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Civil War Timeline

What caused The Civil War?

The Civil War was not caused by one single act, opinion, or decision, but by many of those all blended together. The South and North believe the war started for different reasons, but they both may necessarily be correct or incorrect. Three of the main reasons our of many reasons are the South wanting to preserve slavery and their slave society, the fear among the people, as well as Political fear. The North's reasoning for the war is mostly opposing or just different than the South's.
The South's reasoning for the war happening is much different than the North's reasoning because they have different views on slavery. For example, the South defends the Constitution and the North defends the mob rule and anarchy. The South and North also have opposing opinions as to why succession occurred, which helped add to the list of reasons why The Civil War occurred. With the South believing that secession occurred partially because of the South wanting to preserve and protect their slavery and slave society and the North going against the idea of secession completely caused the two different society's to bump heads and caused controversy. For example there is an excerpt from a northern soldier and he says to his wife: "A pure love of my country and of the principles I have so often advocated before the people- another name of Honor that I love more than I fear death- has called upon me and I have obeyed." This is an example of how the Northerners felt about the civil war and why they fought in it. Most Northerners believed that they were protecting their country and that the South was going against it. They felt threatened and as if they had to protect themselves and their country. Also the difference in the work or labor forces led up to the North and South arguing as well. The South believed that slavery was much better for the people because they had absolutely nothing to worry about and had everything for them from their masters. They believed that after a hard days work the slaves were happy to know they were going to have a meal and a bed to sleep in. The North disagreed strongly and believed in free-market and competition for jobs and everything around them. They thought that the free market and competition for jobs was the best thing for their society, but it turned out to be much harder than they expected.
Back to the reason of the fear of the people in the South, Professor Blight states something that Lincoln says about this idea while in office that captures the idea: " It is a course of ultimate extinction". Going along with the idea of fear, another cause of secession that also led to the war was Political Fear. The South began to fear when Lincoln got to decide who was in Supreme Court. This feared the South because Lincoln was a Republican therefore he was clearly going to choose a Republican, which meant less political power for the South. There are many different reasons and events as to why the Civil Was was caused; Fear among the people, Political fear, and protecting slave society were just a few reasons. Also, differences in the work forces that brought up much controversy added to the cause.

Pro Slavery Argument

Although I still do not agree with slavery the lectures by Professor Blight were very educational and showed different points defending slavery. The main idea was Southern slave owners and some of their reasoning's behind why they did have slavery besides that it was the normal thing to do. The eight key points they made are; A biblical argument, Historical, Natural Rights, Economics, Necessary Evil, Slavery being harder on whites rather than blacks, Cynical/Amoral, and a Racially based argument. With these eight reasons Blight helped to explain a small piece behind why slavery had existed.

Using the Religious argument was an extremely strong argument in my opinion because back in the times when slavery occurred people were very religious and anything from or said by God was considered correct. The south used this argument often too convince the north that slavery was actually okay to have in your society. The fact of saying that slavery had always existed right when the world had begun convinced people that it was right to have. In my opinion this argument was one of the strongest arguments used because it is very believable. Another argument used is Historical reasoning. The South saying that the idea has been crucial to great civilization. Also Blight refers to Greece and Rome saying that slavery has been the engine of greatness base of all society must be a labor system. I think this argument is quiet strong too because it is easy to convince someone that a civilization like Greece and Rome was only successful because their society contained slavery. They would say the slaves do the work as the rest of the population advances society.

The argument on Natural Rights I do not think is as strong as the others because it is based off of John Locke's philosophy on natural rights, except they just turned his idea around. The way the argument did this is by saying there is natural inequality and that not everyone is born the same. Another argument that I do not agree with is the racially based one, stating that slaves were put on this earth to be slaves. Everyone was put on this earth with equal opportunity, not to be categorized by their skin color. The two arguments I could give credit to is the first two, The Biblical argument as well as the Historical one, they are the only arguments not based on opinions. I feel they are the strongest and most believable arguments that were stated in Blight's lecture.

Pro Slavery Argument (north)

It seems as if the North pre-civil war was an extremely busy yet content place to live. The Northern states were going through very large changes from the Industrial Revolution. Through the 1800 to the 1830's and 40's the North had been modernizing, industrializing, and specializing throughout the market revolution. With the Industrial Revolution occurring in made the North a much more competitive place and a free economy. The free economy that the North chose to have aloud them to make their own choices, which is great, but also made it more difficult to get jobs. Not everyone in the economy had a job there was now competition. This gave equal opportunity to everyone for a job, but made it much more difficult to get one while they have more freedom it was more difficult to get a job.

The North and the South disagreed mainly on the ways they ran their own government. The North believed in the free market and economy and equal opportunity for everyone. Also, they supported change, while the South did not. The South did not believe in the change that was going on above them in the North and it scared them because the North was their main source of income. The North's talk about not having slavery was crazy talk to the Southerners.

Justification for Mexican American war

The Mexican American War was caused by many disputing issued between the United States government, Texas and Mexico. Before 1836 Texas had belonged to Mexico, in 1836 Americans living in Texas rebelled against Mexican rule. The main issues were caused by the arguments of the freedom Texas and Mexico wanted. Mexicans and Texans waged a nasty border struggle for nine years, but continued to withhold direct intervention. By Mexico and Texas being their own free-states they were left vulnerable to be taken advantage of by America, which is what happened.

The American's acted in a very unjust way by taking advantage of Mexico and Texas. We showed very unjust behavior and used our power to have the upper hand and use the resources and knowledge we had that Texas and Mexico did not. It was not right for the American's to kick others off of their land to leave them homeless and scared for their lives.

Jackson Turner

The Jackson Turner thesis is Jackson's thoughts about the frontier the Americans created. Turner disagreed with the frontier they had placed there. While the Americans believed it gave them freedom Jackson felt as if it was a boundary that could not be passed rather than a boundary of freedom. Citizens saw this as freedom because they finally had their own land to make their own decisions on, which is freedom to them. Turner did not accept the frontier the Americans set, he fought against it.

The argument against Turner's states the general idea that the frontier land is overall extremely very useful for the people in America. Turner continually states that the land is only "free and useless" yet it is anything but that. That is untrue because people like the Natives searched for frontiers as they constantly got kicked off their lands and saw frontiers as hope and an offered up home. Mainly the argument is trying to show how that the frontier was more helpful than anything else.

In my opinion I think that Turner is wrong for thinking the frontier is a burden on America. The frontier's helped us to unite together as a country. The frontier allowed America to have the boundaries it needed to become its own nation. It was one of the first steps that they took to becoming a separate nation.

Fitzhugh vs. Douglass

In the decades leaving up to the civil war two men argued in the 1850's with opposing opinions about slavery. George Fitzhugh and Frederick Douglass tried to convince people each of their own opinions were correct. Douglass was against slavery while Fitzhugh was fighting for it.

Douglass is a former slave from the South, born in Maryland and strongly disagrees with slavery. He is an abolishinist as well. Douglass thinks it is wrong to have sympathry for the slaves and does not think people should ever consider, "what do we do", just do not do it. In his argument he says everyone should get a chance no matter who you are, "Give him a chance to stand on his own legs" (Douglass). He believed that everyone should get a chance to start even if everyone around them thinks they are destine to fail. Also, he argued that white africans should not be sent back to Africa and also that everyone should be free regardless of who they are. He believed that the killing of the black man Attuck Crispus was the start to freedom. Lastly, Douglass believed that it was wrong to force blacks to be forced to celebrate the fourth of July because although the American's were free they were not. By forcing them to celebrate freedom that does not apply to them it id just teasing them with something they cannot have.

George Fitzhugh is a former lawyer from Virginia and an author of two books and articles advocating slavery. He believes that blacks are inferior to the whites, "...the negro race is inferior to the white race, and living in their midst, they would be far outstripped or outwitted in the chaos of free competition" (George Fitzhugh). He beleived slaves are unprepared for the future and owners are providing?preventing them from struggling. He argued that the south would care for the slaves and they would freeze/starvein the North because no one would be caring for them. He also argued that the North had domestic violence and that the South had higher morals than the whites in the North. He said slavery protects, supports, civilizes the slaves. Fitzhugh also says Negros are protected by slave owners and if they have no freedom they no worries.

Although I do not agree with Fitzhugh's argument I would say that it is presented stronger than Douglass' argument. Fitzhugh is more specific and much more pursuasive than Douglass is throughout his argument. Fitzhugh states continuesly states examples of how the the negro race will be much happier and safer and have an overall better life if they stayed in the South. Yet, leaving out how they will have no freedom and instead stating, "The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world" (Fitzhugh). This statement is extremely powerful for his argument because he is saying that because the negroes have no freedom therefore they have no worries and if they go and compete in the free market with freedom and decision making it will create worries. This could make someone rethink their decision to go into the North and be free or stay in the South and be a slave.

Douglass' argument may be a bit weaker than Fitzhugh's but I agree with Douglass' argument in the long run. Douglass' argument has many strong points when he is arguing that slavery is wrong. He argues that negroes should get a chance to try new things and compete just as white people do, "...If the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also." (Douglass) This is a strong point in his argument that I agree with, as he is saying everyone should get a chance to try, even if they fail. Also, that whites have the same chance to fail as blacks do, just as they have the same chance to succeed. Overall I agree with Douglass' argument even if it was slightly weaker than Fitzhugh's.

Fitzhugh and Douglass argued over different points about slavery in the 1850's, trying to convince people that each of their different opinions were correct. Douglass was overall correct I believe, even if Fitzhugh's argument may have gotten to the people in a clearer more pursuasive way.

Era of Good Feelings

Monroe was a talked up very much before he had taken office, many were extremely pleased when he had been elected after James Madison. He was known to have a "spotless reputation" and had also fought a great battle in Trenton. He had quickly become a very popular choice as a federalist newspaper sent out an article named "The Era of Good Feelings" referring to his time in office. Although they believed this was going to be true, the "good feelings" started to dwindle. In 1819 is when it first started during "The Panic of 1819" as the country started to go into depression, leaving agriculture and manufacturing in a slump. Also, regional differences came up as well, such as tariffs, banking policies, and slavery. Slavery began to divide the nation and the "good feelings" that were supposed to be cause by Monroe started to fade away because of him. Therefore Monroe's presidency was not an Era of Good Feeling after all.

Impact of Cotton Gin

The invention of the Cotton Gin impacted the ways of life and work for many southerners. Before 1793 when Eli Whitney had produced the first Cotton Gin, cotton had been quite the hassle to grow. The Cotton Gin had helped cotton become more popular than the cash crops had been throughout that time period. The Cotton Gin had positive and negative affects for many of the southerners lifestyles.

Cotton was a highly desired crop, but because of the labor intensive process it required this kept it from being cost efficient. If farmers wanted to grow cotton it took a very large amount of work and time to do this. Once Whitney's invention had been discovered it decreased the labor by 50 times without throwing anyone out of business. This then inceased cotton to become the most planted crop in the US. The first ten years of the Cotton Gin, cotton production sky rocketed up by 800%. The new moto in the south had then become "Cotton is King". Cotton had become the most popular, planted crop in the United States.

The South isn't the only place in the country that had benefited from the Cotton Gin: "Southerners were not the only ones benefiting from the cotton boom. Eighty percent of the south’s cotton went to England by way of northern shippers. These shippers were able to buy cotton wholesale and sell it at a premium, since England’s most important manufactured good was cotton cloth. One-fifth of the population in England earned a living from the manufacture of this cloth, and 75 percent of the cotton used in England’s production came from the United States. Since England was so dependent on the south’s cotton and the north’s transportation of it, both the north and the south were able to benefit heavily from this export". Another positive out-come from the Cotton Gin is how the production from it helped strengthen the US.

The Cotton Gin seems to have very many positive affects on the US, it also had negative affects. As the cash crops tobacco, rice, and sugar began to dwindle away and not be as popular cotton production got very strong. This can be helpful at first, until the economy becomes a one crop economy from so much cotton being planted by so many people. The cotton had also taken a tole on the soil quality in the south, which had led to labor sources being unstable. The Cotton Gin had also cause slavery to go back up in numbers because of the needed workers for the Cotton Gin's they needed more slaves to work. The Cotton becoming so popular had led to socioeconomic imbalance in the south, while Democracy was just taking place. Another negative affect this had was the majority of the south was taken over by minority of wealthy plantation owners. The Cotton Gin's negative affects certainly put somewhat of a tole on the US.

Washington's address, Summary and Analysis

XYZ Affairs and Alien and Sedition Acts

1. The XYZ affairs created more tension between France and America. When the three men that John Adams appointed top negotiate with France traveled to do so, they were forced to communicate through three French agents. Or other known as agents, "X, Y ,Z". This angered Adams very much when he that this had happened, this being one of the first problems he has had to face as president. France then refused to negotiate with the American's in any way unless they paid them a $250, 000 bribe and a very large loan as well. This made the Americans seem much lower in class than France, which created much more tension between them as well. This then led to Adams declaring war as the army was tripled in size, a navy was appointed and 40 war ships were created to take on France. This preparation to go to war with France never ended up turning into a war, John Adams intelligently did not go to war, but congress did stop commercial trade with France.

2. The Federalists were not justified in passing the Alien and Sedition Acts, these acts were a violation to the Constitution. This gave the right to the government to just throw anyone into jail that looked like a threat, that is completely judgemental and wrong. That is not a proper way to punish someone and it should not have been passed.

3. Kentucky and Virginia were very justified in their response to the Alien and Sedition Acts as they disagreed with them. They did not agree with Congress passing these acts in any way as this forced people to move to Thomas Jefferson's republican party. In response to these acts being passed, Jefferson and Madison wrote acts against the acts they then sent their resolutions to all the states. Kentucky and Virginia being two states that had given them positive feedback.