Civil War Vs South Dbq

Revolution occurs when two popular forces occupying one area lose reality of their relation to each other. The same can be said for the American Civil War and the leading events that amounted into turmoil. The Southern way of life was trampled over and forgotten by the manufacturers, abolitionists and westward expansionist of the North. However, these people did not move alone, there was a present constitutional and social upheaval that turned the North against South and their way of living delegitimize as “American”. From the social status of African Americans, to the economic devastation in the South that came with the Civil War, America came out a much different nation than previously conceived by the end of 1877 which would have impacts

on the United States to this day.
One of the largest social changes that came with this time period is the increase of the social standing of the African American community. The abolitionist movement started what would be the long journey for African Americans to gain the same rights as whites in the late 19th Century. One way these African American soldiers and citizens desired to gain political power was to gain the right to vote. Throughout the Civil War, this was a major argument as these men were fighting for the nation and willing to die for their home, but were unable to participate in one of the most basic human rights, the right to vote. As stated by the American Citizens of African Descent in Document C, “If we are called on to military duty against the rebel armies in the field, why should be be denied the privilege of voting against rebel citizens at the ballot-box? The latter is as necessary to save the government as the former.” This argument truly displays the social priorities of the time period and in retrospect, shows how little these people were thought of in comparison to whites. Additionally in Document G, the political cartoon displays how significant this new voting population was in the history of the United States. So important in fact, that in the election of Ulysses S. Grant, one of the reasons that the Republican Party won was because of the votes from the African American population. In addition to the right to vote, Freedman now longed for the civil and economic prosperity of their white brethren. Across the country, Freedmen's Bureaus similar to those mentioned in Document E were attempting to ensure a stable and prosperous life for these new slaves. However, there were many flaws in this system that contrast the improvement in quality of life. These freedmen were often denied land and forced to work on plantations owned by their former masters without the basic human resources they were provided with beforehand. This new population of America was not only plagued by economic prejudices but social injustices as well. The political cartoon shown in Document I depicts White League and KKK members and their violent attacks on African Americans and their communities. Together over the fire and ruin of a child schoolhouse, Nast sketches two white supremacists imposing themselves over a devastated family holding their dead child, personifying the characters in this raging social conflict.
The other important change that late 19th Century America endured was the growing constitutional and economic abandonment faced in the South.

For two hundred years, the idea of states’ rights and the benefits of federalism reigned supreme in the South. According to Document B and the justifications of secession are to be thought, “It has been the principle of states rights, that bad sentiment that has elevated state authority above national authority, the main instrument by which our government is sought to be overthrown.” The South had its social issues that cannot be denied, but there were also constitutional and economic changes that left the South in the late colonial era while the North moved towards the future. The North began to embark on the long and prosperous road of manufacturing and industry, manifesting a wedge between the agrarian South and the industrial North, further dividing the nation. In addition, the North began to use the constitution and the political climate to restrict the expansion of slavery and the Southerner’s way of life. From the efforts of self-determination to the multiple geographic borders to separate slave from free states, the Northern politician attempted to eradicate slavery long before the Civil War began in order to secure more political power for himself. According to Document A, the Southerners believed that the national government had no jurisdiction to demand these actions as it argues, “…the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to any states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the

people…”