South America History

The southern United States of America has long played an important role in both the political and economic areas of the country. One prominent figure from this region is Bill Clinton, who served as President of the United States of America from 1993 to 2001. The region has a highly rich history, dating back to the United States of America's inception in 1776. The American Revolutionary War was a particularly noticeable event in this region prior to and immediately following independence. At this point, the British were determined to seize the majority of the southern territories. In the year 1778 for example, the coastline of Georgia and Savannah were captured by the British. They also seized Charleston leading to the capturing of a very large army of the United States of America. While the British were busy capturing Virginia and West Carolina however, their army was being weakened and the loyalists drifting away as days went by. Eventually, the British army gave in and disappeared from the area, leaving majority of their loyalists who were later adopted as American Citizens.

The Period between 1783 and 1861

This period is predominantly referred to as the antebellum era. The period after 1783 saw the Southern United States of America develop politically but was a bit slow economically. This came after the signing of the articles of confederation and thus committing the South to be part of the United States of America (Foner, 38). This further lead to the Philadelphia convention of the year 1787 where the Constitution of the United States of America was adopted. Later however, the southerners always held a secessionist mind and they pushed this agenda even during the civil war. One of the interests that the south however held so close to them is Slavery. They therefore opposed every anti-slavery move. It is for this reason that they opposed the inclusion of an antislavery clause in the Constitution during the 1787 constitutional conference. For this reason, the southerners were able to pass the three fifths compromise and the fugitive slave clause to ensure that their slavery interests are intact (Foner, 39). In the end however, it was the congress that gave itself the powers of controlling slave trade. In the year 1808 just 20 years after passing of the Constitution, the United Stated Congress passed a directive outlawing any importation of slaves. The move which brought about a lot of economic tension led to the split in ideologies between the Northern and the Southern leaders (Foner, 52). Two republican fronts therefore emerged as a result of the differences with the north having a puritanical republicanism lead by Alexander Hamilton and Adam smith while the south ascribed to the ideas of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson who all cherished the Lassez-faire agrarian form of political culture (Tindall & David , 43). The South thus relied much on agriculture and that’s why they needed to protect their interests of having slaves so that they can assist them in working on the plantations. The North majorly relied on industries and thus did not need the slaves that much because of mechanization.

Slavery during the Antebellum Period

Unlike in the North where the slaves played a household role, in the south, slaves were used commercially. It is for this reason that when the North Abolished slavery in the 1830s, the South still persisted with the anti-slavery stand. About a third of the southern families owned slaves who worked on their farms indicating how important the salves were to their economy. It is for this reason that whenever the anti-slavery campaign was proposed, it was rejected by both the slave owners and the antislavery owners in the south because their economy depended upon the slavery (Tindall & David , 60). The southern economy was further reliant on export trade whereby they used to sell finished agricultural products to other countries. This explains why the south community was so passionate about slave ownership.

Sectionism and Political Representation in the South of America

With the election of John Adams in the year 1796, there was a lot of resistance especially from the democrats. Owing to the fear that there might be some internal economic sabotage, Adams and the Republican congressmen passed the Alien and Sedition Act. As a result of these Acts a greater majority of the Democrats especially in the South were arrested and charged with charges of sedition (Tindall & David, 45). Further in the year 1798, the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions were passed. In the year 1828 which spark the beginning of the nullification crisis, the southerners invoked principle 98 of the resolutions that had been passed earlier to give their legislators power to declare inapplicable any laws that they perceived to be unconstitutional (Tindall & David, 45). Such a move came about as a result of the congress passing a taxation tariff that increased taxes on the importation of goods especially the manufacturing products in order to promote the manufacturing industries in the north. The Southern States were totally opposed to this move. In what was termed as a tariff of abomination, the South Carolina nullified these laws and thus leading to a crisis between the federal government and the states (Tindall & David, 50). President Andrew Jackson later on resolved the stalemate through the reduction of the taxes in through the congress. For the southerners however, it acted as another reason as to why they should indeed seek secession from the United States of America. This is what was referred to as the southern sectionism.

Slavery was another issue that contributed immensely towards sectionism in the south. This occurred as a result of the North’s persistent attacks on slavery which they deemed a threat to their economic interests. Since the south was very much interested in the same for political and economic survival, they thought that separatism was the only better way to solve the issue. The southern states were also threatened by the rising economic levels and the rising population in the North and therefore perceived the same to be threatening to their economic interest (Tindall & David, 52). The Northern states for example enjoyed very high investments from other European immigrants unlike the south. The end result is that the southern leaders felt overpowered and thus the reason for the contemplation of secession as the only option. With the growing strength of the Northern leaders, the Southerners were of the idea that they might one day find themselves at the mercy of the Northern leaders who formed a larger part of the federal government. A compromise was thus entered in the year 1850 with the intention of trying to quell the now heated relationship between the North and the South (Randall & Donald, 33). A fugitive Slavery Act was passed in the year 1850 with the intention of giving powers to the American citizens to assist the government in capturing any of the slaves running away.

The 1860 Elections

One of the defining characteristics of the 1860 elections was the fact that despite Abraham Lincoln winning the Presidency he did not get any support from the Southern States. Before the elections took place, already the legislators from South Carolina had threatened to pull out of the United States of America Union if Abraham Lincoln who was contesting on the Republican ticket won the elections (Randall & Donald, 24). Before Abraham Lincoln could even be inaugurated as the President of the United States of America, already the Southern States were preparing for war by ensuring that they have a strong military. Most of the confederate governments pushed for secession something that led Abraham Lincoln to release troops to go to the port of South Carolina as a measure of protection of the federal property (Randall & Donald 54). The troops however were attacked by the southern military leading Abraham Lincoln to seek military assistance from the Northern States. At this point several southern States such as North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee passed a vote of secession from the union.

Civil War 1861 to 1865

After the southern states had separated from the union, they never engaged nor wanted to engage in any military wars with any of their neighboring Northern States. The states were very adamant to any form of negotiations with the federal government and all they wanted was to have independence. Abraham Lincoln then sent military troops to the Port of Sumter to reinforce the interests of the federal government. In the process, the military was attacked by the confederate states and thus giving President Lincoln an opportunity to call up for assistance in supplying troops in all the seceded states (Randall & Donald, 15). The southerners however were never quick to respond but rather focused on putting their territory together in order to put up a very spirited fight against them in a manner that would sent fear to the northern states and also reinforce their stand of wanting independence. Amidst the battles, there was a desire by both the union and the confederate states to attain the states on the borders. At the end of the day, it was the union military that then took the day in 1862 and thus taking charge of Western Virginia (Randall & Donald, 22). As a result of the control of these states, the economy in the South was paralyzed leaving as no imports or exports could pass the borders. The south which majorly relied on cotton exports was greatly affected as the cotton could not get across the borders.

The war between the confederate states and the Union attracted about a third of the US army officers who resigned and joined the confederate to reinforce it as against the union which seemed to overpower them. As a result of the war, the southern states also decided to take a measure of not having political parties within their territory citing reasons that the parties would be the greatest source of disunity in the south and thus frustrating their efforts to conquer the union. The entry of Jefferson Davis as the president of the United States after Abraham Lincoln worsened the situation as he concentrated much on the military at the expense of the needs of the Southern States. The union seemed to have totally abandoned the needs of the Southern people and were instead determined to inflict pain on the innocent people.

To make matters worse for the confederate states, the Northern states decided to sneak into the war the issue pertaining to slavery. The abolition of slavery in these states was deemed so important towards the economic growth of the North. In the year 1865 therefore, almost all of the states excluding Delaware and Kentucky decided to take a step of abolishing slavery. Abraham Lincoln was thus left with no choice rather than making an emancipation proclamation declaring all the salves in the Southern states free (Randall & Donald, 64). On the discovery of the injury that the proclamation would have on their economy, the southern States to take all their slaves far away from the federal union troops and thus retaining them as opposed to letting them run away. Letting the slaves go meant that there would be no person working on the farms and thus weakening the economic situation of the confederate States. Eventually, the Union troops managed to control all the southern states and declared all the slaves free (Randall & Donald, 53). As a result the slaves had a choice of running away and going to the refugee camps as many of them did or remain on the lands of their masters. However, neither the slaves nor their masters were ever compensated by the Union. Most of the people who suffered severely during this period were the black people who contracted diseases and a multitude of them facing death.

The unions move was then to put up a railway line across the southern States that would assist them in controlling the south by ensuring free movement of the troops. The rails in the North however were designed for longer miles as opposed to the southern rails. Further, the locomotives in the South were of very poor quality and thus could not be sustained for a long time. For this reason, the southerners decided to vandalize the rails. Further, the attacks by the union troops further made the situation worse, as they weakened the rails. The confederate thus fell in the year 1965 ushering in the reconstruction period.

The Reconstruction Period

It referred to the period between 1863 and 1877. During this period, the large plantations owned by the whites in the south were divided into small pieces of land of up to 40 acres. Most of the subdivided land was then given out for ownership by both the whites and the blacks. Form this period up to about the year 1950, the most common type of farming in the south was tenant farming (Randall & Donald, 33). Those who could not afford owning land embarked on a kind of practice known as sharecropping. Under this form of farming, the land, the seeds and housing was provided by the land owner and at the harvest time, the farmer could then claim his own share of the harvest.

Further, at this period, both the economy and political structure was in a mess. Further, it was a period when the black people took advantage to claim their rights. The person who played a very great task during this period was President Grant Ulysses. He particularly fought the violent groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. A lot of finances were also used towards the financing of the railways, schools and other infrastructures (Randall & Donald, 25). From the period after the World War 2, there was a move to embark on the creation of a new south into a very strong economy. A lot was done in terms of setting up manufacturing companies. A lot of industrialization took shape in the south and thus leading to the eradication of the traditional Southern agricultural system. It is for this reason that as at the year 2009 very few sharecroppers existed. The cotton farms and the industries collapsed and in return the area became very urbanized (Randall & Donald , 30). Unlike the use of the cotton pickers before, the south started using the machines to perform this work. Today, the southern states resemble the Northern states even after all he destruction that happened during the civil war. There are a lot of descent homes and the weather is very cool.

Conclusion

From the above discourse, it is plausible to state that the Southern States have evolved from a very difficult era of destruction to a new south. A region that majorly Agricultural to an industrialized one. The South that relied on slaves to a south that treats the former slaves with equality. The civil war period had particularly brought the region to its knees but it had a chance to redeem itself during the reconstruction period. Indeed the region has had a very painful past but the future seems very bright.



















Work Cited

Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877. Harper Collins, 2011.

Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history. WW Norton &

Company, 2016.

Randall, J. G., & Donald, D. (2016). The Civil War and Reconstruction. Pickle Partners

Publishing.