Megan Boccardi's Section Questions
For this upcoming section please make sure you have done all of the assigned reading. We will be paying particular attention to Henry David Thoreau's "Plea for Captain John Brown," available in the back of Clotel and Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.
For this weeks questions, I would like you to think about the cultural differences between North and South. How were these differences expressed in their understanding of the nation and its future? How did members of each region view each other? What was the impact of their cultural difference?
What role do individuals play in this crisis? How do we view Lincoln? John Brown? Can individuals impact a nation?
Please answer these questions as completely as possible using lecture and readings in your answers.
See you all in class!
For this weeks questions, I would like you to think about the cultural differences between North and South. How were these differences expressed in their understanding of the nation and its future? How did members of each region view each other? What was the impact of their cultural difference?
What role do individuals play in this crisis? How do we view Lincoln? John Brown? Can individuals impact a nation?
Please answer these questions as completely as possible using lecture and readings in your answers.
See you all in class!
posted by Megan Boccardi at 9:28 AM
22 Comments:
These differences led to many misunderstandings between the north and the south. This led to the two sides going in opposite diretions. The south wanted to be dominant and continue to repress the African Americans. The north wanted to grow and prosper under the leadership of Lincoln. People from each side gave names to individuals such as Scalawags and Carpetbaggers. These cultural differences greatly divided the two sides and eventually grew hate in the hearts of the individuals. The people of the north leaned on Lincoln for support and the southerners believed john Brown was leading them in the right direction. Lincoln was an individual who led the north to their victory and brought hope to a divided nation.
As Lincoln once stated, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." He means that the opposing views of the north and south would lead to the country's downfall. The south believed slavery should be legal because having slaves was necessary to the southern economy (primarily the cotton industry). On the other hand, the north believed that slavery should be abolished because it violated the words of the Constitution. The north did not depend on slavery like the south because their economy consisted of manufacturing and food production. Due to these opposing views, southerners were stereotypically viewed as arrogant, violent, self-indulgent slave lords while the northerners were said to be the peaceful, puritanical, working middleclass. As pointed out by Lincoln, these differences would inevitably cause either the right to freedom or the right to slavery to take over America.
Individuals do play a role in this crisis. While immediate changes may not come about, the words and actions of passionate individuals cannot be easily forgotten. John Brown was eventually hanged, but his violent protests go people's attention, as did Lincoln's famous "House Divided" speech. Their words and actions caught the attention of others. While there were no immediate results, they forced people to face and consider the problem at hand.
The North and South were culturally different in that the North was much more industrialized and urban, while the South was more agricultural and depended highly on slavery to drive the economy. These two ways of running an economy clashed and thus led to the two halves growing apart. The industrial North saw the future of the country to be industrial and thus saw no need for slavery. The South on the other hand thought that slavery would be necessary and a big part of the country's future. The people in the different regions eventually started to make stereotypes about each other. Southerners were viewed as arrogant, violent, slave lords, and the Northerners were viewed as puritanical family men. These stereotypes and differing ideological views drove the two cultures apart. Lincoln is viewed as the man who took a stand for the cause of freedom and led the North in the time of national crisis. John Brown is viewed of a man who did whatever he could to help out a cause in which he firmly believed. These two individuals as well as many others throughout history are able to impact a nation. It simply takes one person in the right position.
The North and the South were very different culturally. In the North, the economy was based on manufacturing products and was much more industrialized, whereas in the South, the people relied on slavery to harvest their crops and to create profit. The differences between these two economic systems were so drastic that it caused a rift to be created. The North viewed the nation's future as a more advanced society, and the South viewed the nations's future as a rural and less developed society. Due to the dramatic difference in views of society, the stereotypes developed were intensely harsh. The North viewed the South as being arrogant, violent, and self indulgent. The South viewed the North as being peaceful, puritanical, mid-class working families. As these views progressed, the individual sides began to resent eachother, driving the initial rift to a new height. In the end, these stereotypes, along with numerous other causes, led to what is known today as the Civil War.
I feel that if an individual stands up for what they believe in and if they make a harsh enough point, then they will be heard. Granted it is a hard accomplishment to make, but if somebody believes in something with that intense of a passion, oftentimes they will do anything to be heard. This was proven by John Brown. Though he was killed, he was killed standing for what he believed in. When society thinks of Lincoln, they view an honest, practical man who would do anything to help in desparate times. These two men have taught society a valueable lesson: to stand up for what you believe in, no matter the consequence. It is a key ingredient to the success of a developing nation, and it is key to continue to hold it together.
