Paper Topic:

PDQ #3

The term melting pot implies a harmonious mixing and assimilation of cultures . The term , often used to describe The United States of America nowadays what with its freedom of speech , religion and culture , could hardly be used prior to the Civil War , in 1860 . For then , what we had instead was a society where different classes and races existed , amid much acrimony and exploitation . What could more aptly be termed a stew Blacks and Whites , Confederates and Yankees , Southerners and Scallywags Everywhere , society seemed to be divided along lines of class or race

br and it was this series of events that ultimately led to the American Civil War in 1861

Thanks to the rampant slave trade practiced through the 19th century America was home to an enormous number of slave labourers . The Federal Census of 1790 recorded that the slave population had gone up to 698 ,000 . This number had gone up to 3 ,954 ,000 in 1860 . All over the country , these peoples worked as field hands , domestic servants , in plantations and homes of the white Americans

Things began to change with the emergence of divergent perspectives and views on issues of slavery , federalism and party politics . The Northern and Southern states had different and opposing views on politics and the system of labour . Slavery was condemned by many of the Northern States especially those of the Republican Party , who held the view that a small number of HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Southern_United_States " \o "Southern United States " Southern owners of large plantations controlled the national government with the goal of spreading that evil . The South meanwhile with its rich heritage of large plantations (the bulk of which ran on slave labour since hired help would hardly be financially viable was strictly opposed to abolishing slavery

The period from the 1830s to 1840s had already seen a great surge of social and political reformism in the North . The call against slavery got tremendous momentum as many of the reformers of the period attempted in one way or another to transform the ways of thinking amongst workers and help them move to the pace of a rapidly growing capitalist society The reform movement took root from Second Great Awakening , and was influenced by its principal of transforming the human personality . While the North was characterized by its will to move ahead and progress , the South , in contrast was only interested in looking back , in protecting its grand old legacy of slaves and large plantations . Clearly , the two societies were working at cross purposes

North and Southern America soon developed into two different and distinctive societies . North based on free labour and South , that ran on slave labour . The economy of Northern America was flourishing at a tremendous rate and had a surfeit of industry , mining , commerce and transportation , with a large and rapidly growing urban population and no slavery outside the b states . It also had an enviable population growth thanks to a large number of European immigrants , especially...

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