Apollo11
Posts: 24082
Joined: 6/7/2001 From: Zagreb, Croatia Status: offline
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Hi all, quote:
ORIGINAL: John 3rd I have taught the Civil War in my classrooms to be made up of several factors: 1. The 3 Ts: Taxes, Tariffs, and Transportation were issues that served to divide North from South. A large portion of the tax burden was being borne by the South--with the Cotton explosion going on--while Tariffs were in place to protect Northern fledgling industries that punnished Southern trade with England and France. Add to this problem that a lot of the tax and tariff money was then being spent on NORTHERN Railroad construction and you have an economic sense of perscution... 2. Growing Cultural Divide--the stereotype is that the South changed and there was a cultural disconnect. Not true. The South--in all reality--stayed very close to its Colonial roots--at the risk of tying in the portion of this thread--while it was the NORTH that transformed into something new. The growth of cities, new transportation, massive immigration, and industrialization took that section into an entirely new direction; whereas, the South remained true to its Cash Crops/Slave based economy. 3. Loss of the Middle--as long as there remained a sizeable number of people who hadn't picked a side within the conflict then compromise was possible. Figure 1/3 for slavery, 1/3 against, and 1/3 not really sure. You were able to compromise in 1820, fight the Mexican-American War, achieve compromise in 1850, but then it headed down hill. The litany of events: Bleeding Kansas, Sumner-Brooks Caning, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Dred Scott, and John Brown's Raid fixed it so that there could be NO compromise. Each event led to people choosing sides and then that was it. Lincoln's Election was simply the spark needed to bring about the inferno. Does all that make sense? I was typing so fast, I am not sure if it does. This was my standard 60 minute lecture prior to Fort Sumter abbreviated into 3 paragraphs... It makes a lot of sense - thanks! BTW, I did read lot of history books (and novels) about American Civil War - it is a subject that always fascinated me... Leo "Apollo11"
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Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance! A & B: WitW, WitE, WbtS, GGWaW, GGWaW2-AWD, HttR, CotA, BftB, CF P: UV, WitP, WitP-AE
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