Civil War
Before the civil war that tore the fabric
of American life, there were
three sections of American people with different
economic, cultural and
political attitudes. The balance of power was kept by
different alliances, which
came up in the pre-civil war period. The west was
the balancing power and it was
its shift that decided the course of American
history. While it was allied with
the south for economic reasons, a delicate
balance was maintained. The minute
the west allied with the north, the shift
resulted in irreconcilable differences
and led to war. The boundaries of the
sections were very fluid but the basic
sections in the 1840s-1860s were the
north, which included New England, New
York. Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
the west which included the present mid-west
from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa to Minnesota and the
south which included
Maryland to Texas and Missouri to Mississippi. Northeast
The northeast
was comparatively advanced, industrially. The dominating class
comprised of
the bankers, manufacturers and merchants. The growth of industry
of
America was mainly in the north. The northeast section was known for
its
trading. The merchants realized more returns in manufacturing than the
early
agriculture so we see a gradual but definite shift to industrial
investment,
which signaled the beginning of industrialism. The industrial
capitalists were
the ruling class in the north. They were the aristocrats
because of their
economic dominance, which also meant their dominance in the
political system. In
the political arena they were represented by lawyers
articulating their position
and their philosophy hoping to influence policy
making. For example Daniel
Webster, the politician from Massachusetts had
the entire business community of
that area behind him. The ideals from the
time of the declaration of
independence still remained, as there was no fear
of tyranny of the majority
over the minority. Checks and balances were
maintained to protect the right to
private property. Numerous inventions were
made with the number of patents
increasing from 544 in 1830 to 4778 in 1860.
Samuel Morse invented the electric
telegraph system by the 1840s, which came
into use by the 1850s. Charles
Goodyear invented the new method of
vulcanization of rubber in 1839which started
being practiced in 500 odd
places. It also resulted in the establishment of the
rubber industry. The
steam cylinder press was invented by Richard Hoe in 1846,
which helped to
make the printing of newspapers cheaply. Isaac Singer invented
the sowing
machine in this period as well. The dominant economic business was
the
manufacturing of clothes, which diversified in this period with the use
of
steam as power. In the 1830s we see the introduction of railroads with
coal
replacing wood as the material for generating power. This led to the
rise of the
coal industry in the northeast as the main coalmines were
situated there.
Agriculture in this area also diversified since it could
not compete with the
fertile virgin land of the west, which produced wheat,
corn, cattle, sheep and
horse. There was a shift in agricultural products as
with the growth of
urbanization there was a need for dairy products, food and
vegetables. New York
began to produce apples, New Jersey and Maryland peaches
and berries. Dairy
products like milk and butter and cheese also were
produced. Farmers who were
engaged in agriculture in the northeast either
diversified or migrated and
became the labor class of the urban areas. Women
and children also worked, often
for long hours (12-15 hrs. a day) getting
paid $4-10 per week for skilled and
$1-6 for unskilled work. The labor was
too weak to get organized into unions.
Some states like Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Pennsylvania tried to regulate
child labor by necessitating
parental consent The labor supply came mainly from
the European countries
like Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, France and
Austria because of
the population problem in the west. From 1840-1850, it is
estimated that
around 2 million immigrants came to the United States especially
from
Germany. West The west was the balancing section in the American union as
it
shared common features with both the north and the south. The economy
was
agrarian like the south but with industries like the north. True, the
industrial
growth in the west was slow when compared to the north, but it was
faster than
the south whose industrial growth was minimal. Industries like
meatpacking in
Chicago (Ill.) and Cincinnati (Ohio) and industrial
centers like for meat,
distilled whisky, leather, wooden goods, flour etc.
were common. The main
economic occupation was predominantly farming with
small farming communities
unlike the large plantations of the south. The
important economic activity was
agriculture with the growing of corn and
wheat accompanied by cattle raising.
Due to the large number of small
farmers and few planters thee was no dominant
class in the political system
of the west. The agricultural products had
readymade markets in the
industrial northeast. So one can conclude that there
was greater
interdependence between the northeast and the west than between the
west and
the south. Though the west had a market in the European continent,
their main
market was still the home market. We see that there were many
improved
farming techniques like new varieties of seeds of wheat for example
and
better breeds of animals like hogs from England and Spain. The farm
machinery in
1850s and 60s was more efficient like harrows, mowers and
cast iron ploughs. The
manufacturing of machinery in these areas was also an
important economic
activity. For example the replacing of the sickle with the
macronic reaper
resulted in the establishment of a factory in Chicago in
1847. The west has
always been considered more democratic than all the other
sections because of
the fact that there was no economic domination of any one
section of society in
contrast to the merchant-dominated north and the
planter-dominated south. The
west had both agriculture as well as industries
though agriculture was the more
dominant occupation. South Prior to 1793,
little cotton was produced in the
United States as the process of the
separation of the fibers from the seeds had
to be done by hand which was too
time consuming and thus ceased to be
profitable. The cotton gin invented in
1793 by Eli Whitney revolutionized the
production of cotton. It now became
profitable to raise short staple cotton with
the soil and climate favoring
this and soon cotton production stretched from
Georgia and South Carolina
westwards till Texas. With the growth of British
textile industry, cotton
growers were assured of a market. Efficient cotton
growing could take place
in both large and small plantations and slave labor was
an important part of
cotton production. The move to diversified agriculture
retreated to the
background as cotton growing seemed more profitable.
Plantations
flourished, as did slave labor. The anti-bellum south witnessed the
growth of
an agrarian economy with the rise of king cotton and a revival of
slavery.
Cotton was ‘king’ since production of cotton doubled every 10-12
years from
1812 onwards, 50% of American exports were of cotton and the seaboard
started
a profitable slave trade with cotton planters. Economic prosperity
resulted
in political domination by planters. The economy of the south was
very
different than that of the other sections though it was closer to the
west as it
was agricultural. There were three main features of the southern
economy-the
cash crops of cotton, tobacco and sugar, the European market for
its products
and the plantation system that required slaves as a labor force.
It was the
slave system that distinguished the south from the other sections
of the west
and the north. The dominant class of society in the south was the
planter class.
Other important people in the south were bankers and
merchants, all of who were
closely linked to the planter class and on whom
they were dependent. The
industry of the manufacture of textiles was a very
important industry in the
south but as is obvious, it was also closely
connected to the planter class. The
planter class was not a uniform class
with subdivisions based on the size of the
plantation- big, medium and small
plantations. Even within the white population
there were divisions. The
banker class dominated the economic sphere of southern
life but the
plantation owners had more social status and so we often see an
alliance
between these two classes. It is firmly believed that the south had
the
maximum degree of culture and unity in terms of Southernism. It was
the
strongest section in the United States as in the sectional solidarity and
the
awareness of its entity. It had a cultural unity despite the diversity,
a
coherence that led many historians to name this period as the anti-bellum
period
while referring to the uniqueness of the south. Even the climate has
been
attributed as a feature of this southern uniqueness. The hot weather in
the
predominantly agrarian setup is seen as another facet in the southern
makeup.
There was the existence of the plantation style cultivation based
on the slave
labor produced tobacco, cotton and sugar which was mainly for
export. The
southern planters had trade through merchants with England.
Urbanization had not
really occurred on the scale of the northern section.
There was a rural
character with few towns and cities consisting of a
diffused population of 13
persons per square mile including the slaves. The
majority of the people were
Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. Southernism The
Southernism referred to by many
historians consisted of certain features like
the rural character, the
plantation system, slavery and the social
organization and the very different
products of this region. The rural
character of the southern section is
attributed to the people’s love for
their land. There was also a devotion to
the English culture and a conscious
effort to recreate English society in the
lifestyles of the affluent of the
south. The society was mainly conservative,
liking the status quo with no
changes in their style of living. The society was
quite orderly with a
clearly defined class organization though not a rigid one.
Social
mobility was possible but not as easily as in the north or the west as
there
was minimum class competition. Often the climate has been given to
explain
the comfortable life enjoyed by the southern people. Everyone had an
easy life
without much effort, as they were free from the necessity of
conquering the
environment, as the soil was very fertile and easy to till.
The southern people
had a lot of spare time to enjoy life. Though this would
be an exaggeration, it
is true that there was a lot of leisure time
especially among the higher
classes. There was a belief or a passion for
pleasure more than toil with a firm
conviction that it was more important to
have pleasure than to have profit. The
second feature often put forward to
explain the uniqueness of the south is the
plantation system with salves as
the labor force. U.B. Phillips believes the
slave system to be the main
reason for the Southernism talked about. The south
was the only area where
slavery was institutionalized and a vast number of
slaves of different color
and race were found here. The people of the south were
determined to keep the
south as the white man’s south. Slavery was more than a
labor force-it was a
device of white supremacy. Slavery was an institution
supported by white
people and the unifying factor for all southerners be it
planter or poor
white was their superiority over the blacks. From 1820s onwards,
slavery was
being criticized within the United States. It was condemned by
the
northerners who were supported by the Latin Americans, British and
other
Europeans. Slavery had been abolished all over the world and the
only place
where it remained was in the south section of the United States.
