Ap European History Dbq

Throughout history, Europe stood out as a great power, and is responsible for the majority of the greatest revolutions in history. Despite the countless changes that were planned, and had succeeded or failed, they each had a similar motivator behind them. Europe began to thrive from the 15th century onwards, and motivations become clear as change is sought. Over the course of European history, changes were resisted when financial growth would be threatened, evident during the French Revolution and in both sides of Revolutionary era of the United States.
In the early 1600s, America had begun importing their first slaves from Africa, selling them as property to the upper class of the United States. Abraham Lincoln, the US president who is accredited to the abolition of slavery, had spoken

“I will say, then, that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races [...] I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race,” contradicting previous speeches promising the abolition of slavery. Not only did Lincoln understand the economic benefits of slavery, but also how the promise of its abolition, then speaking out for slavery, would gain him the most votes. In addition, when slavery had been abolished in America, black men did not receive the equal-to-white-man treatment as promised. Although black men were allowed to join the army and fight for the North, they were still not treated as equals, given a lower pay and jobs that endangered them, such as digging wells and trenches. In order to salvage the economic blows of the abolition of slavery, the US government, although promising blacks the title of a “man”, did not receive equal treatment during the Civil War. It would not be until