Political Issues in America from Independence to 1877
Introduction
Before American’s independence, there existed decades of horrific experiences that were catalyzed by Europeans’ invasion. These people who believed they found a ‘New World’ came and later on unleashed death and destruction due to their greed and will to conquer their so-called enemies. Besides the discriminatory and end experiences inflicted on the Native Americans consisting of Slavery, Europeans came with diseases that were the greatest threat to the Natives’ existence. With time after wars with the British North American colonists became an instrument of American independence. The American Revolution forced self-rule from the British rule and ushered in a new democratic nation called the United Nations of America. The young country went ahead to experience a period of post-revolution issues, and the major ones included the Constitution and democracy, voting rights and slavery, and the American Civil War.
The foundation of the United States of America is embedded in her declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, whereby the Continental Congress sat and voted unanimously (Locke and Wright 133). Later on, in September, the first state constitution was drawn. Then, on rewritten between 1788 andConstitutiononstitution was the foundation of democracy in the U.S. Democracy necessitated the adoption of voting rights. Still, many white Americans were aggrieved with issues. Therefore the division of American democracy also contributed to the rampant spread of slavery, especially African Americans. However, amid the nation’s struggle to remain democratically united, conflicts grew, giving rise to the birth of the American Civil War.
The establishment of the United States Constitution was among the main events after the Declaration of Independence. And upon which her democracy was established. Locke and Wright state that the document was an important innovation on which the new rules-based the idea of popular sovereignty under which the people form power and government (133). These constitutions established executive, judicial, and legislative arms of the government and also regular elections.
The constitutions also embraced the Bill of Rights for the protection of the people and power through voting. Locke and Wright state that later in 1781, “the Continental Congress ratified the Articles of the Articles of the Confederation” (134), which allowed states to have voted in the Continental Congress. After a few years in 1788, a National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, led by George Washington that helped establish a national constitution on July 2, 1788 (Locke and Wright 149).
The establishmConstitutiononstitution, both in the states and nationally, proved the American public’s sovereignty. Democracy and freedom ran through the veins of the American states. Still, it did not come easy as those opposed to it, including Alexander Hamilton, who once preferred the British ruling system (Locke and Wright 228). However, the democratic whole of America was split during the Missouri crisis in 1820 when politics took a turn and split into Democratic-Republican parties (Locke and Wright 230). The rise of Andrew Jackson and the formation of these parties cemented the beginning of contemporary democratic America.
The newly found democratic America issues slavery was among the primary reason for the subdivision of political sides into Democrats and Republicans. Instead of the Missouri Crisis resulting in disunion and civil war, it cultivated the expansion of slavery (Locke and Wright 230). By the 1820s, many states had already introduced discriminatory democracy. Under which slavery was rampant in the South despite the denial of voting for such people.
In the period between 1830 and 1850, slavery, most importantly, expanded during the Cotton Revolution, whereby slaves were used and purchased to expand American capitalists’ economic prosperity by then. Locke and Wright state that by the year 1850, slavery and cotton had become intertwined, and the idea of getting rid of the slave culture did not outweigh the political and economic agenda (292). Cotton had become the foundation of the southern states; hence it became a point of the political discrepancy. According to Locke and Wright, most slaves were their way before this revolution, and not even the ratification prevented their increase. Simultaneously, others were forcefully immigrated to the U.S to work in those farms (289).
The southern part of the U.S was perhaps the most affected when it comes to the issue of slavery because the cotton revolution placed value on them (Locke and Wright 290). Fredrick Douglass was among the men who fought for abolishing slavery and equal rights for all American citizens in a period in which abolitionists increased pressure with anti-slavery movements. The issue of slavery went ahead to become one of the primary reasons for the American Civil War’s birth besides then urge to preserve the Union of the states.
Approximately 750,000 people died due to one of the bloodiest nation’s war, and it affected the lives of the American citizens due to the extensive military action that ravaged then country. It all started in 1860 during the election that deeply divided the Democratic Party. Those from the North wanted a pro-slavery candidate, and those from the South differed intending to nominate a different candidate (Locke and Wright 372). That led to the Party’s splitting, but their counterparts in the Republican Party were unified under one candidate, Abraham Lincoln, who went ahead to win the election.
Lincoln’s election threatened the already institutionalized slavery that proved too much to the Southerners. South Carolina was among the first ones to declare secession and later voting to dissolve their union with the United States (Locke and Wright 373). According to Locke and Wright, several other states followed with the secession giving rise to the confederates “adopted a new Confederate nationalism” (373). African Americans, especially those from the southern states, had become disenfranchised by these actions and supported the Union as the consolidation of the Southern states into confederates meant continuation of slavery. On the other hand, Lincoln declared the secession legally void and used force to protect federal property in the affected states and, in the process, sparked the war.
African Americans have joined Union soldiers in suppressing the confederacy soldiers in the War that persisted until the year 1865. By then, the battles were no more, and Lincoln had already won his second term amid the War. His second inaugural address widely called for peace and end of the War, but between 1864 an1865 was the most deadly (Locke and Wright 397). However, Charleston’s capture brought the War to a halt, and “Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865” (Locke and Wright 397). Slavery was later abolished, and the Republicans drafted the Thirteenth Amendment, which legally meant ending slavery (Locke and Wright 397).
In conclusion, the political history of American between independence and the year 1877 is probably one that defines the most significant part of the birth of the United States of America as we know it today. The declaration of independence, which led to the formatConstitutiononstitution, introduced democracy, rights, and freedoms and the establishment of Democratic and Republican Parties. In the process, there were significant economic and social activities that brewed the growth of slavery and finally gave rise to the American Civil War. The end of the war and abolition of slavery marked a new turning point for the U.S.
Works Cited
Locke, Joseph L., and Ben G. Wright. The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U. S. History Textbook, Vol.1 & 2: Since 1877. E-book, Stanford University Press, 2019.