Sharecropping : A Similarity To Slavery

“The beginning of the Civil War marked the beginning of the end of slavery in the American South” (Berlin, 3). The Civil War started from opposing states’ opinions; the South thrived on slavery’s economic impact while the North opposed the institution. The issue of slavery divided the nation, and the contrasting views of the anti-abolitionists and abolitionists caused the war to occur. Slavery’s impact in the United States started in the 1600’s, and the large influence made the process of ending the enslavement of blacks more difficult. The Emancipation Proclamation served as an important government document, containing controversial ideas about abolishing slavery. Lincoln issued the

When the Civil War began in 1861, the issue of slavery was not the central focus of the war effort on the side of the Union. While it was still important to many in the North, the main war aim of the Union side was to preserve the Union and make sure it remained intact. As the war dragged on and more soldiers died on both sides, Lincoln realized he would need to entirely cripple the already weak Confederate economy, and he did this by making the Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective January 1, 1863. This executive order stated that all slaves in states currently in open rebellion against the United States were free from slavery. By doing this, he caused African Americans in slave states to cross into Union territory and into

The antebellum era exposed the entirely different views and ways of life between the North and the South. These differences can be observed on the economic aspect. The North was industrialized enabling them to have functioning economy without the use of many labors; however, in the south, people relied on agriculture, and thus they needed a large number of slaved labors to help them work on the plantations. Such difference led to the main distinction which existed throughout the entire Civil War, the dependence on the slavery. These differences sparked conflict between the North and the South placing them in an indisputable position, eventually leading to the Civil War. The prosecution of the Civil War of North and South differed drastically. The North fought to preserve the Union which entailed abolishing slavery, enlisting the black in the army and also paying them proper wages, and the South fought to withdraw and preserve slavery and their agricultural lifestyle. These conflicting views did not disappear after the war. Although the North won the Civil War, they still wanted to unify the country, not only territorially, but also economically and politically by enforcing many new laws and amending the Constitution. And the South, even after the abolishment of slavery, people in the south remained hostile toward the freed people, saw themselves more superior than the freed people, and tried to resurrect the “Old South”.(192~198) To achieve the real union and realize the

The Civil War had revolutionary effects on American society, the most important of which was the destruction of slavery, the fundamental institution of southern society. The emancipation of America’s 4 million slaves, in numbers, scale, and economic value, was far greater than any other emancipation of slaves or serfs (in Russia) in the world. At the war’s beginning, Lincoln identified the North’s cause with the cause of free labor. But Lincoln also initially stated that the conflict was not being fought to end or limit slavery, but to preserve the Union. He wanted to keep the border slave states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri in the Union and build the broadest possible base of support for the war in the North.

Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, the main focus of the Civil War was to preserve and protect the ideals of the Union. However, freeing southern slaves became the primary objective, following Lincoln’s proclamation. Because slavery was believed to be the root cause of southern secession, the decision to emancipate “would weaken the rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance.” According to Alexander Stevens, Southern society, at this time, was entirely dependent on the labor of African American slaves. Relying on an already weak and unstable economy, the Confederacy could not afford to lose their salient source of labor-- doing so would almost guarantee a Union victory.

One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.

The Civil War was one of the darkest times in American History that lasted from 1861 to 1865. It was a war fought primarily over the contrasting beliefs between the southern states who were pro-slavery and the northern states who were anti-slavery. After the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, the southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. To this day, it is still unclear whether the southern states had any legal basis for seceding but the fact of the matter is the federal government did not have any power to prevent them at the time. The conflict during the Civil War was whether slavery was morally acceptable but the main reason for the war was states’ rights to own

Since the establishment of the New England and Chesapeake / Lower South colonies, there had been significant differences between these regions such as overall wealth, economic structure and industrialization, ideal government, and usage of slavery. Leading up until the Civil War, the North had grown into a semi-industrialized, diverse economy with practically no slaves, and the South had remained agrarian with a complete economic dependency on slavery. Although South Carolina’s declared secession when it left the Union, and Lincoln fought the Civil War on a platform of keeping the Union together, the reasons for war and circumstances that led to this boiled down to one issue: slavery. The war was ultimately caused by conflicts regarding several

Now not all blacks were slaves there were free blacks in the south roughly a quarter million who had bought their freedom and moved on to own their own land and slaves. The south was known for their large tobacco and cotton fields, which required daily excruciating backbreaking labor. Slave hands were what made this possible to complete and continue for too long. Not all slaves were out working the plantation or fields, there were also slaves doing everything from carpentry and masonry work to raising children and not necessarily their own children. This was a way of life in the south and without that amount of work; being completed that the slaves were responsible for, the ability to sustain life would be imaginable. As the civil war erupted all war worthy confederate males left their home to defend the southern states against the Union Army. At this time the minimal amount of personnel were left at home to support the family and continue to work the land while maintaining a positive outlook and forward progress. Times were rough for the south if the land was not worked then the crops could not be sold and the family had no income or means to sustain life. Not only did they not make a living, the crops were supporting the confederate troops fighting the war. Soldiers of the confederate army were struggling to sustain the fight, the food was scarce,

Children, teens, and men were pretty much pulled from their homes to fight in the civil war and had to fought for their country. Literally brothers, cousins, and uncles were shooting and killing each other. The civil was a nasty, violent, long war that changed a lot of lives and it was one of the most tragic wars in American history. The southern states were separated into military distracts, and couldn’t join back with the union until they applied. The civil changed the heart of the US, the entire social life of the south was redid when the civil war ended. That was the cause of the passing of the 13th Amendment, which freed millions of African Americans and slavery died. Pretty the day after that slaves and their masters were equal

Toward the end of the war 186,000 black men who were free and rogue slaves had joined with the Union’s army forming regiments that were with the southerners and northerners alike. The civil war was a big part of america. Slavery has been around for quite some time and during those years someone needed to put a stop to it. The captain of the union Ulysses S. Grant lead the men who were fighting for what was right. They had a better future for america because using people for slave work is just plain wrong and someone needed to put a stop to it. The year that the Civil War took place was April 12, 1861. The union also went by The United State of America, there were 23, free states and five border states that supported it. The union were the

Abraham Lincoln proposed his reconstruction plan in 1865, also known as the 10 percent plan, which required each Southern state to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union for readmission. However, Abraham Lincoln was killed, and the 10 percent plan wasn’t passed. Radical Republicans, however were mad at the South and blamed them for causing the Civil War. They wanted the white leaders of the South to pay and be punished. Secondly, the Radical Republicans needed to protect 4 million freed slaves. That is why Thaddeus Stevens was a leading advocate of redistributing land to former slaves as part of the Reconstruction. As Stevens proposed in his 1867 Land Confiscation Bill, each freed slave “shall have distributed to them as follows, namely: to each male person who is the head of a family, forty acres; to each adult male, whether the head of a family or not, forty acres; to each widow who is the head of a family, forty acres” (351). This would have allowed black people to have property, and use it for their own benefit. The bill failed to be passed by Congress. Some black people did get land, but President Andrew Johnson made sure that most white people got their land back. This is because Johnson believed it would lead to a race war. As Andrew Johnson suggested to the Black Suffrage movement that he is “not willing under either circumstance, to adapt a policy which

C. S. Lewis wrote, "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." After the Emancipation of the slaves in the American south, many ex-slaves had nowhere to go. Consequently, most had skills that were limited to, farm work or working in the plantation house. By the same token, many years afterward, African Americans, were still born into the southern caste system of sharecropping. Ironically, it was called sharecropping but at the end of the harvest, the profits would be split, with half to the plantation owner and half to the working family. According to my great-great grandmother, who lives only ten minutes from me, part of this arrangement was that the sharecropper family was allowed to live on the plantation land, in quarters constructed for use by a sharecropper family. Once the crops were harvested, the cost of the seed and fertilizer, used to grow the crops, was deducted from the working family’s half of the profits. Also, subtracted from their half of the profits, were food staples to survive until the

People may believe that the civil war was fought over many other factors. However, the cause, events and results were more for the slaves and their benefits. Therefore, war was over African American’s freedom and equality. Every single choice Abraham Lincoln made has benefited the African American. African Americans were forced to follow unfair rules and regulation.They were forced to work on plantation without having a choice a to make. They were considered irrelevant. Abraham Lincoln did not like the idea of slavery at all If it did not

The American Civil War was a time wrought with peril. Families were split along party lines and took up arms against one another to fight for what they believed was right. Yet there was one group of people who had more to gain than any other present in the war, and that was the African American slave. This war was one of the biggest turning points in the morality of America all because of what happened to the slave in this war. They enlisted in the army, fought bravely, and after long last, gained their freedom.