As stated in the comments above, the north and south were distinctly different in their views of slavery and what slavery means to the nation as a whole. The north not wanting slavery to expand any further and possibly trying to get rid of it altogether, and the south trying to expand slavery into the new and yet undecided territories. They also had seriously conflicting and overdone views of eachother, which led to even more tension between them. With such differences between two sections of the same country there was constant conflict and it needed to be resolved. As Lincoln stated "It [the nation] will become all one thing, or all the other" in regards to slavery, it was inevitable.
As is seen by both Lincoln and Brown, the individual can make a great impact on those around him and on the nation as a whole by acting on what they believe and by putting their words and ideas out there for others to see and follow. Both of these men are still seen as brave today and are remembered for their actions during this time of conflict in our nation's history. While not everyone followed Brown's actions in trying to start a slave uprising, his actions definitely led others to consider the current problems in their nation and the need to resolve them. Also, Lincoln gave hope to the north that the issue of slavery may soon be resolved, and began to take action to reconcile the divided nation.
The north wanted more people to have more independent leadership, they wanted to have a more civilized way of life. The south just wanted to be all powerful in it's rise of power. They still wanted to keep the African-Americans as slaves and use them as they liked. The north and south both viewed each other commonly, of course the south thought the north were the caring more nice group of people. While the north that the south were unjust and hateful. The impact of the cultural difference was the breaking up of the u.s. into the two halves. The north wanted to abolish slavery and the south wanted to continue with it.
The individual roles played were quite important during this crisis. We view Lincoln as the man who wanted to have the county come together and be peaceful once and again and have slavery abolished. John Brown made a big leap by going and actually sending blacks in to attain weapons to fight back but this failed miserably. But this left an impression on the people who were still looking for hope. An individual cant impact a nation but their words can inspire enough people in an area to have a large enough impact to affect the entire nation.
The differences in the North and South caused many problems. The South views the North as a group of "all talk and no action", slave-loving people when in fact most of the North did not care too much about slavery to begin with. The North viewed the South as power-hungry rednecks with a southern drawl as well as unintelligent and dirty. These stereotypes led to many arguments, fights, crimes, etc. They had names for each other such as "carpetbagger". The cultures were just too different.
Abraham Lincoln was viewed as a hero in the North and especially abolitionists. The South despised him and considered him an enemy. Today Lincoln is viewed as a hero who led and North and kept the country together when in fact he really helped divide it. After the civil war, he started Reconstruction, which failed miserably and only kept the stereotypes. In the end, though; he helped the Union stay together and tried to bring about peace.
John Brown in the North was considered sort of as a saint or a freedom fighter. He was a man who only did what he believed in. To the North he was a man of freedom while to the South he was an evil man, insane, and murderous.
In the end it really would not matter because it would all be relative to what people thought of each other in the end. Both parts had their own views of each other and the individuals were only extremities of those groups. As Lincoln stated, it was truly a "house divided".
Cultural differences between the North and the South during this time period are mainly due to the fact that the north was more industrialized that the south. The north mainly manufactured textiles and worked with the shipping industry. The south was very much agricultural based. Because the south was farm based in its way of life, they felt that they needed slaves in order to work the fields. The north on the other hand could handle the labor without the work of manual laborers. The north saw a future of revolution. Thoreau stated, “The question is not about the weapon, but the spirit in which you use it. No man has appeared in America, as yet who loved his fellow man so well, and treated him so tenderly. He lived for him. He took up his life and he laid it down for him.” (Clotel 505). He is saying that America was founded on acts of coercion on people and greed-not brotherly love. Since the white man came to America he forced the natives away and felt that everyone that was not of his race were inferior. If America was founded on the beliefs of brotherly love then the issues of slavery and the differences between the north and south would not be so vast. Thoreau stated of Brown, “ … never have any thing to do with any war, unless it were a war for liberty” (Clotel 504). He wanted a nation of free people, where all loved each other and people would be willing to sacrifice themselves for another. The north and south did not understand much of each other. The south believed that they needed slavery and they needed to be forceful. When the north did not understand that, the south waned to secede from the union. Both sides were unwilling to work out their differences, let alone try to understand why each side felt the way they felt. The north viewed the south as lawless hooligans only wishing to force slavery through the expansion of the west, and the south viewed the north as ignorant due to the fact that they were not interested in westward expansion and also because they were against slavery. Due to the fact that they could and would not understand each other, the ways of the north and south clashed until finally a civil war broke out. A revolution that killed many occurred due to the ignorance of a nation, unwilling to work out differences or come up with alternate ways of getting things done. Brown was an individual who worked toward created a single nation where both sides understood what they would have to do to unite. Individuals are very important to any event, as long as they make themselves known and share their ideas to others that can then pass them on, and so forth. Today, we view both Lincoln and Brown as heroes with a cause against slavery. Brown fought against the inhumane treatment of people and the injustice that the nation was receiving by its own people. Lincoln wanted to unite the nation, and he felt that ending slavery would promote unity. Individuals with enough power and support have the chance to make an impact in society. Just one person with no one behind them, has no chance of making change.
The moral differences between the North and South were a major aspect of the misunderstanding between the two sections of the nation. Beyond the slavery issue,The north and the South each strived for completely different goals. In achieving these goals, both sides grew in completely opposite economic directions and the growing space between them divided the nation. Lincoln tried to pull our nation back together, while John Brown worked mainly to abolish slavery. Both of these individuals prove that one person can make a difference, whether it is by radically protesting, or trying to negotiate differences. By making the problem apparent people are more likely to change
The northern culture was mainly dominated by a progressive, industry-based, working class. Containing many large cities with a large number of immigrants, the north became the pioneer of the industrial revolution in the United States. This was possible because of the large work force that was available for industry and factory labor.
The south was better known for their agriculture and their farming-based economy. Many of the prominent land holders were very wealthy and held many slaves. The majority of the south, however, only held maybe one or two slaves. Being a very rural part of the country, the south was actually not nearly as wealthy as the north.
These differences caused many problems. The south saw the north as the wealthy upper-class of the country and was envy of their wealth. The north saw that south as a stagnant beast, because the majority of the farming that the south did was cotton, not a necessary crop such corn or wheat. In fact, the north produced more food than the south did. The north was nearly self-sufficient. Slavery had become a road block to industry in the south.
These cultural differences caused and fueled a growing gap between the different sides.
Lincoln was seen as an enemy of slavery by the south. In Lincoln’s run for presidency, he ran on a platform of stopping the spread of slavery into the west. Obviously the south did not enjoy that very much, so they decided to leave the union.
People of north believed that to become a great nation this country must be free from all kind of forced labor, they were family oriented people. on the other hand southern people hated north people because their idea of a successful country was completely different than north people. south economic system was based on slave labor and their belief was to form a great country you need to dominate other country,race. so this completely different faith tearing the country into two separate parts. as president Lincoln said ""a house divided against itself cannot stand". that was what going on that time.
The biggest and most problematic difference between the North and the South was the issue of slavery. For so long plantation work, farming and fielding (mainly cotton) was all taken care of by slaves. The North made the decision to focus more on manufacturing and producing goods and food through other means than enslaving people. The North believed that by enslaving people to do this work, jobs were being taken away from the average working class. The South resisted change and was convinced that slavery was, and always would be, the answer to economic problems.
So as you can see, the North and South did not have a high opinion of eachother. THey were both stuck on their own ideas and berated anyone who thought differently. As we look back in history we mostly view the south as the self-indulgent slavelords, and the north as the middle class, puritans trying to get by. Because these two regions could not come to terms with their problems, war resulted.
A certain individual called John Brown might possibly have secured the breakout of the Civil War. John Brown was an outspoken abolitionist that was very much FOR violent opposition to slavery. Brown was so much against slavery that he took drastic, violent actions towards people who were proslavery. Brown even went so far as to organize a raid against Harpers Ferry, which ended up in the slaying of several people! Today John Brown is often regarded as either a terriost and fanatic, or as a hero. Either way he got his word out there and did have a great impact on the nation.
Today we view lincoln as the honest man who brought up the idea (in his "House Divided" speech) that the nation needed to either be one way or the other. He made the point that the North and South needed to come together in order for a better union to be established He wasn't an aboltionist by any means but he certainly didn't want the South to secede from the union, (which was a major threat). Lincoln was a hero and a practical thinker who did not slag off in times of crisis. This should be enough evidence to prove that an individual can make an impact on the nation whether it takes a year or few to surface.
The North and South differed culturally in many areas, which was a major reason why they ended up going to war. The North was known as being much more industrialized than the South was. The North’s economy prospered through manufacturing, but the South relied on slavery in their economy. Much of the South was about farming and plantations with their major crop being cotton. Slaves would work these plantations. This clashed with the anti-slavery North and would eventually lead to a split between the two sides in how they perceived the future of the country. The North believed they should continue their industrial type of economy which was very successful without the use of slavery. However, in the South, slavery was a part of their lives and they felt that in order to be successful they needed slaves to work the plantations. Not only was the North anti-slavery because they felt it was morally wrong but many Northerners felt it had a negative impact on the economy by bringing down wages and creating fewer jobs. The North and South thought of each other negatively as well. The North believed the southerners were violent, arrogant and had no sense of what was right for the country. The South saw the North as middle class families that they believed were not tough enough to run a country. The impact of these beliefs and cultural differences led to conflicts in the government and eventually drove the two sides apart.
Various individuals had incredible effects during this crisis. Both Abraham Lincoln and John Brown had a major effect on the nation as a whole. Both stood up for what they believed in and showed that they could make a difference. Lincoln tried to unite the country and to abolish slavery. Even with his efforts, the country still split up and a civil war broke out, but Lincoln led the North to victory and thus had slavery abolished. John Brown also had a major impact on the nation during this time. He stood up for what he believed in, which was abolition. He tried to start a slave uprising. Even though he failed and was killed for his crimes, he became a hero in the north. These two men are evidence of how one individual can impact a nation.
1) The stark cultural differences between daily life in the South and North contributed to the great misunderstanding between the societies that ultimately led to the Civil War. The culture of the North was that of a modern and progressive working class, whereas the South carried on the aristocratic livelihoods of their forefathers. In the northern states, society was diverse and urban, and collectively, they prospered in new manufacturing techniques. In the South, however, the citizens, just as the generations before them, profited mostly from the old traditions of raising cotton on plantations, using slave labor to make the work easier, faster and more efficient.
In a sense, I feel that the North’s technology and obviously more progressive stance exemplify the fact that the northern states understood the nation’s responsibility to be open to future change and expansion, and to take on a more modern view of slavery as immoral. The South, with its archaic economic policies, seemed more stuck in the past and less willing to accept the progressive future of the U.S.
2) If it wasn’t cultural differences feeding the great rift between the North and South, it was their stereotypes for each other. The North viewed everyone in the South as arrogant, violent and self indulgent slave masters, and the southern citizens viewed the North to be working class, puritanical churchmen whose lives centered on their family. The negative connotation that the two factions had for each other made any variety of understanding impossible and eventually played a key role in the Civil War.
3) Individuals, whether they are heroes or villains, had a large role in the crisis. Looking back at the Civil War now, the men that we remember tell a lot about the side that won and just what it cost them to do so. For example, Abraham Lincoln is now looked at as a saint because he worked hard to pass legislature to free the slaves from bondage. Although not much emphasis is placed on John Brown because he took so many not-so-innocent lives, in “A Plea for Captain John Brown” Henry David Thoreau made Brown out to be a martyr, giving up his own life to “redeem those in captivity.”
Also, the impact these two particular men had on the outcome of the war shows just how much of a difference an individual can make. Each stood up for what he believed to be moral and just, and each is revered for the part they played.
There were many cultural differences between the North and the South. The North was far more industrialized, with the economy based on food production and manufacturing, while the South, not near as industrialized, was mostly farmland and cotton fields that slaves worked on. Because of their differences, the North and South viewed each other very differently. For example, the North was viewed as peaceful, puritanical, working middle-class, and the South as arrogant, violent slave lords. The North was set on their ways of industrialization and the South was set on their slavery ways. No one was set to change, and eventually causing a Civil War.
Individuals played rolls in the crisis. Two examples are Abraham Lincoln and John Brown, both trying to fight for their beliefs on slavery and abolition. Lincoln is now seen as an American Icon for helping free the slaves and is a staple in our American history for his accomplishments. John Brown standing up for his beliefs and being hanged for his actions is viewed as a hero, especially for the South. These two examples is Lincoln and Brown show that individuals, on there own, can have an impact on a nation.
The North and South definately had their differences. The main differences were the way they made their money. The south relied on slave trade and cotton for money, while the north was widely industrial. The two sides opposed each other due to the slave trade, and different views of life.
People such as John Brown, a radical abolitionist, helped stir the pot. He was responsible for attempting a slave revolution and tried arming the slaves to rebel against their owners. Abraham Lincoln played a pivotal role because he freed the slaves, but if he could've preserved the union he would've done whatever it took. The major issue with freeing the slaves is the south looked at them as property, and that was essentially currency to that area of the nation.
The country was founded on being free, but it really turned out it was only property owning white males (property including slaves). The cultural differences of the north and south led to hatred of each other's way of life, thus causing a civil war on each other.
