Election of 1860

     The results of the Election of 1860 were representative to the deep divisions over slavery. Before the Civil War the U.S. was strictly divided by those who apposed and those who supported the issue of slavery. Below is a map that that displays the results of the Election of 1860. Those in the red supported Lincoln and his views that slavery should be contained. He knew that to abolish slavery completely would cause extreme reactions all over the U.S. so he wanted to contain it in the states where slavery already existed. Douglas which is shown by the dark blue color is a northern democrats and he believed in the expansion of slavery. Bell which is shown by the color pink, wanted to preserve the constitution and the union as it is. This means he supported slavery, since slavery was apart of the constitution. Lastly, Breckinridge who is shown on the map as light blue, is a southern democrat who believed there should be absolutely no limits of slavery.

     In class we created a video in small groups describing the events that lead up to the Election of 1860. We got all of the images and information about these events on a website called, Civil War in Art

Educreations Video

Elephant in the Room

     During the 19th century slavery was considered to be "the elephant in the room' meaning that everyone knew it was their, but nobody addressed the problem. There were two sides in this slavery debate, proslavery which was normally located in the south and antislavery which was normally located in the north. To learn more about this huge debate that separated the country in two, our class looked at many events that occurred during this time and constructed a timeline showing antislavery and proslavery events. After seeing the information displayed in the timeline, we saw how slavery truly was the elephant in the room since the U.S. addressed which states slavery is legal in and not the issue of slavery itself.

     The first event shown on the timeline that showed how slavery was "the elephant in the room" was the Compromise of 1850. California requests to join the Union as a free state, this request would put an end to the balance of free states and slaves so Henry Clay proposed a 5-part compromise. This compromise allowed California to be admitted as a free state, but also allowed the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah to be organized with out the mention of slavery. This means that the decision of whether or not these states would be free would be decided later by the inhabitants when that territory applies for statehood. The population will be allowed to vote inferior of slavery or against it.

     After the Gadsden Purchase was made in 1853, a southern transcontinental railroad was made. This make it easier to transport proslavery people from the south to these territories which slavery will later be decided when the territory applies for statehood. These people will populate these terrorizes and when it came time to vote for a free or lave state, the proslavery side would have an advantage. The reasoning for this purchase was that the land was extremely flat and easy to lay railroad track on.

     It is clear in both these events that the issue of slavery is extremely political. Antislavery activists are focusing more on getting states to be free states instead of working on abolishing the issue all together. These events help us see that the issue was never truly dressed which eventually lead to extreme violence between the Union and Confederacy.

   

Antebellum Slavery

Slavery became economically entrenched in American society by the early 19th century. Both proslavery and antislavery activists had strong arguments supporting their sides which made this controversy even more difficult. Slavery was a huge part of the south's economy, especially since the demand for cotton was increasing during this time. The higher the demand for cotton, the more slaves were needed to grow and harvest the cotton. Not only was the south dependent on slavery, but the north also benefited from slave labor because of their booming textile industry that needed cotton in order to make their products. Slavery continued to grow in the U.S. to the extent that almost 4 million slaves lived and worked in the U.S. during the Civil War.

A system of slavery based on race directly affects human dignity based on the simple assumption that one race is superior to another race. A system of slavery hides individual characteristics of a single human and combines all individuals of one race into a single stereotype. This system hides all talents and strengths certain people of a specific race have just because of the color of their skin. This system also ignores the pride and freedom of these individuals that are being enslaved. The second these people of a certain race are forced into slavery, they are no longer treated like the equal humans they are but instead not like humans at all.

Woman Reform

     Although there were many supporters for woman's demand for equality, the majority of society in the 19th century did not respond well to this demand. Woman were beginning to fight for the rights they knew they deserved in order to feel equal to their husbands. In the 19th century the job of a woman was to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Other than these tasks woman did not do much in their lives. When woman began to change this stereotype, reactions were not very supportive. The first known woman's rights convention took place in July 1848. Here not only men, but woman gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the moment they were beginning. The life of a woman during this time was truly unfair and needed to be changed. Society was telling woman they should get married, but if they did all their property and belongings would later be considered their  husbands. In both cases this was a lose lose situation that needed to be addressed and acted upon and that is exactly what woman's right activists were trying to do.

     Woman today are treated much more equally then they ever have been treated all throughout history. Woman and men have equal rights, but woman are still not always considered to be equals to men. In class we were shown a Pantene commercial that explains some different perspectives society has when woman and men carry out the same role. The part of the video that spoke the most to me was the scene where a man was up late working while his child was sleeping. In the background of the man, the word dedicated was displayed. The same scene appeared, but instead of a man it was a woman who was up late working. The word in the background of this scene was selfish. I though it was crazy how mothers who also work are considered to be selfish, the whole reason those woman are working is to support their families and provide a better life for them.
Pantene Commercial

Picture:
illustration from Godey's  Lady's Book, March  1850 Found at: http:// www.assumption.edu/ whw/workshop/ untitled1.html http://www.edline.net/files/_AIGmX_/90f5674f15c6c9f63745a49013852ec4/Activity_8_-_Lesson_Notes.pdf  acsessed, Febuary 2, 2015

Civil War Scavenger Hunt

Last week in class, everyone was assigned to create a poster for a specific battle during the Civil War. On the posters we were required to include the name of the battle, location, date, victor, theater, and two bullet notes explaining the reasoning for the victor. The battle I was assigned was The Battle of the Wilderness, which took place May 5-7 in 1864 in Wilderness, VA. This battle seemed to be a tactical draw since both sides, the Union and the Confederacy lost a great amount of men. Both sides also lost high ranking generals during this bloody war. After I included all this information on a google doc, I created and printed out a QR code that would link back to my google doc. Making a QR code is very simple, all you have to do is copy and paste the link of your google doc into a QR code generator site and within seconds a code is made. After printing out this code each person hung their sign somewhere around the school with a clue to the next sign that would have information on another battle. After the signs were hung, each person went around the school with an iPad obtaining the information that the signs provided. Once this was done we came back to class and looked at which side, Union or Confederacy dominated each theater (east, west, and naval).

After we collected this data we used it to help answer the essential question. It is clear from the data that the East was dominated by the Confederacy, the West was dominated by the Union, and the naval theater was dominated by the Union. In the battles of Fort Henry and Shiloh which both took place in the west, the Union was the clear victor. In both battles, the union greatly outnumbered the Confederacy in not only men, but also supplies. This was a huge advantage and was the main reasoning for the Union victory. The battles of  Fort Sumter and Bull Run are good examples of how and why the Confederates dominated in the Eastern theater. In both of these battles the Confederacy brought in reinforcements, they out numbered Union troops which lead to victory. And lastly the union dominated the naval theater in both the battle of Hampton Roads and the battle of Baton Rouge. In the battle of Hampton Roads, the Union ship the Cumberland was first sunk by confederate forces. After this setback the union strategically fought back and succeeded to victory. In the battle of Baton Rouge, the Union began to shell the Confederates, eventually the Arkansas, a southern ship's engine broke which lead to a Union victory.

Overall I thought the Civil War scavenger hunt was helpful in learning about specific battles during the Civil War. The activity allowed us to leave the classroom and take a new perspective on learning and actually searching for our information. The hunt made reading about battles much more interesting. I wish that the class was allowed another class to obtain the information on the posters because I still had three more posters to visit at the end of the second class we were given. I also thought it was helpful that we took all of the information about which side (Union or Confederate) dominated in the eastern, western, and naval theaters.