What Caused the Divisions Over Slavery

Today in class we learned about the Election of 1860, its results, and how they represent the countries deep divisions over slavery. First, we watched a Crash Course video to learn how the topic of slavery caused divisions through events such as Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott case, John Brown’s raid, etc. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roNmeOOJCDY) Then we answered the essential question, “Were the results of the Election of 1860 representative of the deep divisions over slavery,” with evidence from our notes and from the video. Then, we read the article Civil War in Art, (http://www.civilwarinart.org/exhibits/show/causes/introduction/the-election-of-1860-and-seces) and used it to create a video that explained the major events surrounding the Election of 1860, and our answer to the essential question. We used art from the article, and more pieces we found online, to show the full story behind the election.

Watch our video on Educreations here:

Citations:

"Portrait of Dred Scott." 1853. 

"1860 Presidential Election Map." 1860. American Presidency Project.

"Fort Sumter Engraving." Unknown Artist. Dec 26, 1860. 

Civil War in Art. http://www.civilwarinart.org/exhibits/show/causes/introduction/the-election-of-1860-and-seces.

Civil War in Art. http://www.civilwarinart.org/exhibits/show/causes/introduction/the-election-of-1860-and-seces

Crash Course Election of 1860. https://nerdfighteria.info/video/crashcourse/roNmeOOJCDY

North vs South: Civil War Infographic

Before the Civil War, the North and the South had continuous conflict over slavery and slave laws. The war was started to end the fight over slavery once and for all, and we know that the anti-slavery North was victorious. I chose specific statistics and facts for my Infographic because I wanted to show the advantages the North had in the war, and why their strategy was so successful.

I chose to include charts that show the railroad mileage and factories that the North had because they contributed to the North’s ability to easily supply food and materials to their troops during the war. The reason I didn’t include any graphs or charts to show statistics for the South is because they didn’t really have many strong advantages. The North was the one with clear leverage in the war. Also, I included the sections about each sides strategies because it shows how the North won the war. They had a stronger plan, even though the South seemed to have stronger motivation.

The process of creating this Infographic really helped me to learn about the situations faced by the Union and Confederacy at the start of the war. I looked over the information many times, and picked out the important facts and statistics to help explain the strategies, motivations, and advantages of both the North and South at the start of the Civil War.

Slavery: The Elephant in the Room

We know that the debate over slavery was the “elephant in the room” for American politics in the early 19th century because the opinions on it were so divided, and the topic itself was extremely controversial. From 1850 to 1859, violent events and questionable government decisions brought up strong opposing sides on the topic of slavery. In class, we created a timeline with events that prove that the debate over slavery was a difficult topic to discuss in the early 19th century.

One example of violence that resulted from the lack of debate on the topic of slavery was the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1954. The Kansas Nebraska Act, created by Stephen Douglas, created a new transcontinental railroad from Chicago to new territory in the west. The act was going to make Chicago a center of commerce and trade, but to make it happen, Douglas had to compromise with the south. He proposed to violate the Missouri Compromise,which states that there were to be no slave states above the Missouri’s southern border, and create new territories in the west, Kansas and Nebraska, that would be ruled by popular sovereignty. This resulted in thousands of pro slavery activists and abolitionists to flock to the new territory in an attempt to influence their status as states. Violent disputes over land and slave laws broke out across the land, eventually naming this time Bleeding Kansas.

Just as Bleeding Kansas was the result of an incompetent compromise, John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry was the result of the incompetent debate of slavery in the South. John Brown was upset that the anti-slavery cause was getting nowhere, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He planned to wage war on Virginia with weapons he would steal from the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Brown and 21 other men, black and white, violently raided the arsenal. Brown was eventually captured, tried, and hanged, in Virginia for his crime.

Obviously slavery was a topic that people in the early 19th century did not want to discuss at length due to the strong opinions on both sides. Discussions and compromises, no matter how beneficial for either side, seemed to commonly end in violence. People were injured and killed whether they supported slavery or not. Much of these instances, specifically Bleeding Kansas and Harper’s Ferry, were the result of inadequate debates that didn’t solve problems thoroughly enough. But, the result of these acts was even less discussion of slavery, out of fear for more violence and uprisings.

In the 19th century, slavery was a huge part of American society. The country relied on slavery for more than half of its export revenue. Millions of people were enslaved based solely on their race, ignoring all other characteristics like education and class. Slavery was a huge problem in American society, but a huge profitable industry as well.

Slavery was economically entrenched in society by the early 1800s. With the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in 1793, the amount of slaves in the US began to grow to support the newly improved cotton industry. Cotton production dominated the south, and produced 191.8 million dollars in export revenue by the early 19th century. Just under 4 million slaves worked in the cotton industry creating 2,280 million pounds of it per year. Slavery was now entrenched in the Unites States, and the abolition of it would cause serious consequences to its economy. If the country were to abolish slavery, it would lose more than half its export revenue, which made abolition nearly impossible. This map shows just how widespread slavery was during the late 18th to early 19th centuries.

In the United States, slavery was a system based completely on race. This affects the way people are treated, and changes societies views on them. Slaves were treated like animals, and weren’t given proper food or shelter. These people weren’t viewed as humans, and their dignity suffered because of it. Frederick Douglass, a former slave and leader in the abolitionist movement, spoke about the dignity of black people during his “Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” speech in 1852. He said, “What to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer, the day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty, to which he is the constant victim." He pointed out how blacks were been witness to the celebration of freedom by the people who were taking their own freedom away. He believed that this was just one of the cruel ways that American citizens were undermining the rights of the slaves.

In the US, slavery was based solely on race, with no regard to any other human characteristics. People saw the black slaves not as other human beings, but property that they owned. They held no regard for any qualities these slaves had, such as an education or skills. One example of this injustice was Abdul Rahman, a prince from Futa Jalon in Africa, who was taken and sold as slave in America. No one believed that he was a prince, and it took them decades to realize that he was also extremely well educated. These traits were ignored by his white owners. Plantations all across America refused to acknowledge that these slaves were humans too, and denied them of proper food and shelter.

Without regard to the needs and abilities of the enslaved people, slavery became entrenched in America. Producing huge amounts of money for the country, it would take years before any abolition movements created a large enough impact to abolish slavery.

Sources:

Spread of Slavery Map - http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-02.html

Frederick Douglass Speech - http://www.edline.net/files/_BEHdp_/b9a40a0b44d61aac3745a49013852ec4/Morality_of_Slavery_DBQ_Documents.pdf

Information on Abdul Rahman - http://princeamongslaves.org/module/comparing.html

The Rights of Women

Women in mid-19th century America were treated extremely different from men. They were treated as less than men, but were expected to do a lot more. Women of the time did not have many rights in society, and their demand for equality caused many different reactions. 

Women were expected to maintain a clean and peaceful household, as well as take care of their children. They were in charge of maintaining. cleaning, and mending clothing, educating, entertaining, and disciplining their children, and cooking, cleaning, and keeping their house in order. All without recognition or help from anyone outside their household. But despite of all the work being done by women, they barely had any rights in their society. Women weren't recognized in the eyes of the law. Women were not allowed to own property, any possessions they had would become property of their husbands when they married. Women could not vote in any state in the Union, and they could legally have their children taken away from them when their husband died. 

Women became fed up with their unfair treatment and attempted to reform their society. They created a list of grievances and reforms entitled "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." They modeled it after the Declaration of Independence and listed their demands. Howard Zinn wrote about the women's reform and this document in particular in History is a Weapon: Chapter 6 The Intimately Oppressed. He stated that "Then came the list of grievances: no right to vote, no right to her wages or to property, no rights in divorce cases, no equal opportunity in employment, no entrance to colleges, ending with: 'He had endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life....'" The women felt that they were being oppressed and mistreated by men, and stood up for their rights.

Unfortunately, 21st century society still reacts differently to men and women. Of course, the inequality is nowhere near as extreme as it was in the mid-19th century, but it is still prevalent. This Pantene commercial shows exactly how women can be perceived differently than men. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2kfgW7708&feature=youtu.be). Today women are still treated less than men, whether they are in a position of power or not. Women deserve to be treated as equals to men, and women's rights are still a huge topic in society today. 

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions: http://www.edline.net/files/_AIGpE_/e432b021f82b6ba03745a49013852ec4/Declarations_of_Sentiments_and_Resolutions.pdf

The Intimately Oppressed: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnint6.html

Crime and Temperance

"In speaking upon this subject, it is useless to recount the enormities committed against the moral feelings of the whole city, during the first year of the present mayor's administration, when murders were perpetuated with impunity, and known violators of law permitted to go unpunished and unrebuked, provided their sinning was on the side of rum and intemperance. From the moment that he refused to appoint a Marshal, for whom more than a thousand citizens petitioned, vice and immorality held a jubilee, for they saw that the executive power of this city was their friend and ally, and rum shops sprung up at every corner of the street, drunkards staggered in every alley, while prostitution reared its brothels at every thoroughfare leading to us, and held carnival in the very heart of the city itself. Virtue was confronted on the streets by known harlots, young men decoyed to houses of infamy in open day, and beneath the very shadow of the Mayor's office, the courtesan bargained for the price of her embraces, and led her victims to a place of assignation.

Public opinion cried out against these outrages of decency, but the executive power of the city was as dead to petitions, to remonstrances, and to cries of help for redress, as it was destitute of those high principles of morality that alone can adorn an official position. No descents, as are done in other cities, was made upon known houses of ill-fame, and the quiet of four suburban villages was destroyed by their hellish orgies, while thieves made their dens the receptacles of their stolen plunder, and vice, hideous, loathsome and revolting, revelled in and disgraced our city. The people, at last, publicly rose against the Mayor, pulpits exposed his heedlessness and disregard of the honor of the city, and he retorted by accusing them of falsehood in their statements in regard to the amount of crime among us. A change was made in the city marshal, Irishmen made constables and appointed watchmen, and halycon days were once more to shine upon the city; but the Scriptures were still true, and the "last (year) of that man was worse than the first." ("Crime in the City." Daily Evening Journal, 1854.)

In this document the author believed that drunkenness and intemperance were affecting the way the government in his town was being run. The purpose of his article was to show how the government officials were unfit for their jobs due to their inability to make sober decisions, and to show the rise in crime from excessive drinking. He has used specific evidence showing how the citizens of the town had reacted to the actions of their government and the problems the town was facing. The time period of this article was during the Temperance Movement in the United States. The goal of the Temperance Movement was to reduce the consumption of alcohol because it was believed that the high drinking rate was causing excessive violence and crime. From the document, we learn that drunkards were roaming the streets, brothels could be found on every corner, domestic violence was common, and punishment for these crimes was rare. The author was trying to convince the reader that the government was in need of reform. The Mayor was a drunk, and hired no Marshals to keep order in the town and let many go unpunished for crimes committed under the influence of alcohol. He used evidence such as the burning of homes and violence in the streets to prove his point. From this document we can see that alcohol was a major problem in the United States, and authors of works such as this were advocates for the Temperance Movement to reduce alcohol consumption.

Sources:

Crime in the City

http://www1.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/95Fall97/EveningJournalDec8.html

Ken Burns’s Prohibition

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/

Was Andrew Jackson Really A Great President?

Today in class we studied Andrew Jackson his reputation as "the people's president." We looked at three key events he is most known for and decided of he deserves this reputation. The first even we looked at was the Bank War. The Bank War was started when Jackson vetoed the renewal of the Charter of the Second National Bank. He believed that the bank held too much power over economy and trade, and wanted the lower classes to have more of a say. But, this ended up leading to a sort of class war between the rich and the poor and did not improve the economy in any way. The Spoils System is another act Jackson is known for. The Spoils System was the act of a political party giving government jobs to supporters after an election victory to encourage people to vote for them. After Jackson was elected he gave jobs to supporters of his, which ended up filling the government jobs with people unfit for the positions. The goal of the Spoils System was to bring in new opinions and give more people opportunities to participate in government, but it did nothing to improve the system. The last event was looked at was the Indian Removal Act in which Jackson forced 100,000 Indians from their native land to make room for white settlement. He forced them to walk to their new land on what is now known as "The Trail of Tears." Thousands of Indians died on the march. 

Looking at all of to the evidence, I believe that Andrew Jackson's reputation as "the people's president" is not deserved. Although he acted with the well-being of his country in mind, everything ended up leading to more harm than good. After the Bank War the American economy crashed, the Spoils System did nothing to improve the government, and the Indian Removal Act killed thousands of Indians. These outcomes prove that Jackson does not deserve his reputation as the "people's president."

See our presentation on the Bank War here: