A Nation Divided

Paper Summary:

As the Nineteenth Century dawned, the institution of slavery appeared to be on its way out in the new United States. The paper shows, however, that the growing of cotton to sustain the Southern economy proved a problem. The crop required its harvesters to toil under a blistering sun ? hard work that scarcely attracted free labor. Yet, the burgeoning cotton plantation demanded more and more hands to work them. There remained only one answer to this labor shortage ? import more slaves. The paper discusses this dilemma faced by the Southern plantation owners in the wake of the abolishment of slavery in the North of the country. The paper looks at the influence of the Abolitionists, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and how all these issues came to a head with the American Civil War.

From the Paper:

"Thus, on the eve of the Civil War, the United States was a country very much divided by the issue of slavery. It was largely a matter of economics that had dictated the Peculiar Institution's astounding growth during the course of the early Nineteenth Century. Cotton was an immensely profitable crop that consumed land as it churned out profits. The growth of the Abolitionist Movement raised increasing concerns over the rightness of slavery, provoking many Americans to lobby for limitations on the institution's spread. Yet, Southerners, by and large, saw this attack on slavery as an attack on their very way of life. Struggling to maintain what they saw as their own unique culture against meddling Northerners and Abolitionists, they framed their pro-Slavery arguments around the doctrine of States? Rights, thereby proclaiming the right of each State to decide what was best for its own citizens. It was these two issues - slavery and States? Rights that would form the basis of the Civil War."

More papers on A Nation Divided:

• Essay # 5091 : "Holding Up "A House Divided" - Lincoln's Caution Regarding Emancipation"
• Research Paper # 95081 : "South Africa: A Country Divided"
• Analytical Essay # 5099 : "A Nation of Narrow Vision"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: