Reading 59 National Reconstruction Politics

Bringing a nation together that just fought a war regionally against each other was enough of a task. The country knew that they would have to deal with the issues annexing the South back in to the Union and slavery, and black rights. But who would have thought that Reconstruction would include a power grab [...]

Reading 29 Economic Change

As we all know between 1820 and 1860 the American economy changed from being agricultural to being industrial.  This had profound effects on the economy. The average Americans’ income increased by 2% per year between 1820 and 1840. However that was of course a downside. There was often periods of economic boom and bust during [...]

Reading 40 Political Reponse to Change

During the late 1850’s, stated that the preservation on the young nation’s freedom, pended on how many registered voters went to the polls. The paper went on to say that it was the “positive duty of every citizen of a Republic to vote.” Do you agree with this statement? Quite clearly, the influx in voting [...]

Reading 44 Probing the Trans-Mississippian West

Before the beginning of the 19th century the number of Americans residing past the Mississippi River were  inconsequential. The few who had were mostly tradesmen in the fur business, with small families; some were involved with the trade of exporting sea-otter skins to China as well. Mexicans and the Native Americans however, were the majority [...]

Reading 73 Politics in the Gilded Age

The term “the Gilded Age” was coined in the satirical book co-authored by Mark Twain in 1873.If you find yourself interested in this book, check out this link it’s pretty cool! http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Gilded-Age9.html. This expression characterized the political and social life in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. During this era, there was a [...]

Reading 60 The Lives of Freedpeople

The Lives of Freed people Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. You may be wondering why is their a list of common known presidents, under a blog for “The Lives of Freed people?” The reason being is that these three men weren’t only presidents but slave owners as well. Thomas Jefferson was known to [...]

Reading 52 Polarization and the Road to War

When Abraham Lincoln accepted his senatorial nomination in Chicago, he addressed the slavery issue in the nation: “a House divided by itself cannot stand.” Lincoln said, “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” The issue of slavery became the major political issue among the federal government. The bloody struggle in [...]

Reading 33: Slave Noon

Malcolm X often referred to the differences between house slaves and field slaves when he explained Black Nationalism and its connection to modern race relations.   I first read those speeches when I was in college, but I don’t think I really understood the implications until I started reading about Steve Biko and the Black [...]

Reading 32: Slave Morning

William Waller sells 20 slaves to a local market.  James Hammond prepares punishments for field slaves.  Hugh Lawson misses a dead slave and Charles Brock gets to work with his sons and slaves.  It’s morning in the South. THE BURDENS OF SLAVEHOLDING (368)  Although this section is morally troubling (as much as the others, the [...]

Reading 31: Cotton Kingdom

Slavery proved to be one of the worst chapters in our nation’s history.  Dealing with this legacy is something that has shaped our identity and created patterns within race relations for hundreds of years.  Racism and slavery are two sides of the same coin.  How do you teach it?  That’s the issue.  That’s what we’re [...]

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