Jefferson Davis was the sole leader of the Confederate States of America; or C.S.A; and a key figure in the Southern States secession and the outbreak of the American Civil War. Although by many he is seen as a corrupt and malevolent figure in human history, there are many conservatives who have adopted his ideologies and governmental ideas. Jefferson Davis’ bigotry has been seen as a tool to reinforce the power of the leaders of the nation and the oppression of such minority groups as the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities. Establishing violence as an accepted way to defy legal democratic processes that oppose the in power group’s opinions and beliefs. As well as creating a false image for contemporary conservatives and libertarians to symbolise …show more content…
The most influential disregard for democratic process is the American Civil War, started by Davis and the Confederate States of America because of the loss in the 1860 Presidential Election. Despite the completely just and fair electoral win, 11 states in total seceded from the union out of fear that the Northern ‘free’ states would make slavery completely illegal across the nation. As slavery was the most important economic industry for a majority of the Southern states, their denial of fair election results in recent cases can be linked with older cases through their steep regression into hostility. This complete contempt for the democratic process was not unnoticed by the fair winners of the election. Abraham Lincoln in response to the states' succession spoke about the unlawful secession of the states. He states how the act would destroy “the world’s only democracy” displaying the belief that Lincoln held, the secession of the Southern American states would heavily contradict the ideas of a fair and free democratic society. These actions of violence to prevent the pursuit of a courteous and autonomous …show more content…
However, despite the belief that the Confederacy was a small government fighting against the tyrannical Union government, they embodied a more authoritarian ideology as despite their statistically lower taxation rates and other features commonly associated with ‘big governments’.While they did support institutions like slavery and other exclusionary and authoritarian industries, the light taxation rates seen in the Confederacy are very similar to those of modern conservatives as both groups employ a similar economic plan in terms of government interference in public infrastructure. Such minor taxes can be seen in Eugene M. Lerner’s ‘Journal of Political Economics’ as he discloses the confederacy’s tax rates and their effect on the nation through the war. Just as many in the right-wing view Jefferson Davis as an ideological role model, many see him and his government as a beacon of hope in terms of governmental action as many in that political movement idealise a libertarian society, one which they believe hasn’t existed since the C.S.A. While the government overreach in the 18th century was the institution of slavery, in contemporary American society, the modern conservatives are trying to prevent the limitation of gun ownership in the US. A great number of
Chapter One Q: How did Union Commanders and President Lincoln characterize the “Nature of the Rebellion?” In regards to the nature of the rebellion, many Northerners, Republicans, and Union Commanders strongly believed in the theory that the South had been hoodwinked into secession by a wealthy slaveholding handful of upper class men which they referred to as the Slave Power Conspiracy. In addition, Southerners didn’t have much of a choice in the decision to the leave the union and accepted it as a fait accompli engineered by their social betters. Moreover, President Lincoln stated that “it may be well doubted whether there is, today, a majority of the legally qualified voters of any State, in favor of disunion.”
The elections of 1800 and 1864 had made the Republicans victorious in the electorate. However, the South’s influence on the electorate had significantly decreased and the Democratic Party was divided as well. After the Civil War, with only a few requirements for readmission, Conservatives wanted the south to accept the abolition of slavery. Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, the Radical Republicans wanted the military leaders of the Confederacy to be punished. The punishments would include the confiscation of Southern property and suffrage for freedmen.
He states that: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right as God gives us to see his right […] to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations” (line 70-76). By the use of the words “none”, “all”, and “us”, there is no indication of any disunity that he wishes to see, but instead establishing a similarity of the sides. A spark in reunification is what currently needs to take place in order to end this war. With this, Lincoln drives it home with expressing that the only way out of this divided devastation is the coming together of the North and the South. With the use of imperative phrases and inclusive diction, Lincoln passionately attempts to mend the two broken pieces in this puzzle for
In America during the Civil War, people were killing their brothers based on their allegiance. Everybody during that time did not believe that the effects it may have after the war was over. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, knew about these effects, through enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke. Lincoln speech “Gettysburg Address” not only gives hope to the union soldiers but, something much more. He believes that the union will win the war against the south because of the dedication that both the government and the people have done through the use of allusion, ethos and antithesis
“Lincoln understood that the European powers, who had recently abolished slavery peacefully, would balk at trading with and otherwise supporting the Confederacy if he introduced emancipation as one purpose of the war.”
However, he acknowledges one of the greatest arguments against repeal remains self-governance. It is the greatest weapon the South used in order to defend their right to own slaves, and it is the principle that replaced the Missouri Compromise: popular sovereignty decides whether the state has slaves, not a nationally imposed mandate. Rather than disputing this, Lincoln endorsed this ideal of self-governance as one of his moral tenets. After previously defending the “humanity of the slave,” (152) he applied this at a fundamental level to the right of self-governance: “But if the negro is a man, is it not to that extent, a total destruction of self-government, to say that he too shall not govern himself?” (153).
In the fall of 1873, even the staunchly pro-Grant and pro-Freedome Boston Evening Transcript ran a letter arguing that blacks, as a people, are unfit for the proper exercise of political duties. The rising generation of blacks needed a period of probation and instruction; a period long enough for the black to have forgotten something of his condition as a slave and learned much of the true method of gaining honorable subsistence and of performing the duties of any position to which he might aspire” (Document D). The reason why I think that Documents C and D prove how Northerners' neglect contributed to the end of Reconstruction is that Northern voters grew indifferent to the events in the South, and Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption. Because of the negro Quation and sick of the carpet baggers people in the North no longer supported Reconstruction which made them more and more closer to respecting Southerners' options and the KKK. They started to not believe that the reconstruction could change the United States and they lost the belief in unity between the North and the South.
(Stephens,1861) states “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition.” He stated that the fundamental principle of the Confederacy was the belief in the superiority of the white race and the institution of slavery. Stephens believed that secession was justified and necessary, considering he saw it as a means to protect and preserve the institution of slavery, which he viewed as essential to the Southern way of life. He argued that secession was a response to perceived threats to the Southern economy and social order and that forming a separate nation would allow the Confederacy to uphold its principles as well as safeguard its interests.
After he gave his speech, I was ready to leave. I believe Lincoln is determined to destroy the beloved south and overthrow the Constitution (Hanmer). A few of us decided to go and talk about what we could do to fix the problem we have. Lewis Powell, George Artzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen and John Surratt arrived at my house to conspire with me.
‘Slavery was the root cause of secession’. ‘November 6 1860, Lincoln was elected president of America which resulted in panic emerging in the South’ . The election of Lincoln as president who was a Republican leader meant that ideologies, movements and values from the North would be implemented in the South which meant the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a huge characteristic of the South as the economy; politics; social status and psychological mind-sets were influenced by the process of slavery. The southern white population then derived the idea of secession which meant the South would gain independence from Northern aggression .
President Lincoln was against the secession of states for a variety of reasons. In his first Inaugural Address he said that, “We cannot remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them”. The states cannot physically be separate and should not be separated by law either. Lincoln believed that secession was unlawful, saying that, “no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union”. They would be breaking the law by cutting their status in the union.
Following the establishment of the Republican and Democratic parties, the two sides have always clashed over key political arguments happening in the country. The parties are seen as opposites in the point of view of many Americans, taking different sides almost all the time, even in today’s political establishment. During the Reconstruction Era, the Democratic party was the party of slavery and business because they were mainly supported in the south and was called “The White Man’s Party” by the Republicans. While the Republican party during this era was the party of the Union and supported African American rights, which gave them the name “Negro dominated” by the Democrats, even though White men lead the party. After many years of conflict, the U.S. Civil War happened after the South threatened and eventually seceded from the Union because of changing laws in the federal government, which didn’t
“The lack of… nationality, I believe, is one of the great evils of the times…” Senator John Sherman stated on February 10, 1863. The United States had been split into sections from the beginning, and it created a lack of unity and togetherness. In Document A, the reader can acquire from the reading that South Carolina (and later many other states) seceded from the Union because of states’ rights. Document A states that an amendment (specifically the
President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is
While there were exceptions of individuals fighting for more than equality by law for African Americans, such as John D. Baldwin who argued “a question concerning human rights” (Frederickson 379), there were racist ideals held that transcended political parties and regional affiliations alike. Radical democrats sought the most resistance with political leaders such as Representative James Brooks who preached in opposition to integration by claiming “the negro is not the equal of the white man, much less his master” (Frederickson 379). Arguments of black inferiority became based upon the false ethnology presented by Josiah Nott that physically and mentally ranked the black race below other races. Even radical republicans became contradictory in their views claiming African Americans were different due to their inability to conquer and dominate like white people had; insinuating that white domination could not be challenged. Although there was a period following the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and 1868 in which former slaves were granted citizenship, their involvement in politics became rendered by the lack of education previously provided to slaves and inability of “withstanding the economic, political, and paramilitary opposition of the white majority” (Frederickson 382).