The people of
the south were aware of the criticism directed at their
institution and knew
that they defied world opinion. They were under
tremendous pressure and suffered
from guilt over the issue. They were
probably uncomfortable with their separate
identity. The dilemma deepened
when the majority of the south did not want
slavery and its criticism while
for the planters, abolition was impossible. They
realized the isolation due
to this issue but could not solve the problem. The
social organization of the
southern society was very different from other areas
of the United States.
There were 8 important groups of free population in the
south. Slaves were
considered as property and the differences within their group
were not taken
into account. The eight main groups of society were- 1-Major
Planters –
They were the apex of society and were the aristocrats of the
south. They
were called cotton or tobacco nabobs. They lived in huge palatial
mansions
using slaves for their plantations. They numbered not more than 8,000
in the
1860’s. This class was the ideal of the south and every white man
aspired to
be part of this elite. 2-Medium planters. 3-Small planters-Together
the
medium and small planters were 18,000 people. The planters got the
best
education in the south. In a typical planter family, the elder brother
became
the planter while the younger brothers generally tried for
Senate
representation. They were trained to represent their class. The
planter’s
class was dependant on the merchants and the bankers for their life
of luxury.
They were the trendsetters and led public opinion. This class
considered itself
superior to the rest but the class distinctions were not
rigid. If someone moved
into a new area, he could hope to become a major
planter slowly. This class
formed a leadership top southern white society.
They were the focus of all moral
and social aspirations of southern society.
They were the ruling class and the
system continued to exist because of their
superior feeling. The small farmers
were not exploited and his ambitions did
not interfere with the major and medium
planters so the system continued. The
major and medium planters had the lion’s
share of income but since the small
farmers were quite well off there were no
economic grievances against
slavery. In fact, there were more slaves owned
together by the medium and
small planters together than the major planters as
they aspired to be major
planters. This class liked the English culture gleaned
mainly from English
literature and imitated their way of life. Most white people
were of the pure
Anglo-Saxon race and racial discriminations became a way of
life with them.
Slavery was a part of their cultural and social life and it was
very
difficult to break this. 4-Manufacturers and bankers-Industry in the
south
existed basically in a formative stage. Few businessmen invested money
outside a
plantation. Planters with excess cash preferred to invest in
slaves. Factories
for manufacture of textiles, iron, flourmills were set up
in Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Brokers and
merchants were very important
people as they marketed the cash crops of the
south. This class was mainly
situated in New Orleans, Charleston, Savanna,
etc. They became bankers or
planters. They aspired to become planters, as it
was a socially dominant class.
Though they played an important role in
southern economy and society, they were
not recognized. After the 1850’s,
they were a neglected class. 5-Professional
Classes-It comprised of
lawyers, editors and doctors. They were linked to the
planter class as their
well being depended on the planter’s prosperity. They
generally agreed with
the views of the planters and could be from a planter
family.
6-Highlanders-They lived in the southern mountains in the Appalachian
range
in Mississippi. They were a group of whiter people whose cultural
pattern
differed greatly from southern society. They had a crude subsistence
culture. As
they lived outside the main community, they were considered
primitive and did
not own any slaves. They believed in the old ways, ideas
and values. They had an
almost emotional devotion to nationalism and did not
believe in State’s
rights. They were the only people in the south who defied
sectionalism and
during the Civil War they resisted secession. They mainly
lived in the areas
covered by West Virginia and Tennessee. 7-Poor Whites-They
were a degraded class
and after 1850, numbered almost half a million. They
were different from poor
farmers and ranked just above slaves. They were
characterized by laziness,
ignorance and lack of ambition. They were often
called "uncomplimentary"
people, "crackers", "white trash" and occupied
infertile land usually
swamps and barren tracks. They did not have a balanced
diet and engaged in
hunting, fishing and growing vegetables at home. Their
origin is obscure and one
theory suggest that they were the less competitive
frontier population who were
pushed back because they were less enterprising.
They were often afflicted by
diseases like hookworm, malaria, etc. and their
situation only improved in the
twentieth century with proper food and health
care. 8-Free Negroes-They were a
displaced group as they were not slaves
legally but race-wise they were not free
either. They often had to prove that
they were free. It is estimated that there
were almost 250,000 free Negroes
in 1860. They mainly lived in Louisiana,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri
and North Carolina. Very few ever attained wealth
and prominence and the
majority lived in poverty. Many avenues were closed to
them by law and they
were viewed by the Whites as a danger to the institution of
slavery.
