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CIVIL RIGHTS: An “American Dilemma” October 7, 1999 The Context of the Civil Rights Struggle the American civil war civil rights (1863-1875) the development of legal segregation (18831896) Jim Crow (1900-1950) The American Civil War Missouri compromise (1819-21) – admit free states and slave states to Union in order to maintain balance in the Senate – made slavery illegal in new territories north of the Mason-Dixon line – slave states could not prohibit the entry of free blacks The American Civil War – Pushing the South Towards War admission of California in 1850 – guaranteed anti-slavery majority in Congress in both houses – pushed the South to become more aggressive » it would never be more powerful than it was at the time » politically or economically The American Civil War – Pushing the South Towards War Southern regional grievances and perception of Northern hypocrisy Southern economic dependence – Southern agricultural economy vs. Northern industrial economy – Southern support for low tariffs; Northern support for high tariffs – Southern plantation owners (dependent upon world prices for cotton) vs. Northern bankers – divergent interests in railroad policy The American Civil War – Pushing the South Towards War Southern economic dependence on slavery – slavery was not an old-fashioned institution » profitability of slavery was dropping until the advent of the cotton economy » the resurgence of slavery was a product of the industrial revolution, new technology, and worldwide mass markets » the South became economically dependent upon the production of cotton which was dependent on slavery The American Civil War – Pushing the South Towards War Southern regional grievances and perception of Northern hypocrisy Southern economic dependence Southern beliefs that moral indignation of the North masked economic motives and plans to aggrandize Northern political power to further those interests The American Civil War – Pushing the North towards War Northern predisposition towards blacks – discrimination against blacks (often universal and enshrined in statutes) – initial opposition to anti-slavery movement in North Northern reaction to Southern aggressiveness – Supreme Court rules that the Missouri compromise is unconstitutional (1857) » contravened 5th amendment – Fugitive Slave Act (1850) » federal law enforcing capture and return of escaped slaves The American Civil War – Pushing the North towards War Northern reaction – Southern aggression made slavery an issue of the rights and freedoms of northern whites – slavery must be contained » abolition required a constitutional amendment which slave states could block » Lincoln Republicans proposed to contain slavery The American Civil War – Going to War both sides claimed constitutional legitimacy – emancipationists » all people would be equal before the law – pro-slavery » states rights both sides believed they were morally right The American Civil War – Civil War and Slavery slavery and the Union – 4 slave-owning border states join the Union » Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware – Lincoln forced to disavow local emancipation decrees » “My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it; and I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some slaves and leaving others alone I would do that.” Abraham Lincoln, 1860 The American Civil War – Civil War and Slavery slavery and the Confederacy – Jefferson Davis (Confederate President) argued for the manumission of slaves willing to fight for the South – policy was resisted – policy adopted in 1865 The American Civil War – Civil War and Slavery the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 – freed slaves only in Confederate states Civil War ends in 1865 13th Amendment (1865) – abolishing slavery 14th Amendment (1868) – prohibitions against state discrimination against any person 15th Amendment (1870) – right to vote regardless of color or because the person was a slave The Beginning of the “American Dilemma” the Gettysburg address (1863) – the ‘great task before us’ » a country dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” » “government of the people, by the people, for the people” including the South reconstitution of state governments immediate withdrawal of occupying armies – new state governments signaled immediately that blacks would not be treated as equals