Compare And Contrast Civil War

Civil War

The first colonies in Virginia and New England were the origin of the different values that caused the civil war to take place. The colonists that resided in Jamestown, Virginia were heavily dependent on foreign aid and the funding provided by investors. On the contrary, the colonists that settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts was almost entirely self sufficient and did not have to rely on the help from foreign nations. While both the colonies originally focused on fishing and farming, the colonists from Jamestown quickly expanded their industries towards lumber, and utilized technologies that were available in their time such as making mills that were water operated. The two colonies quickly developed into two very different environments

The residents of the North desired a more powerful and centralized government with more government control and bigger banks. On the contrary, the people of the south wanted a weaker federal government and wanted more power given to the states. The reason these differences existed were due to the different industries that the North and South focused on. The South was heavily focused on farming and produce to sustain their economy. This meant that they required cheap manual labor. The easiest way they could keep their revenues high and increase efficiency was through the use of slaves. The North on the other hand was more industrialized. This meant that the workers they required had to be skilled and intelligent. Unfortunately at the time, the slaves from Africa were not taught the skills and were not thought to possess the intelligence required of the working force in the North. This caused tension to start building between the two

The key figure for the North was Alexander Hamilton who led the Federalists party, and in the South there was Thomas Jefferson who led the Democratic - Republican Party. They were both very prominent figures in the realm of politics during their time. Jefferson was the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, and Hamilton was one of the leading advocates of the proposed Constitution of the United States. The federalists led by Hamilton were firmly convinced that government should be run by the wealthy and educated. Such people had the upbringing with formal education, wealthy family backgrounds with a firm grasp on politics. Therefore, the federalists believed that there was no other class of people more fit to run the country than them. Not only were their views on politics seen as flawed by the south, but their policies and interpretations of the constitution sent the people of the south into an uproar. The federalists believed in the term loose construction. This meant that north viewed the constitution in a broader spectrum with flexible interpretations. Loose interpretation of the Constitution allowed the north to formulate laws that would strengthen the federal government and weaken the power of the state. On the other hand, the democratic – republicans of the south believed that the ideal form of government would be one that hardly governed. They insisted on the citizens being left alone