Diversity & Demographics: Civil War

During the Civil War many African Americans were severely segregated from society, especially in the South which seceded from the United States in 1861,conpared to states in the North. During the upcoming and active years of the civil war, African Americans were strongly segregated compared to other races considering they made up much of the United States population at this time. Although, in the South Blacks as a whole were not accepted in society nor politically, as they were not citizens, according to the constitution whether or not they were a free man or woman. The United States did not see blacks as citizens before and during the civil war. Blacks were most likely slaves or very rarely free. In the North, still not considered citizens, African Americans were not slaves and slavery became illegal in the North after Lincoln became president. In Northern states, even though African Americans were free from slavery they were still not citizens and but socially accepted more than in the South. Throughout the United States African Americans were greatly segregated, until after the civil war in which African Americans began recieving rights, and became citizens. Before and during the civil war African Americans were the minority of the states and were commonly mistreated in society, and when they were given their rights after the civil war, segregation began to form in different ways than before. During the times of the Civil war the United States population was full of unhappy and segregated African Americans until they recieved their rights after the Civil war.

Lincoln

In The Gettysburg Address written by President Lincoln, addresses the country that we must never forget what happened at the end of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln believes that the battle itself was a fight to remember and the battlegrounds will now be a very large graveyard for the men that had died there in battle. He also said that it will not be a memorable ground, but rather an area in which the cause must still be fought for, for the sake of the ones that were unable to reach themselves. Lincoln feels that they need to push harder to reach the cause that could not not be reached the day of Gettysburg.
Through Lincoln's second inaugural he discusses the main cause for the civil war was in fact the prohibition of slavery in areas that were becoming states. In the South, they feared that by prohibiting slavery in those areas would threaten slavery in the areas it was already taking place. In the North they believed slavery needed to be prohibited in many areas. Lincoln felt that instead of continuing to fight against one another, that we should come together and create peace amongst our country again.
The second inaugural address supports Lincoln's First inaugural address because he believes that as country there is no need to keep fighting or fight each other period. The two of these excerpts help us understand what the cause of the war was, but also allow us to see Lincoln's views on the war. These excerpts could be used to help others gather an understanding of the civil war and what its cause was. The views of the excerpts are limited because they are bias to president Lincoln's views. Other sources that represent what the cause of the war
will help us fill any gaps in the excerpts we used as well as get different reasons, if any, that give info on the war.

Antebellum Era

During the Antebellum era, there were numerous changes in demographics of the U.S, with immigration and the importation of different races. In the expansion of the U.S. Particularly in the South and in the Southwest or Western U.S. the amount of African Americans increased considerably but for many of the wrong reasons, slavery. Slavery had one of its biggest increases of our time in the U.S. The expansion of the states had led to new areas that were capable of being farmed for crops such as cotton. As more and more land had been founded for the states with land able to be cropped, the demand for slaves had increased greatly. In the Northern areas of the U.S a great wave of immigration had come. America had seen a great increase in races such as Irish, German, and Spanish, with the acceptation of other small groups. Many of these immigrants had come to states like New York where they made a big impact on society as they took the jobs of those who were upset with the job they had. Many people of this time had hard working jobs that had harsh conditions and were sometimes fatal. These jobs many times did not have a good pay and people disagreed. When people disagreed they often quit their jobs and as a result many of the immigrants began to take their place despite the conditions. The conditions were in many cases better than those of their home country. The Irish women had also began prostitution as a job to provide for their families. In the U.S during the Antebellum era had led to an increase in immigrants of different countries but also importation of slaves from Africa. The expansion of the U.S led to more slaves, as more jobs arose to what many believed to be was the ideal life to move to America, immigrants had taken the roles if many Americans.

Indian Removal

As President Jackson wanted his policy to be carried out through his presidency, he ran into a problem with the supreme court due to the resistance of the Native Americans, particularly the Cherokees. The Cherokees who were willing to adopt the white ways were still punished after America wished to expand their land and move the Natives west. In 1830 congress passed an act which stated Indians could be relocated, if necessary by force. Supreme court had stopped this act by proving the cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation" and could not be forced by the state to give up their land. Nonetheless 2 years later Jackson carried out his policy to relocate and moved Chickasaws, choctaws, as well as the most submissive of the group the Cherokees. This led up to the Trail of tears where a fourth of about 16,000 indians died.

In 1832 the Cherokee tribe used the weapon of the white man which was law an brought the case to the supreme court, asking them to enforce theirs rights. In doing so the Cherokees were granted trade, treated as a nation and to respect their rights from Americans. One of these acts which considered the Native American lands as political communities and having a territorial boundary which their authority is exclusive and having a right to the land within those boundaries. This was guaranteed by the U.S. Although guaranteed many indians were forcibly moved and also killed. Therefore the act followed through by militaries sent by Jackson was unconstitutional and leads to many questions such as what else may be unconstitutional in the American government.

The document pertaining to the case against the Cherokees contests what we learned America had actually done to the cherokees along with other tribes.

We could use this in the future because we seen how America had gone against their word when saying the Cherokess would not be invaded. Although supreme court established this Jackson had followed through to gain support on relocating the indians.

Remember the Ladies

"Remember the Ladies." Letter to John Adams. 1776. MS. N.p.

Murray, Judith S. "On the Equality of the Sexes." Editorial. Massachusetts Magazine 1790: n. pag. Print.

In Abigail Adams' letter "remembering the ladies, she reminds her husband, much like in her title, that women are indeed important to society and most importantly man himself. In Abigail's third paragraph she mentions that all men would become tyrants if given the opportunity, without women there wouldn't be much to stop the act of men becoming these tyrants. But with women as a party of society or allowing them to be more than what they are in society would benefit men and society. Abigail claims that is rather obvious men in society wish to control females, giving them their position of "tyrant". In her last paragraph she tries to convey the idea that man and woman should be equal and it would cause less problems, particularly the idea of revolting against man. This would occur only if and when man binds women by law or are not given the voice wanted. In Judith Sargent Murray's article, she does more than what Adams had done considering her argument. In her letter she says that man and woman are both born equally and for man to treat woman indifferently is unlawful. She continues to acclaim that men and women no matter what age or sex are able to come together and each prove themselves, but because man does not allow that man will never know if women are truly inferior. As we have seen in our previous readings such as Thomas Paines "common sense" he brings up the idea of representation and such, but he never allows for woman to be represented in our government. As well as the declaration of independence which says we all have the same rights as "all men are created equal". But as we have seen men is not created equal as women are inferior to men and not allowed representation in the government and refused their education. These excerpts allow us to realize the different flaws in our developing country and how we tried to overcome these flaws. These excerpts do not limit us on much of the ideas given as it speaks for most women of its time ad we can come to the conclusion from our readings that men didn't think much of what women had felt.