Download Darcey Sweeney

Darcey Sweeney
Professor Kase
Final Exam Essay # 1
December 4, 2008
1. Discuss fully the advantages and disadvantages of the North and the South at
the beginning of the Civil War.
July 21, 1861 the Civil War began at dawn with McDowell commanding
30,000 troops against General Pierre Beauregard’s 22,000. The Civil War,
considered the first total war in history, it was fought through the mobilization of
society’s human and economic resources. Lincoln was key to the war, moving
slowly at first to keep the border - states within the Union, however Lincoln later
granted the destruction of slavery as a target in the war. Lincoln freed four million
slaves, making the Civil War one of the most epic wars in both the South and
North’s history.
Both North and South underestimated the extent of the war between both
unions. The Civil War was the first battle that involved more than 100,000 troops.
Railroads were the main suppliers for weaponry and deliverance during the war,
seeing it was the only way for mass production to be delivered to each camp.
Seeing that the North contained over 20,000 miles of railroad, more than double
what the South had established, the North was well equipped with weaponry.
With an advantage in weaponry and transportation, the North’s manufacturing
represented over 90 % of the country’s industry. The North had an abundance of
factories, including: textile factories, iron and steel mills, meat packing facilities,
flour – milling, oil refining, and armament plants. The South depended greatly on
imported manufactured goods; they had very few factories. Since the war was
mainly fought on Southern territory, the North’s resources had to be organized
and mobilized. The new factories, mass production, transportation, and economic
wealth helped to make the process flow easier. Adding to the North’s advantage
economically, during the war the North operated factories at full speed.
The North invented new machinery to mass-produce; this picked up the labor
shortages. During the war this gave the U.S. a great opportunity to enter an age of
enterprise. With most economic power, the North possessed more than 3/4 of the
nation’s resources. The South being short of capital and not economically as
strong as the North, it had great difficulty financing the war. With financing the
North required a system to finance its campaign. Taxing the populace was one
mean, and taxes paid for 21 % of the Union war expenses; the Confederate with
only 1 %. August of 1861 Congress levied the first federal income tax, of 3 % on
all incomes in $800 a year. Along with the increased tariff duties, proved
insufficient, Congress enacted a comprehensive tax law in 1862 that for the first
time brought the tax collector into every northern household. The government
also borrowed a large amount of money through the sale of $2.2 billion in bonds.
This financed the rest of the war’s cost by issuing paper money. Again, the South
was so short of capital, there financial status deeply affected their finances during
the war. All together, the Union printed $431 million. Adding to the North’s
financing plans, Congress also instituted a national banking system, allowing
nationally chartered banks to issue notes backed by the U.S. bonds. This was the
first time the U.S. created uniform national currency.
The North kept control over more than 2/3 of the states. The North included
ten free states and four-slaveholding border - states: Delaware, Maryland,
Kentucky, and Missouri. The North’s goal was to invade, conquer and put and
end to the South’s will to resist. Therefore, the North deployed thousands of
soldiers to defend long supply lines in enemy territory; this considerably reduced
the northern advantage in manpower. Moreover, Northern population totaled
twenty two million, as the South stood with nine million; three and half million
were slaves. The South’s main advantage was fighting on their own terrain since
the Union invaded the Southern states. They were essentially fighting a defensive
war. Therefore, their ability to hunt and experience with outdoor life helped when
the Northerners came with factory workers and businessmen to fight. With
advantages due to terrain, they carried with them loyal outstanding leaders: such
as Thomas J. Stonewall and Robert E. Lee.
The South consisted of a group of eleven states. The seven that had seceded
following Lincoln’s election were joined by four border- states: Arkansas,
Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. However, the South did consist of a few
areas of pro – Union sentiment. The South entailed in many European friends who
favored their aristocracy. Moreover, Europeans who knew the strength and
resources of both sides believed that the Confederacy could never be conquered.
The South, however, did not need to invade the North, they only had to protect
their land, people, and army.
In conclusion, the war had a huge impact on both sides. Both North and South
had multiple advantages and disadvantages. The conflict cost estimated $20
billion. The Civil War rearranged and reordered the national economy and
economic relations worldwide. Demand for machines stimulated industrialization,
mainly in heavy industries. Manufacturers were forced to supply the army on an
unprecedented scale all over. The war affected everyone globally as well as
nationally. Mainly because Europe depended on imports of Southern Cotton. Not
only did the South expect Europe rally for their support but help financially also.
The lack of cotton trade greatly affected Europe; Europe was forced to find new
sources. Moreover, India, Egypt and Brazil all improved their railroad facilities,
thanks to the north, this encouraged to open new cotton fields for new importing
and exporting. Politically, the war changed the balance of power. The South and
Democratic Party lost much influence, while the Republicans emerged to the
higher position. All in all, the war’s corrosive effect on human morals corrupted
American life and politics, destroyed idealism, and severely crippled
humanitarian reform.
2. What are the black codes? How did the policies of segregation become
entrenched in the South?
President Johnson recommendations were not agreeing with most southern
delegates who met to construct new governments. Johnson moved to quickly to
return the southern states to their place in the Union. He insisted a loyalty oath
white southerners would have to regain their civil and political rights and have
their property restored, except for slaves. Johnson then announced that once a
state had drafted a new constitution and elected state officers and members of
Congress, he would revoke martial law and recognize the new state government.
Suffrage was very limited to all the white citizens who had taken the oath. Soon
Johnson informally stipulate that the southern states were to renounce their
ordinances of secession, repudiate the Confederate debt, and ratify the proposed
13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.
The white elitist regimes in the south tried to prevent blacks from gaining any
power at all. The Civil Rights act was passed in 1866, but there were other laws
passed that prevented African Americans from gaining too much power. These
other laws were passed in order to exert more direct.
The new governments also did not allow African Americans any political
rights or provide any way for black education. Due to this “new government”
each state passed a series of laws also known as codes. The Black Codes gave
African Americans some rights that had not been granted to slaves. They
legalized marriages from slavery and allowed black southerners to hold and sell
property and to sue and be sued in the state courts. However, their main intention
was to keep African Americans as propertyless agricultural laborers with inferior
legal rights. Moreover, the Black Codes did not do as much as they were hoped
to. The new freed slaves could not serve on juries, testify against whites, or work
as they pleased. Mississippi prohibited them from buying or renting farmland and
most states ominously provided that black people who were vagrants could be
arrested and hired out to landowners. Even though the Black Codes differed from
state to state, they were similar in many ways: All black s had to agree to labor
contracts with few job opportunities, blacks could not own land, however they
were trapped in sharecropping or the wage-labor system, sentencing of hard labor
or chain gangs took place if they were unable to pay a fine, states were allowed to
force apprenticeships amongst orphaned black children (not considered slavery,
and whites were given the privilege to mentally and physically abuse black people
without fear of punishment. The Black Codes almost came as a threat to the
Northerners it violated their sense of freedom. The thought of free black
population feared the white southerners, mainly because the blacks would
outnumber the whites. The fact that blacks could outnumber the whites gave them
the idea that the black population would retaliate from the hundreds of years of
slavery they were put through. Unfairly, the Black Codes were passed to ensure
the white people that they would have a stable and reliable work force in the
south; seeing that after the civil work, economically the south was well in debt.