Tuesday, December 6, 2011
EXTRA CREDIT
Yale Civil War Lecture
Watch the lecture above and what you have read for class and asnswer the folloowing question.
What was the cause of the Civil War?
Make sure to give specific examples to support your argument. If you want to argue against another person's opinion feel free to do so.
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During the speech the professor was talking about some of the causes of the Civil War being Fear, slavery, states’ rights, conflicting civilization, and other things. He then goes in to talking about how Jon Davis didn’t like the Black Republican Party. Because of their opposition of slavery in not only territories but also states. Jeff Davis also argued that Africans were born to be made slaves and taken from a savage continent to a civilized continent where they could learn and work happily for their master and how since many tried to free them with promises of freedom and how rebellions started. He also talks about how slavery was threatened by republican’s ability to basically control everything in politics because of their becoming of a minority in the house of representatives because of the North’s population and the fear of Lincoln being in office appoint Northerners as Supreme court members and other seats of power. However there wasn’t much that could be done because of states rights as declared in the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the professor’s lecture, he talks about the causes of the Civil War as being states right, conflicting civilizations, fear, and others. The professor then goes on and starts to talk about how Jefferson Davis does not like the republican party, on the basis that they supported getting rid of slaver in the United Sates, due to the fact that they did not want it to spread to the new territories, as well as in the states, but nowhere did it say that they wanted to kill slavery all together. So this also could have been a reason why the civil war started, the south thought that the republican party was trying to get rid of slavery by making it so that no new territory could be a slave state, but in reality the republican party was just trying to stop the spread of slaver, not trying to destroy the institution of slavery.
ReplyDeleteJust for clarification, this is not supposed to be a summary of the lecture. This is a discussion where you have to state your opinion over the following point: "What was the cause of the Civil War?" State your opinion and defend your point, you may use the lecture or any of the readings to support your point. Again, DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE LECTURE.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing the lecture I have come to the conclusion that the Civil War was caused by fear in relation to slavery. It was this economical, political, and radical fear that everyone with all the different views on slavery that caused the war. As stated in the lecture, if northern republicans didn’t lead bands of people into the south then they feared having more John Browns going to down to the south. If the north didn’t do anything about this then more turmoil and “radicalness” (I know not a word) would take over leading to a political issue. Also, the South was feeling already like a minority especially now that the northern Republicans were growing bigger and bigger. Then we have the South in a huge economical problem that feared that the North would take over if slavery was removed. The North was already expanding with railroads and roadways and the only thing that was making money down in the South was their slave society/system. As quoted in the lecture, Robert Rhett basically inferred that if the South were to submit to these northern abolitionists, that they would lose their liberty, property, home and everything. They all fear of losing the power and control that they have. For example we have the Northern democrats, Whigs and Free Soilers who do not want Slavery to spread to the new territories while we have southern Democrats and Republicans wanting to spread. Then we have the American Party who doesn’t want slavery to spread because they need jobs. Basically, The South, North and the Know nothings just feared losing what they already had due to the problem of slavery. The South didn’t want to lose their cotton kingdom nor they wanted to be overpowered by the North. The North wanted expansion of no slavery and didn’t want any radical ideas developing and the Know Nothings feared of having no jobs at all.
ReplyDeleteAn idea that I completely disagreed with was that the cause of war was southern nationalism which is the idea of a Southern nation with their own boundaries where they would no longer be dependent on the U.S federal government. I DO NOT agree with this because as the professor said, that it wasn’t an idea that was thought of, it was more of an overnight group that was born after a fear of an enemy but it wasn’t well thought of or planned. Same with the idea of Tradition of Southern Honor, I don’t believe there was such a thing at the time.
AHHH I wrote a lot I think! Sorry :D
I can tell Thursday is going to be (or was) an interesting lecture.
ReplyDeleteBut anyways, I don’t believe the Civil War was caused primarily by slavery; I think it was a major contributing factor as it affected political parties, population, seats in Congress, etc. but I think the economy, fear, and pride took parts in this.
Towards the lecture, Beard (can’t remember his first name) concluded that the Second American Revolution was caused by the agricultural era and industrial era that divided the Union, which I agree. The south took pride in their methods of economy, they believed they controlled the economy because they were King Cotton; the North and foreign trading partners depended on their agriculture.
The north however was moving forward, focusing on expanding (not that the south wasn’t either - everyone wanted more land) with faster methods of transportation, creating more jobs, and focusing in producing a variety of products, a great mistake I believe the South made. The south would not have been able to withstand on their own if they had successfully seceded from the Union, since their main export was agriculture and they had poor transportation systems - I think we can all agree that they were not as advanced as the north.
