Themes in American History: Capitalism, Slavery, Democracy

In “the revolution of 1860_from battle cry of freedom” by McPherson, the author is talking about John Brown, an American abolitionist. Brown, unlike most abolitionists, didn’t believe in nonviolence and his favourite religious passage that he believed in the most was “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin”. He also believed that the only solution for the change they needed was a revolution. Enduring what was happening in the 1850s, some abolitionists shared the same viewpoint of Brown. The text explains how Brown held a secret anti-slavery convention in Canada

There was a group called “the secret six”; a group of white men who secretly funded the 1859 raid and backed John Brown’s scheme to invade the South. The six of them supported the free-state activists in Kansas. The plan was that Brown rented a farm in Maryland under a false name. He intended to seize the US armory and arsenal in the area and distribute the weapons to the slaves who joined him. Five black males and seventeen whites, including three of Brown’s sons, made up Brown’s shock troops for this reason. Brown wanted Douglass to be a part of his plan but  he refused, he didn’t believe in what Brown wanted to do. Also some other black recruits didn’t show up which disappointed Brown but he decided to continue with what he had. During clashes, eight of Brown’s men got shot and two of them were Brown’s sons. Three of the townsmen were killed too. Seven people could escape at this time but two of them got captured later. The next day Brown was captured and here he knew that his campaign to free the slaves had come to an end. He got accused of treason, murder, and fomenting insurrection so the judge dentenced him to a death by hanging and later it was discovered that he’d left a carpet bag full of documents and letters at the Maryland farmhouse, some of which revealed his relationship with the Secret Six. Sanborn refused a summons from the Mason committee but Howe and Stearns went to Washington and faced the Mason committee . the author then said that The South’s reaction to Brown’s raid brought to light a contradiction at the heart of slavery. On the one hand, many whites were terrified of slave revolts. Southern whites, on the other hand, believed that slaves were well-treated and happy in their servitude.

The author talked about how emotional and important the day of hanging Brown was. On the day of Brown’s execution, several northern communities witnessed extraordinary events and the editor of republican wrote “the death of no man in America has ever produced so profound a sensation. A feeling of deep and sorrowful indignation seems to

possess the masses” which shows how the death of Brown affected the population. And young William Dean Howells said that “Brown has become an idea, a thousand times purer and better and loftier than the Republican idea”

In conclusion, John Brown’s raid was a very important step for abolishing slavery, and during his raid, he was able to kill one slave owner and freed 11 slaves and then he was hanged. After he was killed, northern conservatives staged big anti-Brown rallies to assure the South that Brown sympathizers were a vocal minority.

John Brown is a very brave man who sacrificed his life and his sons lives to feed others who’re not even related to him and his campaign was a big mark in history.

Even earlier than the Civil War, Eric Foner explains, the Republican celebration was once in a duration of increasing federal authority over the states. During the conflict and then Reconstruction a robust central authority used to be viewed fundamental in order to outline the phrases on which the defeated southern states ought to return to the Union and to put into effect these terms. Eric Foner shows how the growth of federal authority was once a radical thinking at the time and the wing of the Republican Party that recommended it was occasionally at odds with greater average and conservative celebration members. For example, in Eric Foner article he shows “Reconstruction Radicalism was the first and foremost a civic ideology, grounded in definition of American citizenship. On the economic issues of the day on distinctive or unified Radical position existed”(Eric Foner 106). This quote illustrates that the idea that reconstruction radicalism is the main idea of American citizenship. Furthermore, about the reconstruction radicalism of American citizenship. For example, “Radical Republicanism did posses a social and economic vision, but one that derived from the free labor ideology rather than from any one set of business interests”( Eric Foner 106). This quote illustrates that the radical republicans on the topic of free labor ideology they put the focus on businesses.

All in all Eric Foner thought that with nothing has been more important to the development of American society and politics than the Civil War and Reconstruction. And until in the 1960s, there is more influential scholars conceived of the era as a sad departure from America’s grand march of progress toward political liberty and economic plenty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The reading “ The Revolution of 1860” by James McPherson opened a new idea for me that I didn’t know of before. I’ve gained significant knowledge about John Brown and his role during the Civil War era. John Brown was a white abolitionist who believed that violence is the only way to end slavery. The author, James McPherson, starts the reading by describing what Brown’s position was and why exactly he thought that way. John Brown was a strong believer that we needed action in order to finally put an end to slavery. He knew that there was no other way and he didn’t notice any change happening, so he took the matters into his own hands. The phrase that inspired him the most was, “Without shedding of blood there is no re- mission of sin,”which came from his favorite New Testament Passage. His main goal was to convince everyone that this has all happened because of violent and selfish kidnappers (slave owners), and that enslaved people should use that same strategy to gain their freedom back. Many started to believe him, and had also concluded that slave power had lived by the sword, so it should die by the sword. That is why Brown and his men created an abolitionist group called the “Secret Six”, where everyone considered Brown ideal leaders that would lead the slaves straight to freedom. However, there were some other significant people who did not support Brown on his attack mission. For example, Fredrick Douglass, who was an old friend of Brown’s, refused his proposal of teaming up with Brown because he was sure that Brown was up for a suicidal mission that would only make matters worse. However, Brown proceeded on his mission. During his mission on the Harper’s Ferry, many of his men were captured and killed, including his two sons, and eventually Brown was caught as well. This put an end to Brown’s mission of freeing the slaves. The state of Virginia tried Brown and convicted him of murder and fementing insurecction, which later on resulted in a death sentence by hanging. The news of Brown’s death caused fear for many whites of slave insurrections. But for many others, Brown’s death date was only a celebration of how good of a man he was. Church bells rang, guns fired, and many honored who Brown was, and his purpose in freeing the slaves. John Brown became a hero in many people’s lives, and changed the way majorities thought. On his hang date, he made sure to let everyone know that he is proud for what he is drying for, and that many others should fight as hard as he did. 

 

The reconstruction phase began after the American Civil War ended. After the war, many Northern soldiers returned to their regular employment. A good number of Northern Veterans were Irish immigrants. They returned to their previous jobs, which were primarily labor-intensive. However, as they went back to work, they went on strike because of the terrible working conditions they were forced to endure. In “Reconstructing Representation 1866-1877” by Joshua Brown it explains some of the strikes that took place were due to the mine disasters in 1869 and 1870. As miners were going on strike other mining companies took advantage of the crises to take control of the miners union. According to Joshua Brown he states that “Franklin Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad, instigated the strike so that his company might gain total control of eastern Pennsylvania coal mining by destroying the miners’ union,” (Brown 132). To accomplish this Joseph Becker was dispatched to sketch the ongoing strike. Joseph Becker is Frank Leslie’s art manager, and he responds to “emergencies,” such as strikes or other events that are likely to be covered by the media.  He sketches the situation to publish it in the newspapers. In the harsh winter of eastern Pennsylvania, Becker depicted the Irish miners as lazy drinkers. Their wives, on the other hand, were depicted as the only hard workers by cooking the meals even though they were starving and shivering from the cold. The women and children had to bear only one loaf of bread left, while they attempted to warm themselves in front of the oven. Becker shifted the focus of the scenario by depicting miners as lousy workers by not even helping their families from starving. All of this serves as an incentive to lower the miner union’s value so that Reading Railroad may buy the miners’ union in eastern Pennsylvania.

 

American reconstruction after the civil war which started during the mid-1860s was a huge deal as the emancipation proclamation gave black Americans freedom and with reconstruction came many reformations. . This is where Joshua Brown comes in with his Reconstruction Representation excerpt showing us the way of life from the mid-1860s all the up to the 1880s. Joshua Brown does not only talk rather uses a visual representation to express how perspective which I found very nice as it gave a sense of realism. Joshua Brown starts talking about the panic of 1873 which was about the bad representation of the poor in the economy. This is enduring to this day as different classes of people have bad representation but in the 1870s considering the level of immigration and labor wages, things were menacing to a peak. Joshua Brown also talks about Frank Leisle’s illustration in newspapers which helped spread the news of terrible representation. 

