Increased divide between the Northern and Southern society deepened and the government attempted to satisfy both sides. The nation tested its ability to stand united against all odds. Immigrants struggled to survive in America as in the course of the presidency of John Adams; immigrants were criticized for their existence in America and evaluated in order to consider their stay. Northern states underwent technological changes that transformed focuses on agriculture to more industrial endeavors. Southern states noticed the agricultural boom due to the Cotton Gin. The movement of the Second Great Awakening and a shift in opinion about slavery resulted in abolition movements throughout the country- but the institution of slavery was questioned for its legitimacy. Slavery also eventually fueled the entire economy of the United States of America throughout a crucial period of growth for the young nation. States used the Constitution from a perspective in defense of states’ given entitlement to preserve specific economies of each region from 1770 to 1860 because restricted resettlement hurt the South, increased tariffs diminished money in the South, and an attempt to abolish slavery increased sectionalism.
John Adams felt he had the right to limit immigration into the U.S. when Congress issued the Alien and Sedition Acts. Because the South desired immigrants and slaves to complete the labor on their farms, the South found the lack of immigrant work to be detrimental to the prosperity of their farms. The South resented the North, more specifically John Adams, for its removal of their labor force. Adams continued to issue the Alien and Sedition Acts to restrict foreigners who contributed to a country they barely understood. The Alien an...
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Book Title: The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Contributors: Robin Higham - editor, Steven E. Woodworth - editor. Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1996
North and South The United States of America, the great democratic experiment, was just that. Not since the great Greek culture had a government of, for, and by the people existed. The entire world felt, that on a large scale, democracy would inevitably lead to anarchy; our founding fathers were determined to prove them wrong. But as the political stand off with the British became a secession issue, a great issue split the future nation. Slavery, a southern necessity, both social and economic, threatened the unity of our nation. A nation that would one day be the greatest the world had ever known. During the development of the thirteen colonies, diversity set in early. In the south the temperate climate made the growth of tobacco a suitable and very profitable business. Cultivation of this crop required a lot of land, and therefore settlers lived far apart. Northern Colonies, though, were much more dependent on small farms, with closely knit communities. These differences were the seed of a sectional division that would plague the nation for a century. During the late seventeenth century, this fissure in the ideals of the colonies became apparent. Following the constant political irreverence from Britain, a majority of colonial representatives felt the need for independence. The Declaration of Independence was the document written to do this. It called for an abolition of slavery as well as freedom from British rule. Unfortunately, the South would hear nothing of it. Being strong defenders of states rights, most of the Southern states adhered to their believe in a government less like a supreme authority and more like a dominion of independent states. They would rather stay loyal to their oppressive government than participate in one that shunned their way of life. In order to keep their dreams of independence, they North was forced to make the one cession they did not wish to make. In order to keep a unified nation, the slavery issue was deliberately absent from the Declaration. Some of the Northern delegates were outraged, but none more than John Adams. A renowned proponent of equal rights, he was one of few that saw the irony in establishing a free society without freeing those in bondage. John Adams seems now more like Nostrodamus when he voiced his concern about the slavery issue for future generations. He did not know it, but the couldn’t have been more right.
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The majority of speculations regarding the causes of the American Civil War are in some relation to slavery. While slavery was a factor in the disagreements that led to the Civil War, it was not the solitary or primary cause. There were three other, larger causes that contributed more directly to the beginning of the secession of the southern states and, eventually, the start of the war. Those three causes included economic and social divergence amongst the North and South, state versus national rights, and the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case. Each of these causes involved slavery in some way, but were not exclusively based upon slavery.
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