Now at some point in the lecture, Mr. Professor talks about loyalty to the state and way of life was a contributing factor also, especially in the south, and we also saw this in class yesterday when Sumner (I believe?), was beaten with a cane by that one nephew of the man who Sumner had insulted, and when he resigned and moved back to his home state, he got re-elected and received a hundred canes in the mail (which by the way, I didn’t know the that those who controlled the post office were influential back then). Although barbaric, his actions was praised and even rewarded for showing that Yankee who was boss. No one insults the South and gets away with it, you hear John Brown? Another example of nationalism is Robert E. Lee who despised slavery but still left the North to fight for the South because it was his homeland.
States’ rights definitely partook in the discussion for secession; do the states have the right to secede from the Union, because they voted to be included in the foundation of it? Or because they are a Union, they are not allowed to secede because “we are one”?
I must admit, I am torn between deciding which is the most appropriate interpretation of the Constitution, but I think I lean more towards the northerners point of view (I can hear the Professor “You Yankee!”). How can we be called a Union, if states are constantly proclaiming to secede from the country because they don’t agree with a law, an opinion, or the government’s decisions? The southerners probably argued that “Our forefathers, probably agreed to take part in the Union, but we didn’t” (typical Americans. Just like what we did with France when the Louis VI died). Yes but at the risk of sounding patriotic, we are America, the experiment country who succeeded. We fought the World’s Power and won (with help and contributing factors) and forced the world to see the country as an equal and more. If they original thirteen had broken away from each other, European powers could have easily conquered them, but they prevailed. Together we are stronger (cheesy but it gives the effect).
Sorry for my typos! *Louie
ReplyDelete@EstibalizSanchez Wow your funny! ha-ha but anyways yes I see where you are coming from when you argue that nationalism was an impact on secession but I truly don’t believe so because there were so many issues going on at the time that I think the South's major worry was losing their economy. The Professor even mentioned how this idea of their own government and own power was built almost overnight. It wasn't something well planned out nor thought about so I don’t really agree that it was a real big factor to the start of the war. I do see where you are coming from when you stated "No one insults the South and gets away with it, you hear John Brown?" because the south did do something about the issue. And on the Robert E. Lee comment, I think this Southern Nationalism developed when the war started because you couldn’t avoid the war and you eventually have to pick sides but ugh I don’t know that is what I was thinking. :P
ReplyDeleteThe cause of the Civil War was not slavery, but what to do with the western land. During the Professor’s speech, I came to many agreements with him.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the economic and social differences between the north and the south, was a factor towards the war since, with the invention of the cotton gin, cotton became very profitable and the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor. This meant the south became dedicated to a one crop economy depending on the slaves. The north then was an economy based on industry since it turned unprocessed goods into completed goods. Therefore economic reasons where a major reason for this war, because as Kristie Benejan stated in her comment, both the north and south feared losing the power and control they have from this economic situation. Also, I agree with Kristie and her topic of fear, I would like to add that when Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its secession. Why? Well because they believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of northern interests, and in all they were somewhat scared of having Lincoln, the current president on their side, which again goes back to social differences as well as fear, in believing that the government will give the expansion of land to the north. “You can hit a Yankee, he wouldn’t hit you back but he would sue you”.
I also believe that the states versus the federal rights were an issue as my fellow peer, Estibaliz Sanchez does so too. I agree with her that states’ rights took part in the discussion for secession. This type of secession was the result from the failure of nullification when the states felt that they were no longer respected. When the professor brings up the topic of manly virtues, to defend ones honor, family and ones community, I find it kind of dull because in my opinion it is not if the south did have the right to secede, but about the main issue whether slavery should be abolished or not. Not because of values. The constitution doesn’t explicitly document secession as a right, and as the Professor states, states’ rights is a theory on an argue, a theory of the proper relations of the level on government, and it is a theory on the nature of federalism. This in all goes back into fear, as well as economic reasons, for which it is engaged from state rights, what the people want from the union, come from the constitution.
I hope you guys understand what im trying to say, It makes sense in my brain but, eh when I write it, it looks funny.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Professor brings up a usually forgotten side of the Civil War. The Confederacy's justification of the war is hardly ever learned. We don't read Davis's side, we hear Lincoln's. I would blame the cause of the Civil War as progression. Both sides of the nation were at different states. The north was progressing in manufacturing and the south was making little to no progression.