“The Great Uprising of 1877 marked a sea-change in the typing of American labor. The largely spontaneous two-week strike that paralyzed most of the nation’s industrial cities defied the expectations of observers.” ( Joshua Brown )

“Pennsylvania–The railroad riot in Pittsburgh 1877

It really is apparent to Joshua Brown that FRANK LESLIE’S ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER portrays it as wild and chaotic. Men and women were fighting all out inflicting chaos in the economy. Frank Leslie’s newspaper played a big role in this depiction as it gives us a vivid idea of the event. Leslie’s used photographic practices to capture these moments and pass them down in history. Although it was times of chaos who even know if these pictures has any legitimacy but they described it as such. So many people have witnessed this time in history and suffered from its consequences One would think after undergoing massive changes things will be better but they weren’t as people always wanted more and more. Continuing looking at the illustration Joshua brown uses it can be seen how there was chaos in the mids of stikes which were for jobs and proper wages. The illustration that Joshua Brown uses in his excerpts is from Leslie’s newspaper which goes to the credibility of his perspective which will help as we talk about the next things which are the 1877 railroad attacks which were considered the single most destructive incident in the nationwide strike as people were kind of crazy due to terrible representation but not only but also labor shortages where immigrants were hired more due to them being cheaper. I found Joshua Brown’s excerpt to be somewhat thrilling due to the realism the illustration added also the consequential effect of bad economical decisions.

In “America wasn’t a democracy Until Black People Made it One” by Nicole Hannah-Jones, she emphasizes slavery began from the very begining of the nations formation, stating “the Jamestown colonists bought 20 to 30 enslaved Africans from English pirates”. Slavery, according to Jones, is one of the nation’s most important backbones for colonists. She even mentions that protecting the institution of slavery was one of the key reasons why the American colonists decided to declare independence in the first place. She goes on to say that the colonists thought they were slaves of the British. Jones tries to exploit this hypocrisy by saying that the colonists fought for independence and freedom, but failed to give freedom to slaves. The first person to die in the American Revolution was an enslaved black man fighting for independence and liberation from British oppression. Jones claims that he gave his life for a new nation in “which his own people would not enjoy the liberties laid out in the Declaration”. Gordon Woods objects to her essay because of the use of unbacked evidence. He adds on to prove that during the American Revolution the sole reason of colonists revolting against Britain to keep slavery is simply not backable.

 

 Gordon Woods does not disprove the essay in its entirety, but her primary claims are undermined by the lack of provable evidence. If the protection of slavery was truly the cause of the revolution against Britain, why didn’t Southern planters join forces with planters in the British West Indies, according to Woods. It wouldn’t make sense if slavery was the main reason because the founding fathers of the republic, such as John Adams, were abolitionists. John Adams was responsible for The Declaration of Independence. Gordon Woods tries not to dispute any of Jones’s claims or ideas, but he believes her work is unsupportable and has too many factual inaccuracies.

 

In the American Yawp textbook, chapter 11 sheds light on one of the most influential revolutions in the south. The introduction to cotton revolutionized the global economy all together. The new version, Petit Gulf cotton, “slid through the gin…and grew tightly, producing more usable cotton than anyone had imagined to that” (Wegman). The South continued their more “traditional” practices like slavery and agricultural lifestyle because of the implementation of cotton. Of course, it was no surprise that when it started in Mississippi in 1820, merchants, planters and even botanists developed their own cotton as well to produce an abundance of profit from their plantations. According to the chapter, by the end of the 1830s technological advances made cotton “the primary crop” not only of the southwestern states but of the entire nation” (Wegman). By that time, “the five main cotton-producing states-South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, produced more than five hundred million pounds of Petit Gulf for a global market stretching from New Orleans to New York and to London, Liverpool, Paris and beyond” (Wegman). Their range was endless, and the economy was undeniably booming. Behind all that success and triumph, resided the agonizing truth of how the South maintained their “cotton kingdom”. Without slavery there would be no cotton, no capital. They were dependent of using slaves to produce massive amounts of Petit Gulf every day. Slavery was “seen as the backbone of southern society and culture” (Wegman). Cotton and slavery were so intertwined in the south that any idea of change could implode their entire economy, also being that cotton was the only major product that they could sell internationally.

While reading this chapter, I questioned the very sanity of the people in the south. How could they allow the foundation of their whole state rely on using enslaved people to do their dirty work. It’s no wonder that the Cotton Revolution, a time of capitalism, lead to competition. A product like that made every planter want to be the best and would often get into massive amounts of debt because they were actively working against everyone else. Wealth has a tricky way of manipulating people into getting more of it, making people capable of unspeakable deeds. Owners would do anything to make more cotton and enslaved people was the only thing they needed. Resistance would only cause them unimaginable pain. To them, the slaves weren’t people, they were just tools or a means to an end. Never once did they stop to question their cruelty.

In reading Nikole Hannah Jones’s essay “America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black People Made It One,” from The 1619 Project, New York Times, Aug. 14, 2019, my attention was captured by the way in which the author exposes the important aspects that were left out of American history through the analyzation of historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. For example, the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”^[1] The Declaration of Independence expresses the desire of forming an independent American nation from the British monarch due to arising conflicts; excessive taxation being one of the many. Colonists were providing cheap raw materials to the British mainland at the expense of their hard labor just to be met with harsh taxes in return. In light of these inequalities and unfairness, colonists proceeded to revolt, obtain their independence, and to gain the rights they believe they deserved. It is interesting to see how when the colonists are forced to lift a pinky, an entire war is commenced to address and resolve the issue. However, when it came to the institution of slavery, were the circumstances not like those of the colonists? Were the inequalities and unfair treatment that enslaved Africans faced not enough to start some commotion? It is baffling to see how enslaved Africans were in support of the revolution and even gave their lives for a cause that would not have an effect on their lives. Jones proceeds to explain how the “we” and the “men” used in this declaration is merely referring to white colonist men and not to the enslaved African Americans as they were regarded as a “separate race” according to the 1857 Dred Scott decision (Jones 5). The rightful equality and the granting of unalienable rights would not apply to enslaved African Americans as a result. The only way in which African Americans were regarded was in an indirect and obtuse manner. For instance, instead of being regarded as the individuals that they were, they were mostly regarded as property. In the U.S. Constitution, the Fugitive Slave Clause, Article IV, Section 2 states, “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due”.^[2] Slaves were only regarded in the Constitution as property to be returned if “lost” or to express their lack of status. In reviewing Jones’s essay, it is concerning to see how the American school system is teaching history to students in that it is a story told without considering all the narratives. The narrative painted in our textbooks has gaps and fails to consider the actual role of African Americans on the development of the United States as a country. In conclusion, Jones is successful at opening the eyes of readers and portraying how the glorified historical documents that have founded our country are implicitly pro-slavery.

 

 

 

 

[1] https://www.constitutionfacts.com/content/declaration/files/Declaration_ReadTheDeclaration.pdf

[2] https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/article/article-iv#section-1

America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black People Made it One by Nikole Hannah-Jones discusses the supposed ideals of American democracy during its creation and its hypocrisy. Mainly white leaders constructing a nation that is suppose to be the land of the free but building off the backs of slaves who have virtually no freedom. Slaves were a huge part of the American economy. Used to pick cotton which was a huge part of the economy and also being seen property in the eyes of the government helped bolster the success of many white owners in America. Nikola Hannah discusses that Americas greatest profitable trade was manufactured by slaves. Jones also brings up that one of the main reasons colonist wanted to gain independence from Great Britain was to hopefully keep ownership of their slaves. Although it may have only been one of the many factors to lead to independence it should not be dismissed as a reason. Jones also mentions that it is because of African Americans that democracy works as well as it does. The hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson not including black people in the declaration of independence when he penned “all men are created equal”, despite he himself being against the international slave trade.

The main thing I’ve taken away from this reading is how much history can be rewritten by the people with power. And even when there are other historians who discover that there might be more to the story than initially believed by the public there are others who will quickly dismiss it or even try to actively say its incorrect and misleading. This reading had made more aware of how relevant this problem is today in the news today as each outlet will tell their own version of the story and political parties using these stories to strengthen their own politics off the emotions of the public who blindly support them.