The stats mentioned above demonstrate that a significant number of non-slaveowners resides in Angelina. Due to the lack of financial resources to purchase slaves, they relied on their own labors to sustain a livelihood for their homestead creating a different economy not associated with the plantation system. The large population of non-slaveholders, “small” farms, translates to economic and political power within this county. McCaslin argues that since the slave population had declined to less than half of the regional average the propaganda tactics utilized in the other counties had little effect on this county. Voters instead listened to attorney James W. Guinn chooses “to follow the ‘voice of reason,’ rather than that of anarchy.” Although Angelina County shared cultural ties with other Gulf southerners they “acted within the parameters set by their environment and by their economic system.” Finally, McCaslin challenges scholars seeking understanding of Unionism they need to study the “environment and economics, that shape political allegiances.” The recent study of these Northern counties, John R. Lundberg’s article, disputes the prominent narrative for why the North Texas counties voted against secession during the secession referendum. Most historians, for example, Buenger, cite the reasons for voting for or against secession stems from the growing Indian raids on the exposed frontier. Also, Houston’s failure to protect the settlers from those
There has been many historians and theorists who have tackled colonial slavery. One of them is Ira Berlin whose book Many Thousands Gone is his take on slavery diversity in American history and how slavery is at the epicenter of economic production, amongst other things. He separates the book into three generations: charter, plantation and revolutionary, across four geographic areas: Chesapeake, New England, the Lower country and the lower Mississippi valley. In this paper, I will discuss the differences between the charter and plantation generations, the changes in work and living conditions, resistance, free blacks and changes in manumission.
While many have described the civil war as simply the war between the States, Bruce Levine in his book “Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War” has put together an 80 year survey from around 1773 the pre-revolutionary era to the Civil War with well documented evidence of the social, cultural and political idealisms of our once divided nation. This book review will emphasize points on each of the book’s chapters which are put chronologically and particularly comparing the southern slave labor system to the free labor system in the north. Levine’s thesis statement on page four of his book reads as follows, “What impelled so many-rich, middling, and poor; white and black; native-born and immigrant- to risk and sacrifice so much? To answer such questions, this book reexamines the antebellum political history in the light of the broader economic, social, cultural, and ideological developments that shaped the lives of the American people”. (p. 4) Clearly the author of the book has researched numerous historical papers and has placed them in the direction his thesis will be provided with hard evidence from the founding fathers’ letters, written memos and of course the laws put into the United States constitution.
The United States became further united due to the continuous desire and procurement of new territories. In President James Polk’s 1845 Inaugural Address, he shared his opinion of the “danger to [the nation’s] safety and future peace” if Texas remained an independent
As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).
Sam Houston was one of the founding fathers of Texas known as a soldier, statesman and man of integrity. Spending most of his youth in Tennessee, he was impatient and reckless with a sense of adventure which lead him to the Cherokee country. His time spent with family and the Cherokee Indians is where he developed his practical, level-headed and grounded character. Houston’s passion for peace and support for the Cherokee’s came from having seen the effects of war and strife on the Indians. The values instilled from these early experiences are prevalent in Houston’s political and personal viewpoints throughout his life and career.
While other authors focus their attention in regards to Reconstruction in the Southern states after the American Civil War on political matters and the meaning of Reconstruction itself, John Rodrigue ventures into the world of Sugar and the relationships between planters and freedmen to illustrate the creation of a labor system within the world of sugar cane plantations in Louisiana. By concentrating on this specific business and region, the author is able to illustrate the factors that shaped labor during and after the Civil War, while showing how Reconstruction altered life in terms of labor for both whites and African Americans. Rodrigue argues that by focusing on this specific region reveals how blacks were able to gain negotiating power with planters in an effort to support free labor. By utilizing primary and secondary sources, the author frames the narrative and provide the reader with a personal perspective into the free labor system.