Citizenship was denied to them and they were forbidden from
attending
legislative assemblies without permission from and supervision by
Whites. They
could not hold property in White areas. The crops grown in the
south were
generally cash crops like tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton.
Agriculture was
diversified in Virginia and central Kentucky. Most farmers
tried to produce food
grains for their family and their slaves so 80% of all
peas and beans came from
the south. Other things like apples, peaches,
peanuts, sweet potatoes, hops,
mules etc. despite aspiring to
self-sufficiency, corn and salted pork for the
slaves had to be imported from
the northwest. Tobacco was grown in Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina,
northern and western Tennessee, Missouri and
Mississippi valley. It was
grown in the tideland of the regions and required 6
months for their
production. Rice required 9 months and a constant supply of
water for its
growth and was generally grown in South Carolina, Georgia and
other coastal
regions. The time needed for the growth of sugar was 9 months and
had the
largest area under production. Cotton was grown from North Carolina
to
Texas and was the principle product of the south with the exception of
the
coastal area. It was produced in Alabama, Georgia, northwest
Mississippi,
southwest Tennessee, southern Arkansas, Louisiana and eastern
Texas. The farming
methods employed which resulted in the exhaustion of soil
as no crop rotation
was practiced. Some improvements were suggested by Edmund
ruffle in
"Farmer’s Register" like fertilization, rotation and deep
ploughing.
Slavery as an institution was established by law and was
regulated by law. The
slaves had no property rights, could not leave their
master’s premises without
his permission, could not congregate with other
slaves except at church,
couldn’t carry firearms, couldn’t strike a white man
even in defense, were
not allowed to read or write, were denied the right to
testify in court against
a white and were not allocated any provision for the
legalization of their
marriage and divorce. Anyone who might have slave
ancestry would be a slave
until he could prove otherwise. If a master killed
his slave, he could not be
taken to court. Most laws pertaining to slaves and
their treatment were unevenly
applied and were not enforced strictly. A
slave's fate rested on his master and
most slaves were treated harshly. They
could be punished by flogging or branding
if they tried to run away or
resist. Major offences committed by slaves like one
slave killing another
were referred to court. The daily routine of a slave was
regulated by his
master. The head of the administration was the owner. If he was
a small
planter, direct supervision of the slaves was carried out. If the
planter was
a medium or large planter, an overseer and an assistant were hired
for
example if the planter was involved in politics fulltime, the planter
owned
large estates or needed the help. The slave drivers or the foremen were
usually
slaves themselves and could have sub slave drivers etc. The methods
for making
the slaves work were of two types-the task system where the task
to be done by
the slave could be done in as much time as it took in a day and
this was used
for rice production or the gang system where slaves worked as
groups with slave
drivers and they worked for a specific number of hours
decided upon by the
overseer and was used for the growing of sugar, cotton
and tobacco. The physical
condition of the slave was supported by an adequate
rough diet of corn mill,
salt pork and molasses and the slaves were
encouraged to grow their own garden.
Fresh meals could be issued on
special occasions. Slaves started working early
in life with light work,
which increased as they grew. Their workday was often
as long as northern
farmers with time off to hunt, fish, attend church and other
social
activities of the white family. They wore cheap clothes and shoes and
lived
in log cabins or slave quarters. Their medical care was looked after by
the
mistress of the house. Generally the conditions of the house servants
were
much better than the badly exploited field hands. Slaves could be
privileged
butlers, nurses, skilled craftsmen and filed workers. It may be
pointed out here
that according to figures, very few people actually owned
slaves. In the 1860s,
of the total population of 8 million people of the
south, only 4.3% owned
slaves. Of this miniscule numbers, most people had
around 2-9 slaves. In the
1830s, for the first time, political and
intellectual leaders began to opine
that slavery was not an evil but a good
and it should be regarded as a permanent
institution. This proslavery
propaganda was accompanied by a hardening of public
sentiment. The support of
the south for the institution of slavery came not just
from the whites who
owned slaves. They were supported by the white population of
the south who
saw slaves as an inferior race and this fed their sense of
superiority. They
also feared competition from freed slaves for their trades.
The economic
viability of slavery is a debatable issue. Slavery as an efficient
labor
system was not feasible, as the slaves did not have enough compulsion to
do
more than would be extracted from them by force. Slavery made the
south’s
economic system less flexible and progressive. The success of
plantation
agriculture hindered the growth of a more diversified economy. The
reluctance of
white men to work as a free labor force due to the social
stigma attached to it
meant that the economy never progressed beyond the
rural character to
industrialization uniformly. Huge profits were made by
businessmen at the
expense of the planters who were often indebted to the
merchants both of the
south and the north. Causes Of The Civil War Economic
Charles Bearde gives
economic issues like the high tariff, the homestead law
and the transcontinental
railroad as the causes of the civil war. The high
tariff issue has always been a
bone of contention between the north and the
south. The primary source of
federal revenues until the outbreak of the civil
war was duties imposed on
imports. This taxation gave protection to internal
industries against foreign
competition, which favored the north as they had
the maximum of industries. Acts
like the embargo act and the non-intercourse
act encouraged the growth of
manufacturing in the north. The south not
anticipating any major developments
were strongly opposed to protectionist
measures. They also believed that the
high tariffs increased the prices of
their imports and restricted the market for
their exports. This issue brought
the north supported by the western states in
conflict with the southern
states. The immense land acquired by the government
by the end of the Mexican
war was to be distributed according to the homestead
law. The north favored
the giving away of land at a cheap price to the common
people while the south
wanted the land to be given to the highest bidder so that
plantation land
could be expanded. According to the homestead law, any person
was given 160
acres of land, which he had to cultivate for 5 years and he paid a
small fee
on the acquiring of land. The law was criticized by the south, as
their aim
of extending plantation style agriculture was defeated. Trans
continental
railroads were to be built with federal aid across the American
land. The
north and the west were unanimous in their support to the building of
the
railroad, as it would greatly benefit their development. The south did
not
see any benefit to them and refused to pay taxes for something that they
said
they did not need. These economic causes have been criticised as the
tariffs
were not always high except in 1816, 1828 and 1832 and was usually
lower. Also
when the markets for southern goods declined in Europe and the
south turned to
local markets, the railroads were supported by them as well.
Westward expansion
In 1819, there were 22 states in the American union,
11 of which were free
states and 11 were slave states. Due to the increase of
population in the free
states, their representation in the house of
representation was greater than
that of the slave states. But in the senate,
where every state had a single
vote, a balance was maintained between the
slave states and the free states. To
maintain this balance, admission of new
states was usually done in pairs as far
as possible with a free state
entering the union along with a slave state. Many
compromises were made like
the Missouri compromise of 1820. This compromise
meant that the states above
the 36?30' were to be given the status of a free state and
the states below
this line were to be slave states. This became the center of
controversy
later on as its repeal further widened the schism between the north
and the
south. Texas was admitted as a slave state when after vacillation
the
American union was not admitting it, they applied to Britain and this
worried
the Americans enough to allow Texas to enter the union unaccompanied
by a free
state. The ending of the Mexican war resulted in Texas asking for
more
territory, which the northerners were against, as it would mean the
extension of
slavery. The fact that the capital of the country still had
slavery was
according to the north a disgrace. The north-south rift grew when
many northern
organizations helped fugitive slaves to escape to Canada. The
question of
whether the congress had the authority to decide if slavery
should be allowed or
not was very worrying and which led to the controversial
Dredscott’s decision.
The Wilmot proviso saying that areas acquired from
the Mexican war should be
free states was opposed by the south. Clays
compromise, fugitive slave act, the
Kansas-Nebraska act. Slavery-
describe the institution of slavery, ‘slavery as
a cause of the civil war"
tutorial. One can conclude that though slavery was
not the sole cause of the
civil war, the issue of slavery was both an important
factor in the
sectionalism, which was one of the reasons for the war, and it
symbolized and
disguised many other differences between the north and the
south.
Political Causes Ever since the federal convention in 1787, there
had been a
tacit political balance between the 2 great sections along the old
Mason-Dixon
line and the Ohio River, which divided the slave holding states
and territories
from which slavery was abolished and in the process of
extension. Ever since the
birth of the nation, a series of compromises had
held the 2 sections together.
