Robert Slipkovich

AMH 2010-010

Professor Ingram

April 19, 2010

The Civil War: Societal Change and Awakening

Throughout history, many battles and wars have been fought for both conquest and power. The

Civil War was spawned from a bitter dispute over territorial expansion, slavery, and the cash crop of the

South: cotton. President elect, Abraham Lincoln, wanted to maintain unity throughout all states but

southern secession would ultimately create a troubling conflict throughout the country. Social changes

throughout the Antebellum and Civil War period created opportunity and hope throughout a time of

trouble.

The South was a region with roots that were highly involved in cotton growth and sale. As

plantations grew, so did the necessity for labor and harvesting of this important and profitable crop.

Slavery was a very simple and efficient means of populating fertile, cotton-growing land in order to

create vast amounts of revenue for plantation owners. Due to tariffs on exports by England, cotton

prices greatly fell in southern states, thus leading to an even greater need for fast and efficient cotton

production (A People and a Nation 224). Slave ships were landing on the Atlantic coast with hundreds

of slaves for sale to southern farmers. The slaves were often worked for hours on end and had limited

rights. When questioned about a common day's work, Harry McMillan (former slave),

mentioned,”Under old secesh times [we worked] every morning till night – beginning at daylight and

continuing till 5 or 6 at night”(Hollitz 227). The notion of slavery as a means of business and

ownership was a strong point for disdain felt by northerners. Northern lands were often the “light at the

end of the tunnel” for many slaves. As a former slave, Henry Bibb created a letter to his former master

regarding his new northern lifestyle: “As it was the custom of your country, to treat your fellow men as

you did me and my little family, I can freely forgive you” (Hollitz 231). Bibb's sarcastic tone was
echoed throughout many free black slaves due to a life of torment and anguish from their masters.

Northern ideology on slavery was led by Abraham Lincoln who mentioned that territories were to be

homes of “free white people” and that slavery is problematic to this idea (A People and a Nation 364).

Northern anti-slavery supporters, such as John Brown, had orchestrated slave uprisings and rebellions

as a means to cause uproar and attention to such a justified cause. In a nearly telepathic reading at the

gallows, John Brown stated that slavery would not disappear without bloodshed (A People and a Nation

365). This prediction would ultimately come true when northern and southern ideals would clash and

the start of the Civil War would begin in 1861.

Although young soldiers and supporters of the North and South were men, women served an

important role on the home front. After the second Great Awakening, women had become more vocal

and much more involved in gaining rights and opportunities (A People and a Nation 312). Although it

was widely believed that women should have more opportunity, many female authors and common

citizens felt that a traditional life as a house keeper was the best lifestyle for women. According to

Mrs. A.J. Graves, “Our chief aim throughout these pages is to prove that her domestic duties have a

paramount claim over everything else upon her attention – that home is her appropriate sphere of

action” (Hollitz 253). The necessity to make the home a domain for women was a common practice

and something that wasn't questioned until this time period.

Besides the home, the textile factory was a newly created opportunity for women to encounter.

An unpublished letter sent to the Lowell Offering described factory life for women in these factories:

“Incarcerated within the walls of a factory, while as yet mere children – drilled from five till seven

o'clock, year after year” (Hollitz 257). Besides life at home and work, women had also taken part in

anti-slavery efforts. Harriet Tubman escorted hundreds of African slaves into a life of freedom by the

use of her “Underground Railroad” (A People and a Nation 355). The escape aid that was given to

slaves had given Harriet Tubman notoriety as an abolitionist, as well as a prominent woman during this

time. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin which described the rigors and perils of slave
life. This novel exposed the neglect and racism that echoed throughout the North in addition to the evil

effects that slavery had placed on society (A People and a Nation 355). Another important female who

had morphed society in the mid 1800's was Sojourner Truth. Her “A'n't I a Woman” speech had created

cogent reasoning to the equality that men and women shared by stating, “Look at me! Look at my arm!

I have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me – and a'n't' I a

woman?” (Hollitz 259). Sojourner Truth responded in a strong and powerful message of societies

longtime control over women and how opportunities should be equal. Although rapid female change

had been in progress throughout the Antebellum and Civil War period, major steps towards feminism

and woman's rights began to take shape.

With any war or battle comes a great economic burden which is typically substantial. Whether it

is the country itself, or the inhabitants who are swept into the wrath of combat, economic failure and

problems were a large burden for many citizens during the war. Men and boys from all walks of life

had been extinguished from their day-to-day duties and enlisted to fight for their beliefs. According to

“A People and a Nation”, “The South was in many places so sparsely populated that the conscription of

one craftsman could wreak hardship on an entire country” (382). Along with the loss of skilled

craftsmen and laborers came an astronomical inflation level due to South's need for money to supply

the war. Clearly in shambles, the lower and middle class suffered due to the poor economic decisions

by the elites in the Confederate hierarchy (A People and a Nation 382). On the other hand, the North

had proposed the nation's first income tax which generated a great deal of revenue throughout the war.

This tax would finance the millions of weapons and ammunition which were necessary for the North to

defeat it's counterpart. Inflation was another economic downfall of this time period which caused

trouble for the North. Prices had increased by a higher percent than what wages were increased by; this

monetary problem was the root of the “standard of living” problems in the North (A People and a

Nation 384).
 Another important social awakening during the Antebellum and Civil War period is hatred and

animosity that was felt towards the African race. During the Antebellum period, southern farmers and

citizens developed a strong disdain for African slaves. However, after the war, the foundation of the Ku

Klux Klan by Nathan Bedford Forrest proved to be the final straw in an effort to maintain white power

and superiority over African Slaves. The testimony of Abram Colby in 1872 was a crude look into the

treatment of colored people after the Union won the war: “I never have got over it yet. They broke

something inside of me. I can not do any work now, though I always made my living before in the

barbershop and hauling wood” (Hollitz 325). Abram was offered a lump sum of money to turn over his

seat in the Georgia legislature, when he refused, he was physically assaulted and had his family

threatened. When asked about re-election to the Georgia legislature, Abram mentioned about how he

was persuaded to not run: “They [local men in Abram's town] ran me off during the election. They

swore they would kill me m if I stayed..... When I got home they just peppered the house with shots

and bullets” (Hollitz 325). The tension and social differences between rich, white landowners and

African people was a basis for lynchings and beatings which had roots in the Deep South. Southern

plantation owners still felt obliged to have control over former African slaves by confusing them and

claiming to be unaware of the lack of ownership that now existed (A People and a Nation 425).

A final point to make about the societal change and turmoil around the Civil War is the notion

of the North and the South fighting until death. Due to the reality that both sides of the war were

citizens of the same country, it is truly a societal problem when a war breaks out against a country's

own people. Even when outnumbered both sides of the war would fight till death, according to Franklin

A. Haskill, “...so thick and overwhelming a storm of rebel fire involves them. But these men, such as

ever escape, must come from that conflict as best they can” (Hollitz 289). Gettysburg was a literal

“bloodbath” that accounted for thousands of casualties and became one of the paramount battles of the

war. Due to a poor vantage point, the Confederate forces were decimated as general Robert E. Lee

pressed his troops forward (A People and a Nation 394). The necessity to sacrifice live for the
preservation of southern and northern life typically involved troops was a common societal belief

engrained in the minds of both sides. Franklin M. Haskill critiqued the final shots of Gettysburg by

saying, “The Third Corps is being overpowered – here and there its lines begin to break , – the men

begin to pour back to the rear of the confusion...... the Third Corps is literally being swept from the

field” (Hollitz 290). Ultimately, the South was overpowered and lost the Civil War, but their cause and

rationality have become a paramount reason for sacrificing thousands of lives for a nation divided. A

war amongst a country's own men was a societal problem which had created a devastating solution to

the conflicts between the North and the South.

Throughout history, society has been molded and shaped with a holistic mindset. A place with

echoes of “equality”, “opportunity”, and even “freedom”. During the Antebellum and Civil War period

in history, society was met by a powerful barrage of societal change and realization. Slaves were no

longer passive with their masters, instead, many successful escape attempts were executed and a life as

a free man was every slave's dream. Women had also had a very important impact in this time period.

Textile factories encouraged work outside the home and also showed the poor conditions of early

American industry. Woman's suffrage was a topic on the mind, yet not explicitly mentioned for fear of

retaliation from husbands and other men. Economic struggles were another encompassing feature of

society's hardships for this period. Inflation, poor jobs, and a nationwide war had wounded northern

and southern economies in the Civil War. These troubles and societal problems of the mid 1800's have

shaped the North and the South to be distinct area to this day. During this rough time, society was

morphed, positively, in order to cope with the rigors of war, social problems, and delusions of African

inferiority.

“We ask for no special privileges or favors. We ask only for even-handed Justice. We simply ask

that we shall be recognized as men”. - Statement of Colored People's Convention (Hollitz 323)