic solidarity. (Wheelwright 1978) Overview Durkheim glimpsed the connection between the one-by-one and humanity as ? dynamic one. Society, he said, has ? communal truth of its own its not easily the addition total of the one-by-one and their actions. Beliefs, lesson ciphers and ways of portraying are passed from one lifetime to the next, and are discovered by new constituents of the society. The individuals activity is guarded by these wise patterns, which Durkheim calls social facts (Durkheim, 1984) Durkheim (1984) differentiated between two kinds of communal facts; material and non-material. His major aim was on non-material communal details, exemplified by heritage and communal organisation rather than material communal details, which encompasses bureaucracy and laws. In his soonest foremost works he concentrated on ? relative investigation of what held humanity simultaneously, in primitive and up to date situations (Durkheim, 1984). He resolved that previous societies were held simultaneously mainly by non-material communal details, expressly, ? powerfully held widespread ethics, or what he called powerful collective conscience. However, because of the complexities of up to date humanity, there had been ? down turn in the power of collective conscience (Ritzer, 1992). According to Durkheim, persons internalized the collective conscience; to the span it could be said, Society is present in the persons who furthermore came to recognize their dependence on humanity and identify that they have obligations to sustain the communal order. (Durkheim1984). Durkheim, though cognizant of confrontation and change in humanity, considered it could be managed. In his publication, The Division of Labour in Society, he investigates the consequences industrialization had on communal integration and its connections between the one-by-one and the assembly furthermore scheme integrations connection between the diverse components of the society. In this he recognised two principles of solidarity, similarity and difference. Depending on the superior values in humanity, it could be categorized as mechanical or organic. In mechanical societies, cohesion was founded on widespread or collective conscience, while organic societies are founded on integration of exceptional purposes and roles. (Leone 1978) According to Durkheim the penalty meted out to certain actions (e.g. criminals) shows the power of the collective conscience. In (Giddens, 1973) ? alike outlook is held, that is; repressive sanctions are clues of ? humanity with ? well-defined collective conscience and restitutive sanctions are more usual of organic kind societies. Durkheims consideration of solidarity and sanctions is one of his most influential works, his claim that there is no such thing as an inherently lawless individual act: as it is the communal reactions to the proceed, which characterises it as such, has been influential in criminology and the sociology of deviance to designated day (Giddens, 1973). Discussion Durkheim sees organic or up to date humanity as financial in environment, functioning interdependent inside the partition of labour. Under the force of community diversity and affray for scarce assets the structure of societies becomes more complicated and ? communal partition of work results. Old parts shatter down and new parts and flats are formed, some accomplishing rather distinct focused tasks. Durkheim recounts this humanity as organic as he compares it to organism. High grades of life outcome from the reality of focused flats or organs accomplishing distinct jobs or purposes, which assists to the survival of ? unit. Likewise these jobs assist to the general achievement of the scheme, (Durkheim, 1984). Durkheim (1984) said, when ? humanity alterations from mechanistic to organic, it has to change all its institutional arrangements to bypass confrontation and confusion. Ideally, peoples places become founded on natural gifts other than on inherited characteristics pertaining to family, belief and prestige. As humanity moves in the direction of meritocracy, regulatory bodies are formed to significantly coordinate members. People became inter-dependent because of the environment of focused work. ? mesh of solidarity arises out of this interdependence, and new set of standards arises, concentrated on the individual. (Wheelwright 1978) Durkheim admits that though each humanity make types of integrating undertaking needed for the grade of its partition of work, humanity might display difficulties of integration if its in transition. A convoluted up to date humanity, even in usual times, would display some propensity for breaks and social disasters due to convoluted and highly differentiated partition of work, need of guideline and the exterior of egoism. As such development was glimpsed as ? method of ever-increasing partition of work and institutional changes so as to double-check societys solidarity (Durkheim, 1984) According to Durkheim the annals of France is ? testimony that foremost communal change is conveyed about by political revolution. Class confrontation, he said, outcomes when the transitional stage between mechanical and organic solidarity has not been completed. (Koslowski 1996) Herbert Spencer the English Sociologist furthermore taken up organism, but in his sociology it coexisted awkwardly with ? utilitarian philosophy. Although his organism directed him to gaze at communal wholes and the assistance of components to the entire, his utilitarianism directed him to aim on self-seeking actors. Despite the thoughtful difficulties, Spencers organisms were influential in the development of Structural functionalism (Ritzer, 1992). All four of the foremost academic theorists sophisticated ? teleological viewpoint in their discussion of communal change. Although they held distinct outlooks on how capitalism began, each theorist had utilised alike groups of assumptions about worth agreement, integration and conflict. As proposed by Bottomore, they administered with capitalism as ? distinct pattern of humanity in which there are interrelations and interactions between the finances, political and other communal institution. Both Weber and Marx glimpsed capitalism as ? stepping stone to the supreme kind of humanity, while Durkheim and Spence glimpsed the capitalist humanity as the ultimate. (Went 2002) Perhaps the function of Marx, Weber and Durkheim as theorists of modernity is the mystery of their enduring influence. As Marx put it, in classically amazing periods exploitation veiled by devout and political illusions has exchanged nude, shameless direct brutal exploitations. Marx overhead all may be glimpsed as ? revolutionary, who different other theorists suggested ? way out, ? revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and ? socialist future (Weber, 1930). Durkheim interrogated about how it was likely for humanity to be held simultaneously and for persons not to be entangled in an anarchic free for all; granted the intensification of the partition of work inside up to date societies. Durkheims answer lay in ? kind of solidarity and ethics that bond persons simultaneously and types recognizable and scientifically observable communal world. (Leone 1978) Analysis Marxism assists us to realise humanity and the way in which persons inside humanity act and the reasoning behind this behaviour. Marx clarified how employers can exploit and alienate their workers; this is recounted in more minutias and is renowned as the work idea of value. Marx furthermore proceeds on to interpret how in an enterprise dropping rate of earnings can lead to an inescapable urgent position, revolutions can appear and then eventually premier to the socialist state. Marx furthermore proceeds on to interpret that if employees start to profit from more cash and gain more riches then he becomes poorer in standards and the more his output rises in power and variety of materialistic substances. One of Marxs sayings to support this idea was The employee becomes an ever lower product the more products he creates. (Koslowski 1996) Karl Marx was mostly disregarded by his scholars throughout his lifetime; although his ideas and ideologies came to exterior after his death throughout the work movement. Now his ideas considering capitalist finances, chronicled materialism, class labour and surplus are utilised as the cornerstone of the socialist doctrine. Therefore it can be said that Karl Marx by evolving Marxism has granted us ? much deeper comprehending of humanity and socialism. (Westra 2001) Marxism interprets how the most basic part in any humanity is the financial part of that society. It is due to the financial part of humanity that all the other parts the communal, heritage and political parts of humanity function. All of these parts are propelled by the financial relatives inside society. It displays how all societies should make their own means of subsistence and that the connections present here are of the utmost importance. The relatives between persons engaged in output and sustaining subsistence are the most basic inside ? society. Marxism recounts how these connections of output mention to the connections that human beings evolve and set up in alignment to persuade the financial means of ? society. It can be glimpsed now that, capital is the most significant component in todays society. Marx utilised the phrase Capitalism to recount this economic output system. (Leone 1978) Capital does not just mention to money. Modern day output methods engage buying into in items, services and persons this is furthermore mentioned to as the capital. Wealth is furthermore utilised in other ways than in the pre-capitalistic society. For demonstration, ? grower after having made for his own desires and that of his family will deal any of ? surpluses in alignment to purchase the products they could not produce. (Westra 2001) Which characteristics have held constant, and which been transformed Most of the riches conceived went to a little percentage of the community; it conceived an even larger split up between wealthy and poor. As markets were set free up they became more unstable. In the United Kingdom there was commotion in the economic markets which culminated in disintegrate of the bash on Black Wednesday in 1992. In USA too, the late 80s and early 90s were assessed by economic scandals which assisted to a full-scale slump. And what of capitalisms chronicled rival? The drop of the Berlin partition demonstrated the end of the freezing war. It shortly became clear that the persons of the previous Soviet Bloc liked the identical opening to develop riches and prosperity that we relish in the west. Communalism, it would appear, could not hang about the course either. However in capitalism what occurs is that this cash is bought into in alignment to make more cash, and to make ? profit. Capitalist persons will invest in products for example structures, devices and workers. For ? grower this may be ? buying into in ? manufacturer and new tools. The capitalists workers are furthermore taken into account as products simultaneously with the business. According to Marxism, the capitalist one-by-one will invest in those persons who will be of an advantage to him and will make ? profit. (Went 2002) These products are essential as they are the capitalists means of output which will finally supply ? means of matter for the society. Marxism interprets how; the employees are alienated because they are easily ? buying into on the part of the capitalist and are not glimpsed as one-by-one persons with their own insights and opinions. This assembly of workers are highly subject to exploitation to the fullest extent. (Koslowski 1996) This assembly of employees will make ? surplus worth that will be supplemented to the capitalists profits. It will be the earnings and not the desires of the one-by-one employees which will work out the products that are made as well as the kind in which persons will be engaged by the business. Only those will be engaged who will double-check greatest output and thus ? boost in profit. (Leone 1978) One of the ideas in Marxism was that the function of