Statistics and Strategies - An Informative View of the Precursor to the Civil War

Sources:

• The Library of Congress/American Memory
• Edline Documents here

An Elephant In The Room: Slavery in America

The Essential Question for the Elephant in the Room unit was this: How do we know that the debate over slavery was the 'elephant in the room' for American politics in the early 19th century? A prime example of proving this is The Compromise of 1820 - there were now 11 of both slave and free states, as Missouri was added to the slave states to even out the addition of Maine to the free states. Missouri was going to be over the 'slave line", but the imbalance didn't seem fair to the South- they wanted the same amount of slave states as free states. However, one should note that the south didn't straight out say that this was about slavery, but everyone knew it was. Another reason slavery was the elephant in the room was because of the Compromise of 1850 - California had requested to be a free state, and a 5 part compromise was proposed by Henry Clay, which can be read about here. Another event that indicated slavery was the elephant in the room was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The North wanted to build a transcontinental railroad to make Chicago a huge trading and transportation hub (it'd be the start of the railroad) - Not only would this be a big trading opportunity, it would also make it easier to transport northerner abolitionists to the western frontiers, offsetting the imbalance in pro-slavers and anti-slavers - this in turn negated the Missouri Compromise line. One final point to reinforce slavery as the elephant in the room was Kansas’ bloody civil mini-war. A collection of outbursts so violent, the Kansas territory earned the nickname ‘Bleeding Kansas’ (1856) These bloody spats were started when some pro-slavery looters' actions raised a response from John Brown (the same man who was put to death for leading a raid on Harpers Ferry Federal Armory. He attempted to steal weapons and give them to slaves - for this was martyrized) - he killed some pro-slavery people, resulting in retaliation, and this went back and forth for a while. This fighting was publicly viewed and talked about as territorial disputes, not directly related to slavery. I've included a timeline of major events around this period, which can be seen here:

The Entrenchment of Slavery in America - The Antebellum Era

In class, we were asked:

• How did slavery become economically entrenched  in American society by the early 19th century?
• How does a system of slavery based on race affect  human dignity?
• What human characteristics does such a system tend  to ignore?

Slavery was (and still is) a huge part of America’s history. Even though it’s morally unjust, it was ingrained in society for a very long time. It was written into laws, made part of normal life. Slaves weren’t treated as free beings; they were the lowest class possible. A massive portion of the US economy was dominated by slave-produced crops, such as cotton. Here is a map that shows the spread of cotton production and slavery (and their correlation) over time. These slaves were treated as a means of boosting the economy, not as people. To further serve as a way to answer these questions, we were shown the documentary Prince Among Slaves in class. Here’s a trailer for it:

It’s about a man named Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a former African Prince who was abducted, enslaved, and sent to America. This movie really gave a good perspective of the time period from someone who was enslaved.

Women's Reform: Progress Towards Equality

In class, we were asked the question of how did mid-­19th century American society react to women's demands for equality? Does 21st century society still react differently to men and women?


Throughout history, women have been viewed as gentle stay-at-home types who are classy and work for the family. Here’s some media showing women’s life at home, and some of society’s perceived expectations for them:

Expectations

In the mid-19th century, women in American society made the first major push towards equality among

genders. They were fed up with being treated as second class citizens. Women were supposed to be held in high esteem (and treated as such), though apparently that wasn’t how things actually were: “That man over there says that woman needs to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches. .. . Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles or gives me any best place. And a'nt I a woman? Look at my arm! I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a'nt I a woman? I would work as much and eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear the lash as well. And a'nt I a woman? I have borne thirteen children and seen em most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a'nt I a woman?” - Sojourner Truth (1)


This was a quote from the Seneca Falls Convention (in ‘History is a Weapon’1), one of the first major big pushes in women’s rights. Here’s a list of problems (to be formed into demands) that they made: Link

This Convention sparked many a different view, with some newspapers passing it off as a joke, others strongly disagreeing, but with a few that supported the movement. You can view the reactions here The movement slowly took hold, though, as we can see nowadays.


Today, men and women are treated more equally, though there is still a wage gap, and a huge feminist movement. There’s also a large ‘varigender’ movement for those who don’t conform to male or female, and push for themselves to be recognized and treated just the same. A lot of progress has been made since the 19th century, but we’re not quite there yet.




(1) Zinn, Howard, and Sojourner Truth. History Is A Weapon. 1830.




Other Media:

Reformation of Social Constructs: Prison

http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp

This source comes from ushistory.org, a site that seems pretty reputable, due to its sheer

size and precise organization. There is a list of historian contributors (http://www.ushistory.org/us/index.asp) that one can browse, too. The author(s?) are trying to bring this information to the masses, encouraging learning.

The document is rather short, but it definitely points out some key names, such as Dorothea Dix:

among others. The document doesn’t really set a past stage; it kind of assumes that one already knows a bit about the topic and is just looking for a quick summary. The author’s point of view is unbiased

except for the obvious point that life in prisons were brutal.

"Prison and Asylum Reform." Ushistory.org. June 19, 2006. Accessed January 10, 2015. http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp.

Andrew Jackson - The Spoils System of Politics

In class, we debated whether or not Andrew Jackson was a 'people's president.' My group looked into his method of rewarding those who had the same views with him/supported him. This was known as the Spoils System.
Here's our presentation on it:



And here are some links to some documents related:


http://hope.ly/1un7DMD

Democracy: A Rise of The People's Choice

The essential question for this week’s class time was “How should we define democracy? How democratic was the United States in the early 1800s?” We looked at famous paintings in class, and voting data charts, analyzing the emergence of democracy over time. Here are a couple:

We also analyzed some quotes said by those with political power over time.

Democracy is “a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting”. (Merriam-Webster Definition) This definition defines what the government of the United States of America has become. However, America didn’t start out as a democracy. It ‘rose’ to popularity.The basic idea of democracy is letting the country decide what laws should be made. To maintain some organization, the general population elects representatives that they believe will voice the same opinions that they have.

And here's our poster on how it affected the US in the early 1800s: