Vicksburg and Gettysburg: Northern Advantages to win the Civil War

The battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg helped the North gain advantage in the Civil War. During the battle of Vicksburg, General Grant succeeded in splitting the Confederacy in two. He did this by laying siege on Vicksburg, Mississippi, where defeated two confederate armies. Five days after Vicksburg surrendered,before which they tried to fight off the Union for 6 weeks, the Union seized control of the Mississippi River. Grant was able to take about 31,000 prisoners, cut off Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas from the Confederacy, and he encouraged thousands of slaves to leave their plantations or demand wages.

The battle of Gettysburg was a Union victory also. During the 3 day battle, the confederates lost many soldiers. They had about 28,000 casualties, which is 1/3 of the Army of Northern Virginia, while General Meade, a Union Commander, had about 23,000 casualties. Mead allowed the Confederate army to escape, which made Lincoln furious because it made the war last longer.

These two battles were an advantage for the North because Southern armies wouldnt invade the North any longer and the Southern citizens began to criticize the south's military effort.

The battles also changed the political situation. In 1862, British shipbuilders supplied the Confederacy with the Alabama, a iron cruiser, but when news reached the British of the Union victories, the British government impounded the ships. The British also became more dependent on wheat from the Midwest, not cotton, and were against slavery.

Northern Advantages in the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation

There are a few reasons why the North won the Civil War. First, the North had better advantages than the South did. They had industrialization, such as the mills, and new technology, which the South didnt really have. Because the North had more industrialization, they also had a better advantage because they had more railroads. These two advantages also set up their other advantages. They had more economic wealth because of industrialization, and the railroads helped because merchants and farmers could send more supplies, such as livestock, wheat, and corn, to the army.

Another advantage that helped the North win the war is the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that slavery would be abolished in all states that weren't in the Union. I think this helped the North to win the war because it helped to free some slaves, which some joined the Union army. The African Americans who joined the army changed the outlook of the white soldiers because of their determination. The battle in Fort Wagner, South Carolina by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry convinced Union officers of the value of having African Americans as soldiers. Lincoln said that without the African American soldiers, he would have abandoned the war withing 3 weeks. By 1865, there were 200,000 African Americans serving in the Union.

Reform Movements: Mormon

The textbook talks about how the Mormon movement started and I thought it was interesting how the book says that to enable Utah to become part of the Union, the citizens ratified a constitution that forever banned polygamy, but the state government has never strictly enforced this ban. But I've watched a show called Sister Wives that follows a polygamist family, the Brown family, who publicly announced that they were polygamist and how they were forced to move from Utah because they were polygamists and the husband could have gone to jail. I dont understand how the book says the law over polygamy isn't strictly enforced, when it actually is. I also dont see why people constantly are fighting over religious beliefs in the US even though everyone has the right to believe in what they want to believe and we also have freedom of speech and can say what we want about our religious beliefs as long as we don't force it on others. I think people and the government should leave families like the Brown family because they aren't doing anything wrong. The husband is a better father than a lot of fathers in the US because he takes care of his own children and loves them, while there many who dont even pay child support or ever see their child.

Jefferson and Hamilton Different Views of Government

Jefferson's philosophy of government was based on a strict view of the constitution, which was very different from Hamilton's philosophy of government. Jefferson was an advocate for states' rights, while Hamilton was for a strong national government.

One way to see how their views of government were so different is with the debate over the National Bank. Hamilton devised a plan for the National Bank that he thought would strengthen the economy and the federal government. It would help the economy because it would give loans to merchants, handle government funds, and issue bills of credit. Jefferson was completely against the National Bank because he believed that it was unconstitutional because the incorporation of a bank wasnt in the constitution. Another one of his arguments was with the necessary and proper clause. He didnt believe that a bank was necessary, and was only a convenience for the government to collect taxes. He argued that taxes could be collected without a bank.

Hamilton thought that the National Bank was necessary. One of his arguments for the National Bank was that it was in the power of the government to have a National Bank because the government is sovereign. He says that there is a relation between the powers of the government and creating an institution like a bank. He says there is a relation to the power of collecting taxes, borrowing money, regulating trade between states, and raising and maintaining an army.

The Fugitive Slave Act

The Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 for a couple of reasons. It caused hostility in the North because it still allowed slavery in the North because under this law, federal magistrates had to determine the status whether a black person was a fugitive slave and had to return the slave back to the South. Because of this, the North was helping to keep slavery legal ,even though some were abolitionists and were against slavery, because the people had no choice since they could be sent to jail for helping fugitive slaves.

The south liked this law because it kept slavery going. It also could be seen as constitutional, even though I dont think it was, because in Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution, it says that if someone escapes from one state, they shouldn't be discharged from their job, or whatever they escaped from, but should be returned. 

I think this law went against the states' rights of the North because the North was against slavery, but they were forced to abide by it because of the law and had no other choice, unless they wanted to go to prison. It seems like the government was trying to deal with two separate countries because the North and the South had such different values, beliefs, and opinions, and there wasn't any way to make them both happy.

Modern Society

Today I read about how recently there were tiger cubs put on display at a mall for the holiday season. This made me extremely mad because it is cruel and wrong to do this. Not only did the tiger cubs look sad, but they were also sick and that something that cant be missed. This got me thinking about how our society has made things better for people, but continues to get worse for animals. We ended slavery in 1865 and have done many other things to make life better for people, but I don't think we are doing much for animals. Reading articles like this about the tiger cubs makes me wonder how long it is going to take to change people's views on how they think they are better than everyone else and can treat anyone or anything how they want because there aren't any laws preventing them from doing that. It took a long time to end slavery, which something we are learning about now in class, and to stop racist views of other people, which still happens today, but isn't as bad as what it was, but I think more could be done for animals since animals are becoming an important aspect of people's lives. In a way, this reminded me of slavery because the tiger cubs were forced to live in that situation instead of living in the wild where they belong and because they don't have any rights like slaves didn't and most people dont think they need rights because they cant think for themselves or protect themselves like people can. People thought of black people like that too, but that thought process ended, so I dont understand why we cant do the same for animals.

Slavery

Slavery was a big issue before the Civil War because the North and the South had differing views on it. The North didn't use slavery, and was growing because of the Industrial Revolution and a majority of the people condemned slavery. However, slavery in the South grew because slavery made Southern economy strong. Plantation owners in the south made large profits from slaves who grew their crops and also from the domestic slave trade.

Slave owners defended slavery by saying that it was a positive good that allowed a civilized lifestyle for whites. Many of them lived extravagantly. For example, the textbook describes how James Henry Hammond built a Greek style mansion with a center hall that was 53 ft by 20 ft with Belgian tiles and Brussels carpets. While the elite slave owners and planters lived this way, their slaves lived in poverty and many were beaten and whipped by overseers.

I think that slavery was one of the major causes of the Civil War because the North and South had differing views of it. Although people in the North were racists towards African Americans, some wanted slavery abolished, which the South condemned. The South wanted to keep slavery because it helped their economy and they believed it was a just system. They also believed in States' rights. Southerners claimed that the government was prohibited by the 10th amendment to violate slave holders' right to take their "property" into new territory and that the government wasn't permitted to interfere with slavery in states where it already existed.