Every event in history contains a cause and effect. Every cause and effect is unique in its own way. Whenever deciphering certain events in history it’s important that those researching, keep an open mind to all intertwining factors. The Texas Revolution is an important and crucial event within the history of the United States and having a full understanding of the Texas Revolution is of extreme importance to understanding Mexican-American relations. Issues to be researched in understanding the Texas Revolution will deal with political, lawful, and social relations between the Texas colonists and the Mexican Republic. Understanding the politics, laws, and social relations between the Texas colonist and the Mexican Republic provide a crucial in-look as to why the Texas colonist revolted against Santa Anna and his Mexican Republic. Leading up to the beginning, as well as throughout the Texas Revolution, there are significant and credible amounts of crucial events that take place that provide a supporting backbone in justifying the Texas colonists and their revolt. It is these inhumane events, supported by the doctrine of the Mexican Republic with their politics, laws, and social relations with the Texas colonist, which would ultimately lead to the justification of the Texas colonist and their fight for their natural rights and for the Texas Declaration of Independence.
In 1846 throughout 1848, a war to conquer land from Mexico were orders held by James K. Polk. An unjust war is about to occur, In 1846 Texas becomes Independent from Mexico and the United States. To begin with, Mexico approves for the Americans to settle onto Texas with one condition to not bring slaves along with them. During this time period, slavery was one of the most important political concerns and they opposed slavery. The Americans didn’t hold the values of anti-slavery, during this time they valued Manifest Density strongly. Accepting some restrictions from Mexico placed was nothing compared to its own destiny to occur from preventing America to stretch outward towards the Pacific Ocean. The main conflict started with the annexation of Texas, a dispute on the nation’s border, the Mexicans consider the Nueces river to be the border of Texas as for Americans that wasn’t enough land so they consider, Rio Grande the border. A way to aim to
The Texas Revolution, like most of history, is subject to multiple perspectives and interpretations. No better example of differing perspective is the contrast between a historic abolitionist, Benjamin Lundy, and the contemporary historical analysis by an author named Randolph B. Campbell. While both can be said to be anti-slavery in their rhetoric, the concept of participant vs. observer is absolutely crucial in their interpretations of the causation of the Texas Revolution. However, being a participant, does not make a historical analysis infallible. As this paper will argue that Lundy’s interpretation of the Texas Revolution intrinsically serves as propaganda to push his own agenda of the abolitionist movement rather than review the Revolution in its entirety.
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.
The annexation of Texas in the 1840s had many advantages and disadvantages to our country. The divisions between those who supported and opposed this annexation were divided, mainly between the North and South and those representatives supporting each area of the nation. Southerners saw the acquisition of Texas as a way to expand our nation, spread slavery in the South to help empower them, and provide a place for the immigrants pressing the borders of our country. The North did not want Texas to cause the South to overpower them, they feared a war with Mexico, and believed that the growing slave population would cause the lower class of Northerners to be without work.
Many Texans contend that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, citing the limited number of slave-owning households in the state. While the majority of Texans did not own slaves, it would be inaccurate to argue that they were therefore against slavery. Texas, representative of other southern states that supported slavery, had a vested interest in preserving the institution at all costs, which is why they risked their lives over it. Moreover, Texans may argue that the civil war was about states’ rights or defense of the southern “way of life.” States’ rights, though part of the equation, played a diminished role as a whole in prompting the Civil War. Furthermore, because it revolved mostly around slavery, the southern “way of life”
The call for a revised study on secession come from one of the leading historians in Walter L. Buenger’s article, “Secession Revisited: The Texas Experience.” Buenger argues there exists an extensive amount of studies on secession, but the focus of these studies centers on individual states actions, “no one has attempted to synthesize these works and write a history of secession for the entire South.” He asserts that Texas could serve as a model if someone conducted a synthesize study of secession for the entire South. Buenger supports this claim utilizing Terry Jordan study previously mentioned above study on “Upper and Lower South,” by outlining the attributes (culture, economic, and political ideologies) of those found in Texas compared to the attributes found in the Upper and Lower Southern states.
In order to more fully understand the agendas and motivations for this political activity in southwest Georgia, one must first have some clue as to the nature and scope of their economic options. In 1935, noted statistician Charles E. Hall, under the supervision of Z.R. Pettet of the United States Bureau of the Census, published an exhaustive study of the social and economic characteristics of African-America entitled Negroes in the United States. Based upon information gathered by the Census Bureau, the work provides invaluable insight into the lives and movements of black Americans in the early part of the century. One crucial inference that may be drawn from Hall’s compilation is the overwhelmingly rural composition of the African-American population in southwest Georgia counties as late as 1930. For the purposes of the study, Hall employed the terms “urban” and “rural” in accordance with the meanings assigned