When are you going to post the questions for this week? I am pretty sure that the ones up are the old ones.
We start seeing the nation form and it begins to look more and more like a family. The nation's big argument at the time was slavery and like siblings fighting they bickered and bickered. Eventually there was some things that got out of hand, like bleeding Kansas and the John Brown raids. We also see a father to child relationship when Lincoln comes to power. The South starts to bully it way around the Border States like an older brother to a younger brother. In order to stop the South he threatened to slap them on the hand. The South rebelled like some kids do when they are told by an authority figure to do something they don’t want to do. That is some of the ways we could see the nation as a family.
The cultural differences between the North and South were remarkable. In an economical aspect, their differences were extreme to the point of polarity. The South was traditional, where their economy was centered around agriculture. This plantation farming was all done by slave labor, another huge difference from the North and again a traditional aspect of the South. The North's economy was modern, with the boom of industrialization getting ever stronger. This added versatility to the North's economy as well.
Politically, there was again a huge difference in Northern and Southern stances. Though they both fought for their own rights according to the Constitution, they spun their interpretations very differently.
The North viewed the conflict as something that needed to be solved, or even compromised and generally favored the continued unity of the nation. The South however felt that none of their rights should be infringed in their own eyes and they should be able to grow and remain in their own traditional culture. It was this stance that led to rebellion and secession.
This "conflict" remained heated until the North took on "heroes" who were idolized, but through extreme actions. Figures like John Brown who were violent and intentional rallied northerners and sparked further hatred in the South. Even Lincoln began to lean towards the abolishment of slavery marking himself as a true rival to the South.
It was these shifts in mindsets that led the North vs. South stance from a political conflict to a full blown Civil War. The impact did not just split the nation, but families who varied in viewpoint.
The main difference between the North and the South was that the North was strongly against slavery and wanted to abolish it because it did not support what the Declaration of Independence stood for and the South wanted to keep slavery legal because slave labor was their main method of makin profit and without slavery, the south would suffer greatly from theis loses. These differences nearly divided the United States because the had different beliefs. The North saw the south as violent people while the South viewed the North as cowards. Theses cultural differences caused the two sides to seperate eachother.
To the North, Abraham Lincoln was viewed as a hero who had their support in abolishing slavery but to the south, Lincoln was seen as a threat to their way of living.
John Brown was at first seen as a hero to the North but after his mad rampage, he was seen as a lunatic and was eventually put to death. The south viewed him as a crazy murder.
Charles Jones
I believe that there were many cultural differences between the north and the south. The northerners being the part of the nation that wanted to end slavery and the southerners being the part who needed slavery. The northerners depended on industries and raw materials for their economics and the southerners depended on their cash crops therefore needing slaves for a faster, cheaper way of production. The southerners viewed the north as though they wanted to come free their slaves and take their money and this was confirmed when John Brown started his rampage. The northerners saw the south as a group that wanted to spread slavery, in which the north thought was wrong on the understanding of what the nation was built on.
I view Lincoln as a man who is just trying to keep a nation together. He knows slavery will be extinct someday but is pushing too hard for it. When he said “If I could save the union by not freeing any slaves, I would do it, if I could save the union by freeing all slaves, I would do it.” This to me says he doesn’t necessarily believe in all men are equal but that the nation can’t stand divided. We view John Brown as a crazy, mad, Maniac that is just out for blood. I see where he is coming from when he was upset by the killings, but the execution style killings he committed weren’t necessarily needed. An Individual can impact a nation, as for John Brown made the south see the north as people who were going to release the slaves and they would revolt, and rape and murder their women and children.
Paine’s position on religion is that of his own. In the Enlightenment Reader it states that, I (Paine) believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life (Kramnick p. 175). Even though this sounds much like Christianity and other religions, it is not. Paine goes on to say that every national church or religion have books in which they call revelation, or the word of God. This is where Paine differs from us. We believe in revelation as God passing his word to one person and then he/she passing it on to another person, and so on. We also believe revelation is found in the Bible. However, Paine believes it is only revelation to the first person that God speaks to and hearsay to every other person from then on. According to the definition, revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man. Paine’s position is very similar to Voltaire’s position on religion. They both disagree with the different churches and religions, because they feel as if the church controls its followers. In their eyes, God should be the only controller, and if the word isn’t heard from him then it isn’t true. I think the Quakers would be the only colonists to accept Pain and Voltaire, because the Quakers accept many people with different religions and beliefs.
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