the state in ? capitalist humanity is to sustain the capitalist finances and to extend its reality by constantly re-establishing the capitalist relative of production. In alignment to do this the norms and standards of capitalist ideologies can be utilised in alignment to convince people. This in turn rises and sustains production. (Wheelwright 1978) The heritage, political and communal facets of humanity rest upon the financial base. Therefore it can be said that in ? capitalist humanity the state, heritage and communal organisations are furthermore considered as capitalist. (Koslowski 1996) Therefore Marxism interprets and it can be glimpsed that in ? capitalist humanity there will be two assemblies of persons with differing interests. The one-by-one who are engaged as employees or wage earners. The employees will desire to boost their salaries and will work harder at their occupations to double-check higher wages; the assembly of capitalists are the second assembly who will desire to boost profits. These two assemblies are engaged in ? class-conflict or class-struggle, whereas they both count on each other for the enterprise to run easily and double-check greatest production. (Went 2002) Conclusion Marxism emphasises how capitalism will lead to confrontation and would make growing misery for employees as affray for earnings directs capitalists to take up labour-saving mechanism and in effect conceiving an armed detachment of redundant or booked jobless workers. These employees would finally increase up and grab the means of output, thereby conceiving employees revolutions. Karl Marx went on to forecast that capitalism would be finally decimated by its own inherent contradictions and means of output, all of which would be self-inflicted. (Wheelwright 1978) Marx has assisted us to realise how we all reside in ? world which has been formed by the financial and communal forces he identified. Now his work has furthermore to ? large span the political forces of today all of which his work inspired. In my issue of outlook it is no exaggeration to state thatof all theorists of humanity Karl Marx is ? revolutionary and has profoundly affected and influenced all our lives. Our up to date political area reflects his ideologies and is under much of his influence. (Went 2002) For demonstration the Labour Party and the Conservative Party were both deeply influenced by the dispute of Marxist movements. It can be said that as the political countryside undergoes farther alterations, Marxism will indefinitely be conferred to help form humanity for the better. References Bottomore, Tom. (1988). Theories of Modern Capitalism. London, Boston: G. Allen Unwin. Collins, Randall. (Eds.). (1994). Four sociological traditions: selected readings. New York: Oxford University Press. Durkheim, Emile. (1984). The division of labor in society. New York: Free Press. Giddens, Anthony. (1973) Capitalism and modern social theory; an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge, England: University Press. Macionis, J., Plummer, Ken. (1998). Sociology. New York: Prentice Hall. McIntosh, Ian. (Eds.). (1997). Classical sociological theory: a reader. Washington Square, N.Y.: New York University Press. Ritzer, George. (1992). Contemporary sociological theory. New York: McGraw-Hill. Stones, Rob. (Eds.). (1998). Key sociological thinkers. Hampshire: Macmillan Press. Taylor, Orville. (2003). IDEAZ. Kingston: Arawak Publishers Webber, Max. (1930). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of Capitalism. London: G. Allen Unwin Ltd. Koslowski, P. (1996). Ethics of Capitalism and Critique of Socio-biology. Berlin Springer Leone, B. (1978). Capitalism: opposing viewpoints. Minnesota: Greenhaven Press Inc. Wheelwright, E.L. (1978). Capitalism, Socialism or Barbarism? The Australian predicament. NSW: Australian and New Zealand book company Pty Ltd. Went, Robert. 2002-03. Globalization in the Perspective of Imperialism. Science Society, 66:4, 473-497. Westra, Richard. 2001. Phases of Capitalism and Post-Capitalist Social Change. Pp. 301-317 in Albritton, et al.

The Civil Wars Tragic Legacy :: United States History Papers

The Civil War's Tragic Legacy The Civil War produced at least two important outcomes. First, although it was not President Lincoln's intent, it freed slaves in the Confederate States. Second, it settled, through the force of arms, the question of whether states could secede from the Union. The causes of and the issues surrounding America's most costly war, in terms of battlefield casualties, are still controversial. Even its name the - Civil War - is in dispute, and plausibly so. A civil war is a struggle between two or more factions seeking to control the central government. Modern examples of civil wars are the conflicts we see in Lebanon, Liberia and Angola. In 1861, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C. than George Washington wanted to take over London in 1776. George Washington and the Continental Congress were fighting for independence from Great Britain. Similarly, the Confederate States were fighting for independence from the Union. Whether one's sentiments lie with the Confederacy or with the Union, a more accurate characterization of the war is that it was a war for southern independence; a frequently heard southern reference is that it was the War of Northern Aggression. History books most often say the war was fought to free the slaves. But that idea is brought into serious question considering what Abraham Lincoln had to say in his typical speeches: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Slavery makes for great moral cause celebre for the War Between the States but the real causes had more to do with problems similar to those the nation faces today - a federal government that has escaped the limits the Framers of the Constitution envisioned. South Carolina Senator John C Calhoun expressed that concern in his famous Fort Hill Address July 26, 1831, at a time when he was Andrew Jackson's vice-president. Calhoun said, "Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail.