The American Civil war To what extent was the American Civil War effective? Melissa Horacek – Year Eleven Modern History Melissa Horacek – Year Eleven Modern History The Civil War, is a war between civilians, began due to the fear of the abolishment of slavery. Its purpose for the South was to continue slavery, while the North fought for the abolishment of slavery. When the United States was established by colonists and a constitution was created, the constitution did not abolish slavery, but incorporated compromises made by the men who crafted it. Some, especially Northerners who didn’t really adopt slavery had little slaves living there, apposed slavery, they were referred to as Abolitionists.
Slave codes were soon approved – in Massachusetts in 1641 and Virginia in 1661 –and any minor liberties that might have existed for African American were taken away (Feature Indentured Servants In The U.S , n.p.). The early colonizers soon understood that they had lots of land to settle, but no one to actually do the work. This necessity for cheap labor created indentured servitude. Indentured servants were important to the colonial growth. But as demands for labor grew, so did the cost of paying indentured servants.
The beginning of slavery began as punishments for crimes in Africa, leading to Europe wanting them. Which also lead to the United States also wanting them because of economic problems which started the triangular trade. Free slaves came to happen because of the Confiscation Act of 1862, but even when freed, they were still discriminated and lacked choices to choose from to live their lives. Also, the freed slaves didn’t know what to do to survive on their owns. Slaves were better off than freedmen because they had food and shelter, some slave owners were kind to the slaves, and slaves knew what they had to do.
America had the resources to solely rely on agricultural, but the incoming of new inventions made it harder to pass up a great opportunity and America had to use these innovations to their advantage. The Industrial Revolution brought many settlers to America to work in the growing factories. More workers meant more production, thus creating an economic boom in America. This economic boom was also the start of prosperity for the people in America. The fact that people would travel West and have a new way of life using the new technology and at the same time being able to have land that was all their own.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton discussed the possibility of a women's rights convention when they were prevented from speaking at an anti-slavery convention in London in 1840. However, after the Civil War, some of the suffragettes were outraged when black men got the vote but not white women. Susan B. Anthony wrote indignantly about: "Patrick and Sambo and Wong Tong making laws for the daughters of Adams and Jefferson, women of wealth and education". As with the suffragette movement in the UK, there was a strong class element to the struggle. The suffragette movement gained strength in America after black men got the vote (though most southern black men were effectively disenfranchised by literacy laws, the poll tax, threats and intimidation etc).
Abraham Lincoln Came into presidency with a lot on his plate, he wanted to reunite the north and the south and to put in place the emancipation proclamation. He knew what was good for the union and had his own opinion on slavery which was against it. Lincoln was fighting for a new birth of freedom not just reuniting the union. The south depended on slaves on the plantation, that’s how they were maintaining since they did not have to pay the slaves. The North with all the industrial business had a total different way of life and can see how they totally disagreed with the way slaves were being used and treated.
How important was the issue of slavery in causing the American Civil war? Due to slavery America was divided into two halves, the North and the South, both had very different and in some cases radical views. Firstly the more industrialised North generally was through and through against slavery as many felt it was immoral but also realised that if you paid your workforce you would increase your means of production and efficiency which helped them become more industrialised. However the south was reluctant to give up their slaves and felt that they were doing the slaves a favour in keeping them, housing them and feeding them. They were like children and would not survive by themselves.
Without it, the work would not have gotten done, or as quickly as it did. As ugly as it is to say, without the forced labor, the United States might not be the United States. The massive production of cotton propelled the United States to becoming a world power. With this crop, the United States was able to breakaway from the Crown: all thanks to slavery. Americans, North and South, both supported slavery.
The South were all for slavery: * Slaves would work on the cotton and tobacco plantations in the south, working the land. * It was their cornerstone for all their business and wealth in the Southern States. * Without slavery, they feared that they would lose all aspects of their income and in-turn lose the ‘power’ that they had. * The creation of the cotton gin increased the demand for slavery as more and more production of cotton was in demand. This in-turn upsetted the North.
Segregation After the civil war in the USA, the African Americans gain “equal” rights. But the 14th amendment in 1868 (Absolute equality of the two races before the law) didn’t include “social rights” which meant that they didn’t get much choices in society, like choosing where you wanted to sit on a bus. This still made the African Americans feel inferior, knowing that within their home town the “whites” had the choices, and actual freedom. Blacks responded to their situation in 4 ways as their situation began to worsen from 1877. They would co-operate with any willing whites, migrate to the North or West, protest politically and would follow accommodationism.