American Civil War In Ken Burns 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'

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During the nineteenth century, a number of historical events led up to the American Civil War. As mentioned in Ken Burns “Civil War” Part 1, some of those events included the death of Elijah P. Lovely (1837), the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher was published (1852), the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Representative Preston Brooks’ attack on Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the House (1856), the Dred Scott Decision (1857), John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry (1859), Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States (1860), and the attack on Fort Sumter (1861). These events contributed to what is known as one of the worst and most tragic events in American history. The American Civil War was a war between the North and the South. Both regions had differences in social, economic and political views on the future of the country, but the main cause of those differences was slavery. …show more content…

They built factories and other industrialized businesses which created jobs and opportunities for better living. This also attracted many new immigrants to the region. Society in the South, however, was based on class. This consisted of the upper crust, middle class and slaves. Plantation owners, who were considered the upper crust, depended on slaves to work for them. The middle class, however, worked their own farms because they could not afford to own slaves. Unlike the North, Southerners developed an agricultural economy, and cotton was considered their main “cash crop”. The South produced more cotton that any other country in the world. Business was booming and the demand for slavery was high. Southerners viewed slavery as a way of life but in the North slavery was considered criminal and should be