American History Assignment # 6 What were some of the key characteristics of the Antebellum South? Why were these significant? The colonies along the east side of United States during the “plantation era” became known as the New England, the middle and the southern colonies.
When one looks back in our history, we have always thought that everyone suffered after the Civil War. The Civil War after all was extremely destructive to anything and anyone involved. However, Robert Tracy McKenzie did not believe that everyone suffered a great deal. In fact, in his article, “Civil War and Socioeconomic Change in the Upper South: The Survival of Local Agricultural Elites in Tennessee, 1850-1870,” he discussed how the top five percent of the elite farmers were still prosperous. McKenzie’s article focuses on all three regions in Tennessee, but only a few select counties.
There were many sectional differences between the North and the South of America before the Civil War broke out in 1861. The main difference was the South being for slavery and the North opposing slavery. Other differences had occurred as well such as the North being mostly industrial, and the South was comprised mostly of farmers, who sold these goods to the North leaving the two economically interdependent to one another. The North was also geographically colder than the south, and was closer to Europe so trading was easier, this was the cause of the North being more industrialized with port cities and the South being farmers because their growing season was longer. Southerners also had a vastly different population than the North accounting
During the Civil War there were many differences besides slavery. This war had the most American deaths than all of the wars the U.S. has been in combined! The south seceded from the north for slavery and other less important reasons. The North had more of nearly everything like navy, soldiers,horses, and food, while the south had slaves, cotton, and donkeys/mules. Throughout the war many great leaders rose and fell, battles fought, and great and terrible outcomes.
In the late parts of the 19th century, the United States was in turmoil. Beginning in April of 1861, the division within the country boiled over and the Civil War began. There were many arguments over the morality of slavery and other ideologies. Throughout the war there was no clear advantage for either side. However, the North with several advantages and few disadvantages over the South, eventually won and ended the war.
The soil was rich, fertile and perfect for crops. The weather was relatively warm year-round and the land was screaming to be used for agriculture. There were rivers readily available for the transportation of any crops that the settlers might want to export. As a result of this near-perfect farm land, the Southern colonies developed into a region dominated by agriculture. Huge tobacco and crop plantations arose and suddenly, a massive need for labor arose.
During the Antebellum period, the economy in the South and the North changed drastically. Eli Whitney had invented the cotton gin and the demand for slavery reached an all time high. Meanwhile, the North had begun to industrialize and stray away from slavery. This caused these two regions to have different views on slavery. The North started to be against slavery and the South continued to support it.
At the beginning of the Civil War, the Union’s advantages of a greater population and better industrial economy was perceived as though they were on a level far above that of the Confederacy. Though the Union did have the upper hand in those elements, the Confederacy had better trained officers who harnessed superior decision-making skills and battle tactics. While the North held distinct advantages economically, their one glaring deficiency was in its military. When the war began, the Union held 23 states totaling a population of 22 million, while the Confederacy held only 9 states with a population of 9 million, and approximately 4 million of them were slaves. The Union armies outnumbered Confederate armies by a ratio of 2-to-1, roughly.
The civil war caused the South and West to be regarded as opportunistic land. Before 1860 the region between the Mississippi River and northern California had been viewed as a barren land of no importance; however, after the Civil War in 1865 there was transformation. The New South.
During the Civil War, both Northerners and Southerners debated what the status of African Americans would be after the war. With the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the passing of the 13th amendment in 1865, it became unclear as to where African Americans stood both in government and in society. While neither Northerners nor Southerners perceived enslaved African Americans and whites as equals, Northerners did recognize that African Americans were citizens not property. Northerners did recognize African Americans as citizens, whereas Southerners did not.
With the expansion of America through the acquisition of new land from the Mexican-American War came the controversial issue of the expansion of slavery. By 1850, America had an equal amount of free and slave states, meaning that the free and slave states had the same amount of Senators. However, the South was paranoid that if they lost the political majority in the House of Representatives and Senate and an anti-slave president was elected, then slavery would be abolished immediately. The North and the South had varying definitions of society.
Before the Civil War, the North and South had major conflicts with each other on the topic of slavery. The North thought slavery was morally wrong and the South thought slavery was the natural way of life. All of this tension led to the Civil War being completely inevitable. Contrasting beliefs on slavery led to violence, even between honored leaders in the U.S.
Regional Differences After the Civil War During the quarter century after the civil war, there were many differences between the north and south. Political changes caused by the death of Lincoln created many conflicts. Socio-cultural differences included the south sharecropping and unfairly treating freedpeople. The economy was changed drastically and there was a lot more cash flow because of new technologies.
Slavery became a key issue in the arguments of the north and the south. The south was very agricultural while the north was industrial. The south feared the declaration of freedom for the slaves by government leaders in the north. Government officials at the time were not interested in ending Slavery in the slave states, but instead in keeping newly admitted states from becoming slave states. The first official disagreement of this came in 1820.
The end result of the Dred Scott decision was Chief Justice Roger Taney 's decision that Congress did not possess the jurisdiction to stop slavery from spreading into other territories, even if they were considered free. Even worse, any free Black could now be allowably forced into slavery. Being forced into slavery was also seen as being beneficial to the free Blacks. Instead of reaching a decision as President Buchanan had hoped, it had started a rapid expansion of the conflict. This rapid expansion over the issue of slavery eventually led to the Civil War.
