"A People's History of the United States" Ch. 10 Reflection

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A People’s History of the United States: Reflection Chapter 10 The Other Civil War The theme of this chapter is clear: while the Civil War between the North and the South occurred, many more battles were being fought. Perhaps they weren’t officially at war, but there were more conflicts between people than just North versus South. To begin, Zinn introduces the struggle between tenant versus landlord, where the landlords, now realizing just the huge amount of power they wielded over these people, proceeded to exploit the lower classes even more. With this, the tenants refused to pay rent and became violent towards their landlords and estates, who in turn became violent as well. These first acts of hostility between tenant and landlord began the Anti-Renter movement in the Hudson Valley. Along with the Anti-Renter movement, there were other similar events occurring. There was a continuation of racism against African Americans as well as general conflicts between rich folk and poor folk. Even more specific, there was conflict between factory laborers and factory owners/supervisors. As with the rest of the chapters we’ll find in this book, the theme stays the same: differences bred conflict, and as this chapter states, that conflict could lead to another Civil War. I was actually very surprised with the information I found here. I had no idea that the Civil War spurred on and fed other conflicts. Not only were people involved in movements against or for slavery, but they were also involved in maintaining conditions for the working class and improving them. I think that this time period and these conflicts are often glossed over because everyone remembers the Civil War era as a time of fighting to abolish slavery. Because of this chapter, my thinking was completely flipped around. Here I had been thinking the Civil war was about brother fighting brother for
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