At the time of framing of the constitution,
the conflict was settled by deciding
the percent of representation to the
House of Representatives and accordingly
only three-fifths of the black
population would be taken into account and the
senate would have equal
representation from all the states irrespective of size
of population. This
system worked well so long as the number of free and slave
states remained
equal but at the close of 1819, when the territories of Missouri
and Maine
applied for statehood, tension between the 2 sections mounted again on
the
grounds of whether they should be admitted as free or slave states which
was
resolved by the Missouri compromise of 1820. By the late 1840s, the
sectional
conflict was beginning to affect national political parties. The
Whig party was
split into those who opposed slavery openly and those who
supported it because
of their trade with the southern planters and the latter
had powerful backing
from the south. The democrat party was becoming more and
more an instrument of
the south. The northern democrats became resentful of
the pro-south leaning of
the party and this led too their joining with the
abolitionist Whigs to form the
Republican Party in 1854. The problem of
slavery in the new territories was
reopened in 1848 when Oregon, California,
new Mexico and Utah needed to be
admitted to the union. The Missouri
compromise was unacceptable to the both the
northern and southern extremists.
This issue was avoided in the election of 1848
when the Whig party’s Zachary
Taylor was elected as president. The emergence
of the free soiler party,
which polled enough votes to ruin the chances of the
Democratic Party, is
important in this election. The question of admitting
California and New
Mexico had to be resolved but the situation became more
difficult when
California adopted a constitution in 1849 by which it became a
free state and
in 1850, the people of New Mexico did the same. Henry clay tried
to introduce
a compromise which would solve the above problem as well as the
problem of
slavery in Washington D.C., the boundary between Texas and new
Mexico,
the war expenditure of Texas which was not being assumed by the
government
and the personal liberty law and how it was to be applied to the
fugitive
slaves. Clays compromise was greatly discussed and debated and
finally
accepted in 1850 with many concessions to the south. California was
admitted as
a free stat, New Mexico was organized as a territory when Texas
relinquished
control over it in return for $3 million as the war debt. Utah
was organized as
a territory. Slave trade in Washington D.C. was abolished
and in return the
north had to enact a stringent fugitive slave act by which
a Negro accused of
being a fugitive was denied his day in court and his
status was to be determined
by a united states judge or a circuit court
commissioner who would usually be
bribed. Federal marshals had to do their
best to catch fugitive slaves and any
citizen who helped a fugitive would be
heavily penalized. Though this compromise
solved the immediate problems of
the nation, it did not stem the crisis of
secession of 1860. The
transcontinental railroad problem was another issue,
which showed the
sectionalism rife in the United States. There was a widespread
desire for
sectional harmony after the Missouri compromise of 1820 and this was
evident
in the election of 1852. The democrats reaffirmed the compromise
and
nominated a dark horse, Franklin pierce of New Hampshire to break a
deadlock
over the selection of leaders. The Whigs were weaker in the defense
of the
compromise in comparison and lost when they nominated Winfield Scott.
The
decline in the anti-slavery feeling was obvious when the free soil
party’s
votes dropped dramatically from their maiden election of 1848.
Nicaragua and
Honduras- the pierce administration of 1853-1857 pursued an
aggressive and
expansionist foreign policy, which was mainly for the benefit
of the south.
Southerners were very interested in acquiring Cuba where
slavery was legal and
the government was negotiating for its sale to America
by Spain. Though this
failed, it was publicized and the northerners thought
that the southerners were
trying to acquire a new slave state and insisted
that there was a southern
conspiracy. Southerners were also interested in
areas in the South American
continent where slave states might be carved out.
A southern adventurer, William
walker led an expedition to Nicaragua in 1855,
where he was dictator for some
time and tried to raid Honduras as well. All
these incidents were seen by the
northerners as a move by the southerners to
extend slavery and avoid abolition.
*The expansion of American business was
spreading from an early time. In 1819
missionaries went to Hawaii where they
established connections, which later
helped in annexation. In 1830, china was
being opened up and commercial treaties
were being signed. In 1853, commodore
Perry led a naval expedition to Japan,
which led to the signing of a
commercial treaty. In the Canadian border, there
was a conflict between
England and America over the fishing rights of the
Americans. In 1854,
the problem was solved through the reciprocal treaty, which
gave the
privilege to Canadians for passage of goods from and to the United
States
without the custom duties in exchange for American fishing rights. *
The
transcontinental railroad question was also being discussed and the route
for
the railroad was to be decided. The northerners wanted a northern route
for the
railroad, which would run through Chicago or st. Louis while the
south wanted a
route through New Orleans along the Mexican border till Los
Angeles. In 1854,
senator Douglas (Ill.) presented the Kansas-Nebraska bill,
which recommended the
repeal of the Missouri compromise with the issue of
slavery to be decided by
popular sovereignty in the new regions to be
created- Kansas and Nebraska. This
bill was strongly backed by the pierce
administration and was passed despite
huge opposition and hostile public
opinion. The bill did not specify when
popular sovereignty should be applied
to the territory. While the southerners
felt that slavery should be allowed
and only when admission was sought, then
popular sovereignty should be
exercised, Douglas believed that the first
settlers should decide and that
the earliest elections were important. Utah, New
Mexico and Nebraska were
not being discussed by the southerners as possible
slave states because the
region was too arid. But Kansas was situated close to
the slave state of
Missouri and the soil was suited to slavery. Northern
anti-slavery states set
up aid societies to help northerners to settle in Kansas
hoping to make it a
free state. The settlers were mainly against both slavery
and slaves and had
no sympathies with either the abolitionists or the
southerners. In the
election of 1855 in Kansas, many Missourians came and voted
for slavery
electing pro slavery candidates. The government formed was pro
slavery and
supported by the pierce administration. While the abolitionists
formed their
own government and drafted a free state constitution, the pro
slavery
government established a slave state and drafted a constitution.
Initial
hostility between the two governments in Kansas escalated into
full-scale
violence and Kansas was referred to as "bleeding Kansas". John
brown, a
northern abolitionist further worsened the situation when he led a
band of armed
men and killed 5 proslavery inhabitants of Kansas in 1856. In
1859, he captured
an arsenal in Virginia and hoped to lead an attack to free
the slaves in the
south. Though he was caught and executed, he was martyred
by the north and
vilified by the south further deepening the rift between the
two sections. In
1856, senator Charles Sumner who was a radical anti
slavery proponent was
talking of violence in Kansas, accused senator butler
of South Carolina.
Butler’s nephew, Preston brooks beat Sumner
unconscious later. This act of
violence shows the deep feeling of the two
sides. The north, infuriated by the
passing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and
the fugitive slave bill passed many
personal liberty laws, which made the
capture of fugitive slaves very difficult.
"Uncle Tom’s Cabin" was a book
written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and first
published in 1852. It greatly
increased the resurgence of anti-slavery feeling,
with its emotional force
and dramatic effectiveness. It was an extremely
influential book and fuelled
the abolitionists’ fervor and broadened their
public support. The formation
of the Republican Party by the combination of
Whigs and democrats and the
free soilers all of whom were anti slavery occured
during this time. Their
support base was from the western farmers and eastern
businessmen. Charles
Sumner and William Seward were the main leaders of the
party. In the election
of 1856, the democrats nominated James Buchanan who
supported popular
sovereignty, the republicans nominated john Fremont and the
Whigs
nominated Fillmore. Though Buchanan won the election, the success of
the
republican candidate in the north showed that without the northern
democrats,
the republicans were poised to defeat the democrats in 1860. The
Buchanan showed
a decided southern bias in its work especially when the
tariffs were lowered in
1857, the veto of the Homestead Act and
pro-southern policies. Buchanan’s
ineffectiveness in administration was
further aggravated by the Dredscott's
decision of the Supreme Court.
Dredscott was a slave who belonged to an army
surgeon who was from Missouri,
a slave state. He was taken by his master to the
free states of Illinois and
Wisconsin and then brought back to Missouri. Later
he sued that since he had
resided in areas where slavery was prohibited by law
he was a free man. His
case was picked up by abolitionists who helped him. Six
judges of the Supreme
Court agreed that since he was living in Missouri, he was
a slave. Chief
justice Taney further went on to say that since Dredscott was not
a citizen
of the country he did not have the right to bring the case to court.
He
also said that the congress could not abolish slavery from any sates
since
that interfered with the right of private property of a citizen, thus
making the
Missouri compromise unconstitutional and making slavery legal
all over the
country. A convention was held in Kansas by the proslavery
faction, which
drafted a constitution legalizing slavery. Buchanan supported
this constitution
called the Lecompton constitution. The new governor of
Kansas, Walker
established free and fair election, which resulted in the
freesoilers gaining
control of the government, but Buchanan dismissed walker.
Now the Democratic
Party split with the northern wings led by Douglas and
the southern wing still
loyal to the administration. In the reelection for
Douglas for the senate ship
he was opposed by Lincoln. There were a series of
debates and though Douglas was
reelected, Lincoln became a national figure.
In the presidential election of
1860, he was elected and his election
precipitated the secession of the southern
states. On 20 december1861, South
Carolina unanimously voted for secession from
the union. Less than a month
later, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana and Texas joined
South Carolina in secession, though minority groups
opposed it. The
confederacy was formed with Jefferson Davis as the president.
The union,
under president Buchanan offered a compromise to reverse their
secession.
When this failed and Lincoln took over on 6 March, 1861he had to deal
with
this problem. Lincoln sent reinforcements to fort Sumter in South
Carolina.
When South Carolina attacked this force, war was declared in
April 1861. Four of
the remaining slave states joined the confederacy-
Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee and Arkansas. The western counties
refused to go into war and
formation of a new state of West Virginia occurred
in 1863. Civil war In 1861,
the United States was plunged into a four-year
struggle, which proved to be the
greatest civil war in history and the first
modern war in which victory was
decided by industrial strength. The north
eventually won the war because she
blockaded the confederate ports and
imposed economic strangulation. The
confederate army was led by general lee
while the union had many able generals
like grant, mc Dowell etc. Effects Of
The Civil war The American civil war
proved to be the greatest civil war
waged in history. It was the war fought
between the northern and southern
states of the American union. The sectional
conflict caused by different
reasons resulted in people on both sides getting
antagonized with each other.
The war raged all over the country, from Volved,
New Mexico to St. Alban,
Vermont. More than 3 million Americans fought the war
and more than 600,000
men died in it. Also it was the first modern war in which
victory depended
primarily on industrial strength. There was also the newness of
the war where
plenty of new weapons, new strategies of destruction, new
standards of
generalship combined with the birth of photography which
permanently could
remind the people with all that had been photographed. Around
50,00 books
have been written on this event. Although Walt Whitman said that the
real war
will never get in a book, but this did not deter the people from
writing. No
one could have predicted the magnitude it brought America following
the first
shot at fort Sumter in South Carolina by the southern states (called
the
confederacy) on 12th April 1861. The war turned out to be the most
defining
and shaping event in American history so much so that we cannot
imagine American
history without it. In the 50000 books written, there are
countless diaries,
regimented history, biographies, social analyses,
pictorial essays and other
works that have treated the subject of the civil
war in different ways. This was
an event that had such great effects on the
country that it conditioned the
entire culture of America. It became a focus
of myth and the anchor of meaning
for the whole society; such was the power
of its fascination. 10 billion dollars
of property was laid waste in the
south while two-fifths of its livestock was
destroyed. The south was
completely devastated after 4 years of war. No other
single event in the
history of America has brought such momentous changes in all
spheres of life.
Never again was there a problem of secession. The defeat of the
south settled
forever the question of secession, giving triumph to nationalism
over
sectionalism. The emergence of the Negro as a free citizen, created a
new
dimension in the political and social life of the nation, making vast
changes in
the arrangement of classes and in the course of industrial
development. This is
probably why Bearde called it a second American
revolution. The war destroyed
the planting aristocracy leading to the triumph
of capitalist and free laborers.
Also it augmented the power of the
federal government at the cost of the rights
of the state. It pushed forward
the power of the constitution. Thomas Cochran
also pointed out that though
there was clear symptom of rising industrialization
before 1860, it was
during and after the war that the real course of
industrialization took
place. And the structure of American business began to
assume a shape, which
became familiar in the later years. This view is supported
by Faulkner and
Hacker. The most dramatic effect of the civil war was on the
south. It was
vanquished, demoralised and had to orient itself to a new economic
and social
system because the war had destroyed its old basic structure. So
remarkable
was the impact of the war that the post-bellum south has also been
called the
new south. Historians differ according to their pro-south and
anti-south
treatment. For example Thomson, who was pro-south, found that the
southern
leaders after reconstruction were honest and dedicated men but lacked
the
qualities of vision. This has been challenged by C. Van Woodward. He
suggests
the southerners were not honest and characterized their leaders as
redeemers,
who advocated industrialization and reconciliation with the north and
adopted
by and large a more liberal attitude towards the Negroes. Amongst the
social
classes the Negroes were the most profoundly affected by the civil
war.
Apthekar’s viewpoint is useful in understanding the condition of the
Negro in
the civil war. Dr. potter says that the civil war put an end to
"chattel
slavery". It was the biggest act of confiscation in history. The
civil war
freed the American chattel slaves and now there was an overwhelming
shortage of
labor. Immigration was encouraged after 1864. The southern
economy fell into
disarray. The confederate money and lands were valueless
and its holders
impoverished. The plantations were ruined and cotton
production had declined and
whatever manufacturing that existed was
destroyed. There were wounded war
veterans and broken families. In many
places, the civil government had
disintegrated. The war also saw the triumph
of northern capitalism. However the
efforts of assessment of the effects of
the civil war are still
continuing.