In the 1800s the Institution of Slavery became very dominant in the United States, but mainly in the South. Due to the climate and their type of economy, their agriculture productions required a great amount of labor that was performed by the slaves. In the south, “slavery was key to the way of life”1 the majority of the south relied on the slaves to do all of the hard work for them and maximize the profit of their owners. The northern states however had a different type of economy and did not require the work of slaves to maintain their style of living. Their climate as well did not allow them to have an agricultural based economy, the soil in the north was not fertile and the growing season was not long enough for them to have a dominant …show more content…
Through the religious awakening the southerners were supportive of the majority of the changes the evangelical leaders proposed however they did not follow the personal convergence. The northerners did continue with this convergence and were able to recognize the wrongs of the south. This convergence had a great impact on women who sought to create a perfect society. In order to do this they became active in reform movements known as Antebellum Reforms which occurred before the civil war. “The Antebellum movements focused on helping people who couldn’t help themselves like the African American slaves in the south.”1 These movements began in the north and used two reform strategies. The reform strategies “focused on improving individual behaviors which was known as moral suasion, as well as using political action which focused on outlawing the behabiors.”1 This was the beginning of the tension between the north and the south because the south were unwilling to give up their style of living which included the ownership of slaves. As slavery continued to dominant the south and evolve over the years, the slaves themselves began to attack the slavery system they were a part of against their own will. Southerners as well had concerns of slave revolts that could possibly occur at any given moment. This
Many of the people in the North that were of the Protestant faith believed in a different set of moral codes than the people of the South. In an excerpt taken from the textbook American Promise, the authors sum up what it was to be a Protestant at the time. “Not content with individual perfection, many of these people sought to perfect society as well, by defining excessive alcohol consumption, non-martial sex, and slavery as three major evils of modern life in need of correction” (page 376). The Protestant ideal helped form many groups that fought for the abolishment of slavery, among them the abolitionist movement. The Protestants felt that all men were created equal and this was in direct conflict with many Southern people. Many of the Northern reform groups “found their initial inspiration in Protestantism’s dual message: Salvation was open to all, and society needed to be perfected” (page 385).
There were social developments in the South during this time period as well. Since slavery was an extreme moral issue, there were many people arguing either for or against it. The southern whites came up with many different reasons to defend slavery. One way they defended it was by saying that the Bible did not condemn it. They argued that the Bible said it allowed the enslavement of Heathens, which the south believed African Americans to be. They also said that many other societies depended on slavery, like they did. They believed that some of the greatest empires, like classical Greece and Rome, depended on slavery and would not have existed without it. Slavery defenders reasoned that African Americans didn’t have the ability to care for themselves and that they were an inferior race, in which needed someone to care for them. They argued that slaves in the South lived better than the factory workers of the North. Masters cared for the slaves; while northern workers had no claim to their employer. They thought that the manner in which the slaves were treated was much more humane than how the workers in the factories were treated.
During the late 1800’s there were turbulent times between the Northern and Southern States in America, one the vastest areas that was constantly being quarreled against one another is the usage of slavery. As slavery was the principal component within the Southern States, it provided the basis for many of the cash crops that were spread throughout. Whereas, many within the Northern States were firmly against the usage of slave and wanted to end this practice once and for all. This continuous incompatibility between slave states in the South and the free states in the North eventually ended up colliding into a Civil War. There were many aspects that led to this collision, such as; when America expanded into the western terrain after the Mexican-American
There had been tension between the North and South but nobody realized as the tension and slavery grew that it would lead to roughly 620,00 lives lost. The lives that were lost was from the Civil War and caused by the overall idea of Popular Sovereignty. The tension had risen from the ideas of Slavery, Nullification Act, and last of all the Kansas-Nebraska act.
the states that were in the northern section had mostly depended on trading posts and merchants. By being dependent on those two things there had been no need for the use of slaves, and they had also been armed with machinery's and jobs in the factories. They also had the skill that had been needed and had done lots of labor. Since they had been well equipped on everything making money was very easy and the north had planned to bring these types of jobs to the North. Unfortunately the south had always mostly relied on agriculture, and for having lots of work like this meant they needed lots of man power to keep it going. The north hadn't relied on slaves like the south had and the southern hadn't paid the slaves as well. Once the north became
The south for a good while was always fond of using slavery as a cheap source of work. The increase in the number of slaves was when John Rolfe became one of the first to cultivate tobacco in the so called “New World back then in the 17th century. There was good money to be made about the amount of labor that went into the tobacco cultivation was harch, hence why slaves were used. Ever since then, it is obvious to note that slaves dominated the aspect of southern life. Whether that be economically, socially or politically, slaves played an important role in each category.
Around 1820 the North had either banned slavery or began gradual emancipation programs, such as free labor. The states remained agricultural but went through an industrial period. They created a diversified economy as they invested more on cities, factories, and forms of transportation. In contrast, the South invested more in agriculture increasing their reliance of slaves labor. One of the main reasons agriculture rised in the South was due to the expansion of the cotton plantations.
In American Slavery 1619-1877 written by American Historian Peter Kolchin, he wrote “south developed as a true slave society, in which slavery served as the bedrock of the economy and of the social order” (Kolchin, Pg 29). This shows that the south relied on Slavery as a means to help run their society because being that the South was prominently farm country they needed to rely on slave labor to grow and sell their crops like cotton, tobacco and wheat which supply majority of their financial income. The south was never evolved into a more practical and modern way of life thus, the demand for slave labor in the south became increasingly more frequent, even when the need for slave labor according to the rest of the world was no longer a necessity. Just like the South, the northern states used slavery as their main source of income at first, however what set the North apart from the south is their advanced thinking. Slavery in the North while legal was not as excessive, in fact according to Kolchin, “ In most of the north, lack of substantial commercial agriculture preclude a demand for large scale forced labor; slaves served in a variety of capabilities, from house service to skilled crafts and day labor, but slavery did not serve as the basis for the economy” (Kolchin, Pg 27.) This depicts that while slaves did serve a purpose in the North’s financial
Escaped slaves from the South helped the north to win the Civil War by increasing the number of soldiers fighting in the war for the north and by spying on the south for the north. With the help of escaped slaves fighting the South, the north outnumbered the south in battles, which eventually led to the North’s victory in the Civil War. Escaped slaves form the south also helped the north by spying on the south and reporting to Union officials who reported the information to the Union army. The purpose of this paper is to consider how escaped slaves from the south helped the north win the civil war resulting in the abolishment of slavery.
Slavery was the focal point of the economy in the South, this inthrallment was the fuel for the agricultural South as well as the industrial North. Slaves would work the lands of their masters and bring in the raw materials produced, and these raw materials, commonly tobacco and cotton, would be shipped to the North and Europe. The North used the raw materials for the textile mills from the South because it made more economic sense because it cost less than the raw materials coming from Europe. Both regions became dependent upon each other, "the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing states..." (Doc A) would occur if slavery was prevented from spreading by the Republicans. This claim being that if the North continued its free-soil mentality, it would fail as well due to a lack of raw materials caused by an insufficient amount of land for slaves and plantations; "a blow at slavery ia a blow at commerce and civilization..." (Doc R). The North was strongly tied economically to the products of slavery, the South was immensely impacted by slavery, it was the foundation and
Many people around the U.S sit in classrooms and learn about the Civil War. A lot of students are taught that the War was fought over Slavery, this is a misnomer. In spite of what we are taught in school, the Civil War was not just over Slavery, but also over a states right to choose by popular sovernity. The Definition of Popular Sovereignty is "
The southern states were a slave society, and were known to being the way of life. It was the root to everything in the south, and southerners were very protective about it. In the south southerners “feared that without slavery’s expansion, the abolitionist faction would come to dominate national politics and an increasingly dense population of slaves would lead to bloody insurrection and race war” (The American Yawp, Chap.13), and southerners did not want to jeopardize their way of life. The south would press on the notion that racial mixing and racial wars would break out, and that blacks were a threat to white supremacy. Besides the racial fears the south would speak out on, they also stressed that slaves were property, which entitles them to their owner. People in the south also used the bible to justify slavery because it was present in the bible. The southern states believed in the ‘mudsill’ theory. James Henry Hammond speech on the ‘mudsill’ theory explained the theory. Hammond and other pro slavery southerners defined slavery as a good thing. Paternalism was another justification, to influence their belief that slavery was a caring establishment. That south argued that they took care of their slaves, and that the north did not treat their workers with such
During the nineteenth century in America the issue of slavery became a huge ordeal between many groups of people. In the South this issue was more prominent than in the North due to many factors, which included the economy, way of life, and beliefs of southern whites. The need for slaves increased after the invention of the cotton gin so slaves were high in demand for processing cotton. In the South, the economical system revolved around the use of slaves due to the strong agricultural economy that had been formed. Justifications such as the use of the Gospel, and examining how slavery helped to boost the economy gave the whites all the reason more to keep slavery around. Slavery was a way of life for many generations and it had no signs of changing no matter how bad the North pushed the issue that slavery was wrong.
“By 1860, the South contained more slaves than all the other slave societies in the New World combined’ (Roark, 331). Slavery was the backbone of the American Southern states’ economy, a highly controversial topic, and eventually the cause of the American Civil war. Even before the Civil War, there were many American groups who opposed slavery. In the early 19th century there were several forces that opposed slavery, both in the North and the South, they used different methods, but were all striving for the same goal, the freedom of slaves in the United States of America. There were three influential forces in the North and two in the South.
The question of slavery and the rights of states to decide on the matter for themselves completely controlled politics in the years prior to the Civil War. Laws were passed, such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it so any slaves that escaped were to be sent back to their owners. Not only would these runaway slaves be punished severely, but anybody who aided them in escape would also be subject to harsh punishment. These desperate men, women, and children had no protection in the legal system and were left with no options in life other than escape. Many of these escapees had to watch friends and family be beaten, sold, or even killed and were expected to work just as hard, like nothing had happened. After losing everything, it