ajbeane – U.S. to 1877

December 2, 2013

The Inevitable Fracture

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Wilentz makes a point to discuss how the institution of slavery caused a major fracture in the Union. He talks about how the “fire-eaters” led the charge of the South’s eventually succession, but it is important to note that there have been threats of succession for many decades leading up to this cataclysm.

Many attempts were made to curb the tension between the North and South. Such as the Democratic National Convention being held in Charleston instead of New York. They had hoped that this would seem like a gesture of goodwill but it had the opposite effect. The presence of the Northern politicians provoked the anger of the Southerns.The voting in this convention ended up in a standstill and forced a reschedule which managed to slightly delay the inevitable fracture. This political unrest in just choosing a candidate only exasperated the issue more.

Wilentz noted that Lincoln had high hopes that secessionists would fail because they had misinterpreted him. He hoped that the sensible people of the South would see through the extremists’ lies and remain members of the Union. Unfortunately, Lincoln’s election had the opposite effect. It turned Deep South moderates and even Unionists into Secessionists. The question soon became not whether or not to secede but when and how.

South Carolina was the first state to secede on December 20 soon followed by Mississippi, then Florida, and the rest of the southern states to Texas. There was a strong counteroffensive in the border states but that only managed to slow the process. With the South seceded the inevitable conflict was on the horizon.

November 20, 2013

The Delaying Compromise of 1850

It comes as no surprise that there were many political tensions between the North and South in the ante-bellum period. One of these main issues was the institution of slavery and its possible expansion into new territories.Each side feared that with the inclusion of new states that whether they be free or slave that it would tilt the balance of power to one side which would allow the stronger side to either further enforce slavery or to abolish it. The two sides needed to come to some form of agreement in hopes of maintaining the balance of power. Many compromises occurred to curb the spread of slave states to the west such as the Missouri Compromise while not outright restricting growth. One major compromise Compromise of 1850.

In 1850, congress wished to allow the territory of California to be admitted as a free state, as well as New Mexico. The southerns were outraged by this expansionary policy and believed it was a move for the North to gain more political power. Clay offered a more “fair” alternative to this plan. In this plan, Texas releases its claim to New Mexico and allow the future states New Mexico and Arizona to have the decision to be free or slave. California would still be admitted as a free state. The South gained a stronger Fugitive Slave act to enforce slavery.

This compromise only proved to delay the inevitable succession of South Carolina and the southern states who followed. It was a vain attempt at compromise that just didn’t do enough. It did not truly limit or allow slavery which caused discontent for both sides leading to future conflict.

November 18, 2013

Irish Immigrants and Motives for being Confederates

Charleston, South Carolina was one of the major Irish immigration location. Many of these of these immigrants were young and unskilled laborers and thus had little stake in the slave economy of the South. Yet they sided with the states with which they immigrated to. It seems strange that people who were “just off the boat” would feel an obligation to defend a state that they have only recently come to call home.

It is strange that impoverished immigrants would fell the need to stand up and protect an institution that had nothing to do with them and that a few likely opposed. Actually many Irish immigrants were pro-slavery. The treatment of Irish by the British left a sour taste in the mouth of the Irish and affected their view on social class, since the British believed that Irish were inferior beings. The Irish learned the importance of social inclusion and thus confounds their stance on slavery even more. While some may have supported slavery while others did not, it did not seem like their main motivations for siding with the Confederacy. The Irish wished to rework pro-slavery to meet their ends and views so they could improve their home and increase their social standing, but they also wished to bar slaves from social inclusion showing that they did not consider slaves worthy of social inclusion and thus their support for the South.

Home, a term which relates to the place that we believe that we belong too. These immigrants planned on raising their families in their new home. Thus they would feel that they needed to defend it for the sake of their families future. Since the war would likely bring fighting to the areas in which their families lived and the opposing forces would likely not differentiate who was truly siding with the Confederacy, the Irish feared what could happen to their new homes if they did not assist. Even though the Union forces were going to attack or ransack all who they came across, it was a natural fear of all who lived in the possible war zone.

October 22, 2013

The Expansion of the American Frontier

With the independence of the United States, the frontier states looked to expand the countries borders west. This expansion was no small feat and required the full attention of the government to deal with native tribes over land disputes. According to Turner, the frontier was, ” the outer edge of the wave — the meeting point between savagery and civilization” (Turner). This belief that they were the tamers of this savage land allowed them to feel no qualms when they infringed on native land. It is important to note that Turner does point out that, “the environment is at first too strong for the man” (Turner). This shows that they acknowledged that expansion into the frontier would not be an easy job but with time that, “little by little he [can] transform the wilderness” (Turner). Also Turner mentions the, “European germs developing in an American environment” which shows that the American people were trying to create their own identity (Turner). The American people did not want to be known for, “German germs” but as, “a new product that is America” (Turner). As America’s frontier expanded, “it meant a steady movement from the influence of Europe” (Turner).

As the movement from Europe increased, President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their historic expedition. When they were gone the bones of a Mastodon were excavated and put on display at the Philadelphia Museum. This is important because they wished to associate this creature with the new image of America. With the then still recent defeat of Britain, America needed to prove its ability to survive as an independent country. Jefferson thought that a good step forward would be an animal that was thought to hunt many other predators such as lions. This is symbolic because the national animal of Britain was a lion which signifies that the Americas were able to defeat them. While the Mastodon did not become a national symbol the concept of it shows how prideful that America felt at the time which it needed to survive the early years of being a new country.

October 2, 2013

Hawaii’s Importance

Taylor strangely discusses what Europeans are doing in the Pacific which most people think is not much. People don’t tend to associate early colonization with anything in the Pacific, due to its difficult to be reached. As Taylor points out, the region of the Hawaiian islands begins to become more frequently visited by explores and traders thus their importance in American history starts early than typically expected. I like how Taylor takes a commonly unimportant region and turns it into a crossroads of relevancy. The islands become a crossroads in the region for traders from the Far East to North America which threw the islands into new cultural encounters and transformations of their own. In the 1780s Kamehameha won the local arms race to become the dominant chief of the region. Kamehameha exploited the Europeans for their technology to better establish his dominance. One such British naval officer, George Vancouver, even provided Kamehameha with warship with which to accomplish his goals. The British believed that the islands were their protectorate and thus wanted Kamehameha to win dominance so to unify the islands, possibly under British control. There were also European mariners who would abandon ship to live on the islands. They did this because on the island they were desired for their skills military advisors and artisan so the local chiefs would provide them with land, prestige, wealth, and even a wife. Compared to the hard life at sea, this was a dream come true for the mariners.

It is important to note that the Hawaiians faced many of the same problems that other natives faced such as germs causing disease, weapons, and missionaries trying to convert their people. Although, thanks to Kamehameha these shocks were limited and the people recovered from them and had no real problems with the Europeans. This makes the Hawaiian islands an exception to how many natives were dealt with. As pointed out by King, European missionaries would result to intimidation tactics or forced assimilation to convert native peoples but, according to Taylor, the Hawaiians did not face this problem. It is possible that they did face similar problems but that Taylor felt it unnecessary to mention them but it is possible that Europeans would be less willing to convert people forcibly who were recently well armed and hard to reach.

September 25, 2013

Old World Competition Comes to the New World

Taylor sets up his argument early on in the introduction the chapter eighteen. He lays down the general points of the chapter neatly such as years of important Imperial Wars between the British, Spanish, and French. He also makes a point not to ignore the Indian peoples influences and concerns involving the wars in their regions. The threat of encroachment only worsened as these wars progress and one nation’s supremacy would change the native world forever.

As tensions between European empires rose, war broke out. Different from earlier wars, now battles would take place on New World land which would greatly affect the people living there. The local colonists would be forced to take up arms to defend their land from an enemy that they personally had no quarrel with; such as the defense of Georgia in 1742 from the Spanish. Although, as mentioned by Strauss, the colonists had minor victories when treaties were created the crown stripped colonists of their spoils and created a greater rift between them. These New World conflicts would greatly change the balance of power in these regions.

As the wars progressed, it was becoming clear that the British would dominate the majority of the North America region of the New World. This worried native people because without the conflict between the foreigners the British would be able to focus their efforts on expansion. Also the Indians would take advantage of both sides conflict to push back colonists and raid their enemy camps in the neutral region. Thus many natives threw their support to the French in hopes of them maintaining a foothold in the region to give the natives a needed buffer from the British.

With the defeat of New France, the Indians no longer could get the Europeans to fight each other. Without the French, the Indians could not be competitive traders and were abused by colonial traders and the Indians lost the independence they tried to maintain. With the encroachment of settlers, traders, and missionaries, the Indians either rebelled or retreated further inland.

September 18, 2013

The Carolinas and the Purpose of Georgia

Chapter 11 discuses the development of the southern colonies known collectively as the Carolinas. This land was granted to eight English aristocrats known as the Lords Proprietors. As pointed out by Mangone, in 1670 when Charles Town was founded the British were making a bold move in challenging the Spanish supremacy directly south of the colony. Thus colonists needed to be brought in quickly which the Lord Proprietors tried to attract with promises of religious toleration and grants of land. It was hard to attract colonist due to the relatively harsh living conditions especially in the Low Country of South Carolina with its, “hot, humid, and enervating summer replete with bitter insects,”. Although most colonist tolerated the conditions due to the abundance of fertile land to be exploited.

Weather was not the only concern of incoming colonists. The regions, being only recently settled, had native tribes who resisted the colonists’ expansion into their land. Although the Carolinas quickly dispatched of most of the native peoples and quickly expanded into the area. The Carolinas opened a trade relation and framed an alliance with the Westo to help deal with other tribes and bolster their profits only to ignore them when they were threatened by the Savannah. While there were skirmishes between the natives and colonist, most were relatively small and did not really affect colonial encroachment. Later there were, however, many raids on native villages such as Moore’s raid on Nooherooka, where they slaughtered hundreds. There was also the Carolina Indian rebels who tried to push back the Carolina colonist. They were unable to maintain their supplies and were forced to make peace due to the colonist superior firepower and their native allies.

The Carolinas’ plantation style of agriculture required more labor than was obtainable from the mother country thus they turned to slavery. The planters in the Carolinas had feared slave rebellions to the location, since it was a frontier colony they know that it would be easy for slaves to escape and form large groups to resist capture. Once such rebellion occurred in 1739 near the Stono River in Charles Town where runaway slaves obtained firearms, gained a fairly large following, killed whites and burned down multiple plantations. They were not entirely prejudice as they did spare an innkeeper who was not harsh to his slaves. After this rebellion and other minor ones, slave owners in the Carolinas feared slave rebellions so some would resort to brutal methods to keep the slave population in check. Although not all slave owners adopted this policy it was still a widespread issue in the Carolinas.

Georgia was founded mostly as a border colony to protect the recently very profitable Carolinas. As such the colony itself did not attract the attention of wealthy land owners wishing to expand their agriculture empire. The colony also rejected the slave system but did not show the need to emancipate slaves in other colonies. The colony was a refugee to slaves, criminals, and tax evaders. The colony also followed a plantation style of agriculture but on a smaller scale due to lack of labor.

September 1, 2013

Week One Reading

The introduction sets up a new perspective of observing early North America History. It goes in great detail about how many people view this era simply through the lenses of Europeans and specifically the males of the colonists and how they shaped this new land for themselves. It makes note of how many native peoples are ignored or are considered insignificant in the development of the area. It also states that minorities are generally overlooked in the grand scheme of things, as well as many significant women. Also the intro makes note that British America is not the only important colonies in North America, although it is one of the largest.

The first chapter begins by describing how native peoples used to be determined by historians as a static people, whose behavior at the time of colonization could be used to depict how their ancestors behaved. Taylor continues by pointing out that neither the Europeans nor the Natives were more or less violent than the other, as native tribes have waged war with one another. Although the Europeans did possess superior power compared to the native groups, thus the scope in which they would spread and inflict harm to the native people and region would seem larger in scope.

Taylor truly shows the productive and advancing culture of the native people, describing first mass exodus across the land bridge. The native people truly adapted to their new hostile environment and began to thrive. They eventually developed horticulture as a means to better collect and maintain food supplies. They also developed many intricate religions such as Hohokam and Anasazi which shows a sense of community among different groups.