ReplyDeleteThe slave society in which the south was founded on, was no longer productive enough. Morals began to change due to books such as Uncle Tom's Cabin. These new ideas and portholes into slavery began to give the North an idea that they were more moral, and the south's slavery was immoral. Who gave the North that right? Sure slavery was bad, but the south had been structured on slavery, and if it taken away, the south would quickly fall.
The south had all the right to sucede. They believed that the north was going to collapse their slave society. WIth the collapse of the slave society, it would lead to the collapse of their economics. The few, rich, aristocratic leaders were of course the one who held the slaves and the land. When the radical leaders such as Brown started leading revolts (arguably a failed attempt), the south became scared. John Brown wasn't the only abolitionist. Therefore, the south had a new fear when the Republican party united and when Lincoln was elected. They had to escape the North or else they'd lose their society, they feared.
The fear that was instilled in the south, caused the south to secede. Of course, Lincoln wanted to maintain the Union and called the secession unconstitutional. So the war, ultimately, was caused by slavery. The fear of losing slavery caused the civil war. The uniting of the Republican party and the election of Lincoln caused the war. Finally, the new moral ideas caused the war, since slavery was further being impeded to spread.
After listening to the lecture it made me question what the main cause of the Civil War was. Then after looking at some of the points he brought up they all made sense, but when he mentions that slavery was not the issue I believe that it was to some extent. The way I interpreted the speech and my opion together was that though Fredrick Douglas and Jefferson Davis claimed slavery was not the issue I believe that it was a main reason. Slavery led to these small reasons, though there were different causes of the civil war mentioned in the lecture I believe they all fed off slavery. The fear thesis is one example southern states feared slavery becoming abolished. Others even feared speaking of the topic in congress. Another topic mentioned were states rights being a reason behind the civil war. States rights became a dilemma or disagreement due to disagreements in the north and south and political parties themselves. I believe that the when having the issue of slavery rising and having abolitionist and anti abolitionist in political parties did somewhat change the definition of states rights. Like the professor quoted in the lecture secession is a fair answer but there are several other details below that, which is how I see the causes of the Civil War. I believe that slavery was a big trigger to the Civil War which tied into other smaller causes and disagreements in general.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Alsonso’s and Aidain’s comment it does help me change my idea in some way, when they start mentioning the difference in morality and beliefs of the north and the south. Which of course made me see that as a bigger problem than what I thought, but once again though they both had different moralities and you had the north being an industrialized area while the south was dependent on slavery, we must realize that the only southerners dependent on slavery were the rich slave owners. Therefore, abolishing slavery would have an impact on the south but only the rich slave owners. So even then it falls back into my perspective that though the different idea of the political parties or the north and south the disagreements still fall into slavery. So wouldn’t it still make slavery a main cause of the Civil War?
ReplyDelete@Cristy Rodriguez Yeah I think that slavery had a big impact of the cause because if it wasnt for slavery non of these political parties, economical issues, fear, or even ideas of seccession wouldnt have occured if it wasnt for the topic of slaver.
ReplyDeleteSlavery is often regarded to be the main cause of the American Civil war, indeed it is, and even though there are many different opinions on what triggered the conflict, all of the other issues revolve around slavery, in other words, they are all related and lead back to the slavery dispute and how to deal with such. For instance, we can look at the fact that slavery played a role on political tension among southern and northern states regarding representation in congress. The south argued that they should get more representation through their slave population, reaching finally the Three Fifths Compromise, which counted slaves as three fifths of a “normal person.” It was eventually slavery what caused this compromise as well as others. Take for example the Missouri Compromise, again brought up by the slavery issue. Such compromise agreed that slavery would not be allowed further north of the 30 36’ parallel, given the fact that northern and southern states were again having problems thanks to slavery, this time though, the matter was how to deal with slavery in the Louisiana territories. In 1850, tensions were beginning to rise once again, north and south would not agree with each other about the organization of the territories gained in the Mexican American war, the issue once again, brought up by slavery. Following the Missouri compromise, the boundary of slavery had been established by the 30 36’ parallel, however, California saw itself divided by this line. The result was yet another compromise, the compromise of 1850 which consisted of California joining the union as a free state and the territories of Utah and New Mexico taking care of slavery through popular sovereignty. The final drop that spilled the glass of war was the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Soon after his election, southern states began seceding from the union since Lincoln had widely opposed the expansion of slavery during his presidential campaigns. In conclusion, slavery was the main cause of the civil war, other matters and tensions between north and southern states were eventually driven back to the single issue of how to deal with slavery.
ReplyDeleteI believe the civil war was caused by a question “What will the rest of this land become slave state or not?” The slaves were more of a factor I believe the cause of the Civil War of wanting expansion and power. Reason for that is because it goes back to way before of the U.S wanting to expand and wanting power more than other countries. It is similar to that but within the U.S between the north and the south due to different ideas and ideal from each side. The north wanting no slave states and the south wanting slave states over the rest of the land from the Louisiana Purchase. As the video goes on it seems as it puts the more the blame on the south due to what the professor said about the south secession. But I believe it comes from both sides forgetting they were in the same country and fought for the same cause back during the American Revolution to the 1850’s fighting against themselves over land. So from this video as well as in class it brings me to believe the cause of war was because of the north and south wanting expansion on what they believe and power.
ReplyDelete@Kristie
ReplyDeleteI agree with the two sentences you put “After hearing the lecture I have come to the conclusion that the Civil War was caused by fear in relation to slavery. It was this economical, political, and radical fear that everyone with all the different views on slavery that caused the war.” Especially with the second sentence but of the north and the south debating if the states would be a slave state or not.
After watching the video of the discussion regarding the causes of the Civil War, I came to the conclusion that the main reason for this war was in fact, slavery. Since slavery was the conflict that led to the issues of states’ rights, different economic systems, morality, and radical abolitionists. However, the main issue that pushed the Civil War was the fear of the southerners. The south did have a fear that the north would completely abolish their economic system; since the north had a larger population they could control political issues regarding slavery. The northerners could fill the House of Representatives with republicans and later could lead to the election of Abraham Lincoln. This brought fear to the southerners, believing that the north would destroy the system of the south in which they relied on. Plantation owners feared that the north wanted radical changes and wanted to abolish slavery completely, not only in the territories but also in the states that already had slavery. In a southern economy that relied completely in their slave society, it would mean the collapse of their economy. The north in the other hand had technological advances and was expanding to the west with their railroads, which meant that their economy was on the increase. With the majority of the voters being republicans, they feared that territories would be prohibited of slavery. The south also feared that there would be other radical abolitionist like John Brown, and feared that there would be other radical decisions that would abolish the slave society. Republicans didn’t want to abolish slavery in formed states; they just wanted to stop the spread of slavery to the west. Then, after the election of Abraham Lincoln, the fear increased to the point that the south believed the only way to keep their system of slave society, was by seceding. The reaction to north was to keep a “perfect” union, and to demonstrate that the states could not secede every time they disagreed with the union, therefore, leading to the Civil War. In conclusion, the Civil War was caused by the fear that the north would get rid of slavery, the fear that their slave society would be destroyed. Southerners feared that radical abolitionist would take their property without compensation, therefore violating their states’ rights. They feared that without their slaves their economic system would collapse, and as Robert Rhett said, “they would lose their liberty, property, home and everything.”
ReplyDeleteIt’s quite apparent that most of us have come to the conclusion that there are many causes of the Civil War, but the main factor that led up to it was slavery. In other words, all these influential events root back to the idea of slavery, and its role in the awakening of the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteSlavery played a great part in the labor force throughout the South as well as the North. Although the North was based more on an industrialized system, there were still quite an amount of slaves living within the area. “King Cotton” led to a succession that protected planter civilization-being that the South liked to think of themselves as a Republic of farmers. Now this goes back to what Professor Blight says about tradition. The word tradition is consistently brought up, and from what I’ve understood, it goes back to their way of life and society. “Civilization and society goes down by its root, but its honor is always there. To die with honor means to lose nothing.” By this quote, it’s apparent that the South grew as a unity overtime, whether it was based on their traditions or own being. It was essentially a way of protecting and preserving their way of life, which they have lived upon for such a long period of time. This too led to succession overtime as they yearned to gain the “American Dream”. It was all about social rank and their place in society, as they tried to avoid such humiliation and invasion. For the South, it was more of a personal concern than a matter of law. This American Dream consisted of the idea of becoming independent, and having individual boundaries and expansion policies.
Of course, this goes back to the idea of states’ rights and conflicting civilization, which are also important factors that link back to the main cause of the Civil War-slavery. I have to agree with what Professor Blight had to say about state’s rights. State’s rights concerns the event of how power is distributed of which is based on the idea of federalism. In the end, everything happens in the states, which grows over time as a progressive idea. This goes back to the constitution, and how it was agreed on not necessarily by the states, but by the people. Of course, overtime the people came to clash on their idea and view of slavery, separating them into 2 civilizations and economies. With Westward expansion, each region of the country clashed on what they wished to do with it with slavery. They saw it as a system or moral element, and like professor Blight said, it was them meeting at crossroads and they eventually had to clash. It was a great dividing line between an agricultural and industrial era.
Personally, I do agree with Professor Blight on how this war was brought up by fear, fury and the overall connection to stupidity. We tend to avoid talking about such wars because it makes us look bad as a union, even today. We also have to see that a union is created by the people and not the states. Unfortunately, because our nation couldn’t come to an agreement on the use of Westward expansion, States’ rights, political parties, and of course the one and only, idea of slavery, we were torn into pieces. It’s sad to say, but we were our own enemy.
After watching the lecture, I have to agree with some of the points that Kristy, Giovanni, and Ashley made on the impact that fear had on insinuating the Civil War. Yes, slavery was a main cause, but we have to remember that it is an institution that has been in place throughout the existence of the country. Why is it that it has now created so much tension within the United States? One interesting point that was brought up in the lecture was made by the historian James Ford Rhodes, who stated that slavery was a national curse, never a national crime. The slave owners themselves were victims themselves to the slave society, and he evens calls them, “a tragic lot, destined to try to preserve a civilization that the world was beginning to pass by.” As the northern states began to become more industrialized, the momentum of the economy within the southern states suffered greatly. As the north increasingly turned to slavery as the problem and bolstered the idea of wage labor, the institution of slavery lost support. The south eventually faced more problems with the addition of new territories to the nation, as the question on whether or not slavery would be allowed became an issue. This introduced the concept of fear, as southern aristocrats felt that the needs of the slave states would no longer be supported by the government. Southerners were become the minority very quickly, especially through the formation of the Republican Party, and later, the election of Abraham Lincoln. This political fear, in turn, resulted in the secession of the slave states. The professor also mentions racial fear, which I also found to be interesting. The slave society was disintegrating quickly, as the potential of slave rebellion grew over time. This increased the tension between the north and the south, as the southerners not only had to face the fact that they were becoming the minority, but that their slaves would be given the opportunity of freedom and equal opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIronically, on the other hand, the Republican Party grew and gained support through the fear of the southern slaveholders. They believed in the idea of slave power conspiracy, which meant that the small number of southern plantation owners, not only had disproportionate power in their regions and states, but in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Presidency. Additionally, the Republicans feared slave expansion.
I am convinced that the main cause of the Civil War was fear was driven by politics, morals, honor, and the economy. The most powerful comment that I found in the lecture was written by Robert Rhett, who said “The ruin of the South by the emancipation of her slaves is not like the ruin of any other people. It is not a mere loss of liberty, but it is a loss of liberty, property, home, country, everything that makes life worth living.” What is it that the north and south were defending? Was the South really defending slavery? Or where they merely defending their way of life? Was the North defending the unity of the nation? Or just the progression of its economy? When analyzing the cause of the civil war, I find it important to not only look at the events occurring politically, but the threat that the North was on the South, and vice versa.
After watching this particular lecture and hearing what Professor Blight ( I think that was his name, correct me if I am wrong ) had to say, I have come to the conclusion that the Civil War was not caused PRIMARILY by slavery, but rather a fear of a future surrounded in uncertainty mixed with clashing ideologies between the North and the South. Slavery undoubtedly played a huge role in the Civil War ( just as many before me stated that all issues within the Civil war can be linked back to slavery ), we can all agree to that, however I feel it was more of a trigger or last straw to something that was clearly inevitable. I say this because the North and the South were already at odds with a great many other things, they weren’t exactly polar opposites from each other, but still quite different nonetheless. An example of clashing ideologies can be found just by comparing society in the North to that of society in the South. The North was moving into the future by taking advantage of the new technologies that were becoming available to them at the time. They were expanding their railroads to the west, putting up telegraph lines and reaping the benefits of faster and more efficient means of communication, and they were greatly improving their manufacturing ability. The South did have cotton and they were for a time doing quite well off of this, true, but I feel they made a mistake by “putting all of their eggs in one basket”. The North’s economy wasn’t entirely dependent on one thing as the South’s was, rather a variety of things. It was because of the South’s strong economic dependency on cotton that they could not lose their slave labor without falling deep into economic ruin, thus they felt threatened and seceded from the Union.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, something I believe a few of my classmates stated earlier that I found interesting was that at one point during the lecture Professor Blight mentions some of the Confederacy’s justifications for war and reads a passage out of Jefferson Davis’ writings. I have to agree with Aiden when he stated that we don’t read Davis’ side, we hear Lincoln’s. We tend to always look at this conflict from the North’s point of view and often overlook what the South had to say about this… sad but true. ( Random thought and irrelevant to the topic ) Looking into this completely different perspective on the occurrences of the Civil War to me reminded me of when we first started reading from the Canadian People’s book simply because you get to see things from a point of view you may have otherwise never considered.
I believe that the causes of the civil war were abolition, the progression that was happening in the north and the morales that came with that progression. I believe abolish was a cause of the civil war due typo the fact that the south had an idea, that was wrong in some cases, that the northern abolitionist where trying to destroy the institution of slavery that existed in the south. In fact all the northern abolitionists were trying to do is stop the spread of the institution of slavery. This idea that the south had, was that the northern abolitionist were trying to destroy the institution, was completely wrong, and had them scared about what may happen to the institution of slavery. Another reason that caused the civil war was that the north was progressing in manufacturing, this is something that the south did not have. So because the south did not have this, they stayed with the institution of slavery. Also this progression that the north was having, was also creating a moral that the north with its free workers was a good thing and the south with its slavery institution was a bad thing. Even though this was true, it was not right of north to say that it was something that had to be stopped. The south had been built on slavery, and if the institution had be stopped so suddenly the south would have been destroyed economically, making very other economy fall as well. So the ultimate cause of the civil war in my opinion was the progression in the north and the idea that the south had that the northern abolitionist were trying to destroy the institution of slavery.
ReplyDeleteMost of us can agree that slavey was one of the main causes of the Civil War. However, there are more factors that led to the civil war which are economic differences between the North and the South, power control between the States and the Federal Government,Controlling of land, Different views on slavery, and the election of Abraham Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteSlavery in the South was very open and many white, rich owners owned slaves. in the North you see a different side where the North is based on industries. In the North there were still slaves it's is just that the North wanted to abolish slavery as to where the South didn't. The main thing in the North was the invention of the cotton Gin. In the South all that was used for farming were slaves.
The "Honor Thesis" could be that many people in the south owned slaves because it was like a trend. Many people owned slaves, therefore making it seem like it was okay and necessary for people to own slaves. The south's economy was one-sided and all based on slave labor.
If Slavery didn't exist then the South wouldn't have anything, leading to an economic crisis.
First off, most people can agree that slavery was a major cause of the civil war. This is a fact, it really is but is slavery itself the cause of the civil war? Or is it the sort of fear brought on the South by the North. As the professor said in the lecture, The republicans said that they were going to get rid of slavery and make it extinct. Well this was not taken lightly by the South, especially since its whole economy is based on plantation and slave labor. Now to get rid of this? That would mean hurting the very way of life for the South. So of course the South was going to want to preserve their own way of life and their slave community. The point brought up by Charles and Mary Beard was an interesting one to say the least. To say that it wasnt slavery itself but the clash of two ECONOMIES. This made me think long and hard and well if enough thought is put into this statement we can make sense of it. The economy of the North was different from the South correct? While The North had the industrial and manufacturing type of economy, the South was very agricultural and since the North was always advancing in new technologies, the South was remaining constant with the slave labor. This where i agree with Aidan's point where he says the civil war was about progression. It was. The North was progressing while the South was falling behind. This made it a little aggrevating for the North and after morals were put into the picture the Northeners started to see how useless slavery was becoming and that they should get rid of it. This meant getting rid of the South's culture and their way of life. After all to take away slavery was to destroy the economy of the South.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the lecture, one could come to the conclusion that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War. There were other factors that led to the South seceding and the start of the Civil War, but they all trace back to tension between the North and South caused by opposing ideas regarding slavery. The other related explanation that I agreed with the most was the fear thesis. The fear thesis made a lot of sense to me because it was only natural for the South to be afraid of what would happen to their whole lifestyle if slavery were to be abolished because there would be economical, political, and social effects. The South’s whole economy depended on the institution of slavery and without it; the Southern slaveholders would lose a lot of money. The South’s fear also grew with Lincoln’s political power and the form of the Republican Party. The South didn’t want to live in a Union that even discussed what to do with the future of slavery, so they became very scared when Lincoln and his Republicans said he was going to put slaver on a course of extinction. Political fear grew when Lincoln became president because others that were against slavery would earn more spots in the House of Representatives, thus making the Southern seats in the House a minority. The South also had much to fear socially. After John Brown’s violent radical attempts to put an end to slavery at Pottawatomie Massacre in “Bleeding Kansas” and his raid at Harper’s Ferry, the South feared more violent attacks from more radical abolitionists.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the lecture I still believe that the main cause of the civil war was slavery. I believe this because slavery was the main point of every conflict within the nation, from economics to politics.
ReplyDeleteEconomically it was the main point of conflict because the south was a slave society and without slaves their entire economy would fall terribly, so the idea of emancipating and freeing the people who made their way of living possible instilled fear making it impossible to come to an agreement on slavery.
Another conflict that actually brought light on the long overlooked problem was expansion and states rights. The reason this became a conflict instead of joy for an expanding america is whether America would expand slavery with its land. and the debate between this ultimately began the splitting of the nation starting with the compromise of 1850.
and finally political because now the issue of slavery and more importantly the issue of how to deal with slavery split not only the nation apart but also split political parties apart. especially the democrats that had two distinct groups-southern democrats and northern democrats. and with this lack of uniformity of these parties there was no way that the nation would come to a single agreement.
and I just want to throw this idea out there because I'm not sure how correct it may seem but to me the one thing that stood out to me in these lectures was that there wasn't just two view points on slavery. there wasn't complete emancipation, or making a nation a slave nation. there were too many in-between's like colonization, slave's natural rights vs. political and social rights, etc. and I think this might have added to the struggle in the nation making it impossible to have a simple solution without a war because there wasn't a simple problem to begin with.
I must also say that I strongly agree with Patrick's comment on the fear instilled in the south, even if it was maybe over exaggerated fear.
ReplyDeleteand I also agree with Aidan about the lack of progression since the south didn't want to give up the system they had even if it was slowly dying out in the rest of the world and caused the south to not progress as the North had.
wow! I'm reading you guys' comments and i feel all dumb because you guys come up with ideas that didnt even cross my mind. ha-ha
ReplyDelete@Esti
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you when you say that slavery wasn't the major cause of the Civil War simply because I think that all other causes do trace back to the issue of slavery.
Although I disagree with you on that, I think that your argument for states’ rights was really good. I hadn't thought about it in that way, so it helped make more sense to me when people try to use states rights as a cause of the war. Before reading your comment, I had seen the states’ rights argument as the South thinking that they had the right to choose whether or not their state would allow slavery. Now that I have read your response, I now see that states rights can apply to the South thinking that they have the right to secede from the Union.
@Giovanni
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your response, I realized that in order to make my initial response better I needed to elaborate more on my economical point. I failed to include the information about the North's econmoic stance because that contributed to the South's fear as well. Adding those details would make my response stronger.
@Alonso and @Anely
ReplyDeleteI liked that you brought up the fact that the major question was about deciding what was going to happen with the new territory out west regarding slavery. You're right because at first, most Republicans just wanted to stop the expansion of slavery, so that is a great point to bring up!
I apologize for posting so late. I have had technical problems all week. I promise that I have yet to read any other posts by my fellow classmates.
ReplyDeleteSlavery was a great deal during this time and the major cause of the Civil War. However, slavery was not the only cause of the Civil War. Tensions between Northern and Southern America arose on the different views and beliefs over slavery and that became a contributor to the Civil War. Professor David Blight’s take on the idea of fear was interesting. The north had a market revolution while the south had a slave society. Abraham Lincoln and his emancipation became a great deal to the south. I believe that much of the fear came from the south due to that fact that they make their successes through their slaves, hence, a slave society. The emancipation would free the slaves and the slave owners would then have nothing. The emancipation would also hurt the north. Considering that they were in a market revolution, and having nothing coming in from the south would eventually break them.
@Esti
ReplyDeleteEsti, I apologize, but I disagree with you when you say that slavery was not the primary cause of the Civil War. Everything revolved around slavery which ultimately resulted in making it the main cause of the war. I think that the economy and fear both were also main factors to the Civil War.
@Alonzo
uTa, I disagree with you for stating that the cause of the Civil War was not slavery. I believe that the Western land controversy played a part in leading to the Civil War, but I don’t think that it was the primary reason. The expansion to the west and even coming up with an idea on what to do with the west always came back to the issue of slavery.
This lecture definitely opened my eyes to seven fantastic points that establish the reasons for the South’s secession. The conclusion can be made that the South had a lot of issues with the North and had developed a lot of resentment towards the. With the Preservation of a slave society, fear, southern nationalism, Agrarian ideas, values in society, States’ rights, and economic reasons the Civil War was inevitable. However the part that caught my attention the most was Southern Nationalism. The south became a minority over time due to the Northern Republicans becoming more powerful in Government. This group was not a group that had planned thoughts and then formed the group. No, this group decided to form based on their all common resentment towards the North. They were sort of like, “You hate the north? I hate the north! Let’s all form a group and talk about how much we all hate the north and about how the south is so much better”. Another point in the video that caught my attention was the values in society. He talks about how the South felt they had the right to secede. They believed if they had the willingness to defend the south then they were honorable. He brought up a question to the class saying, “Did the South have the right to secede?” I believe they didn’t, because it is not practical if every time anyone disagreed with a law or an idea they could say, “I’m not going to listen, so I’m going to secede”. Their argument was the preamble of the constitution, “We the people in order to form a more perfect union…” they believed that they could secede to form a more perfect union because the current union was flawed and the south had the potential to become “more perfect”. The last part that caught my attention was the different titles the North and the South gave the Civil War. The north called the war, “War of rebellion”. In their opinion the South was the villain in the story and they all rebelled from their mother country and they were the flawed ones. While in the South they had a series of names, “War between the States” This is a bit accurate, however the war wasn’t necessarily between states and states, it was more sectional. The South also called the war, “War of the North Aggression” because in the Southern states’ opinions the North was being aggressive in attempting to salvage states to keep the union together. The South also called the war, “War of Southern Freedom” this title portrayed the South felt they had the entitlement to freedom and needed to escape from the south. Because when someone thinks of freedom we think of escaping from something bad. So by using this title it gave off the impression the South was escaping from the evil union of the United State. The last title was “The war of late unpleasantness” This was the understatement of the century to call the civil war “unpleasant”. Overall the video was very informative and portrayed the South’s reasons for secession in great detail and analysis.
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ReplyDeleteIn the end I believe the Cause of the civil war had a lot to do with the South’s anger and disagreements with the North. The South seceded because they feared radicalism such as John Brown and they feared Abolition Emissaries, and they feared submission. The south feared the Republicans would become too powerful and they feared the government would destroy their economy due to the South’s dependence on slavery. So essentially I believe Slavery was the origin to the Civil war because at the beginning and end of every reason for secession slavery had something to do with it and it caused the south to have a certain number of reactions. The south’s sense of entitlement to secede, their want to separated because they felt deserving of freedom played a contributing factor. Again because of slavery in the long run. Not to mention the South and the North were two completely different societies. So essentially the Civil War was caused by Slavery. However the video specified primarily on the reasons the South gave for their secession, not necessarily the events that led up to the civil war.
So I think I am the last one to post, but that’s okay.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I do agree with Esti, Daniela, and others who said that pride and honor in the South were a main cause to the Civil War. Still to this day, the people of the south take pride in having ancestors who fought in the war, and there are many monuments, museums, and even reenactments dedicated to the Civil War. The reason I think honor and pride was such a big influence is because the South was defending their way of life like Daniela said. Several people have quoted already the line about how the South would not only lose slavery, but their home, property, and life. Those things are not something you give away without fighting for it. Slavery was a main cause too, but if you think about it, it was pride that would not let them give up slavery so easily. Pride is also the reason no more compromises could be made because both North and South were so set in their ideas and ways that neither was going to be seen as the weaker. If the South did not have as much pride they would have walked away without a fight, and would not have threatened to secede, but they were not like that. They were going to fight to the death in an honorable way. Fear is another factor that I do agree with that does tie back to slavery which I think ties back to pride. They were fearful of losing everything. The slave society in the south was of great value because it was what kept the economy stable for so long, and the idea of someone taking that away was a nightmare to southern slaveholders.
I think we all agree that entering the war, the odds favored the Union and that they had a clear advantage over their southern brothers. The North counted with a much higher industry level than the south, it had important trade ties with the European nations which refused to help the cotton based Confederacy economy, its population of over 22 million people exceeded its rival’s by 18.5 million, and on top of all, the Union had a much more efficient and faster communication system. Sure the Union had more military and economic advantages entering the war, but it also had more pressure. In other words, the South only had to hold its ground to win the war and its independence, while on the other hand, the Union had to break into southern territory to get control of the land and reach their objective of putting the Union back together. Nevertheless, Union leaders managed to deal with the pressure and exert it on their southern rivals. Not to mention that the Northern government counted with 24 thousand miles of railroad against the South’s 9 thousand mile network, that the Union had a greater Naval power which allowed them to blockade the Confederate’s shores and that Lincoln’s forces used the telegraph as a weapon, mobilizing troops faster and sending orders to the front lines, Lincoln alone sent more than 1000 messages by telegraph throughout the war. In conclusion, the Union had the advantages of industry, manufacturing, communication, and transportation, while the Confederacy only had the desire to save their slavery system and the pressure that laid on the Union’s shoulders to put the union back together.
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