Near
the start of the 19th century in North America, around the thirteen original
colonies, things were starting to change.
Due to a fear of a central government local control developed. Later
this local control lead to a dispute between the states. Only thing left to do
when disputes break out are to mend them, and reconstruct the situation to
prevent disputes from breaking out again. All of this relates to early American
government and how it went through its creation , the civil war , and the reconstruction
of the union.
When first determining on
how to limit the power you must think of confederation vs. federation.
Confederation is a composition of individual states where each member stays
sovereign, where as the Federation is a
division of power between state and government. Well its most likely unlike to
have a united country when each individual is off doing there own thing so
obviously a federal government was the way to go. The next step was to divide
power so one wouldn't have rule as a monarchy, which is what they just left. So
the developed the checks and balances dividing power between 3 main groups. The
3rd and final step would have been the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
Where as congress cannot pass laws regarding speech, worship or the bearing of
arms but could regulate them. Where one can be secure in is home, paper or
person unless warranted. One must also have suspect rights or know ones
accusation.
Know one wants to hear how
the U.S. fails but honestly it has failed before, The fail that is referred to is in "states' rights."
States had power to keep slavery around cause the Federal had no authority
regarding the slavery due to the 10th amendment. Federal government however could
stop trades between states and could stop the expansion of slavery. When the Louisiana
purchase happen there were two options . The options where either side with the
plantation owners or side with white farmers. These two competed with each
other agriculturally. The south claimed
that they must expand or it would be the death of the southern lifestyle. To
keep both sides happy a compromise was made where land would be split evenly so
it would keep the senate's equal. Lincoln ran for presidency and won in
popularity votes and in electoral votes, which pissed of the south and the left
thinking that the U.S. violated the social contract. The left cause the
believed they had a right to and they did not want to share sovereignty. South Carolina was the first to succession
and they did so before Lincoln was even in office cause Lincoln was
"hostile to slavery". Why did they think this ? well slaves would run
off, like any normal person would, and go north. The slaves would not be
returned so the south took offense. When Lincoln took office South Carolina told
the U.S. Military and Lincoln to evacuate Fort Sumter, which is U.S. even if it
was on "Southern Land", but Lincoln refused and south Carolina again
to offense and they decided to open fire on the fort. Thus starting the civil war. 600,000
Americans died over the course of the war and something had to be done to
correct they "Failure" so this would not repeat.
Reconstruction is a term
many think of as rebuilding the south, what was really rebuilt though was the
union. Southern territories were taken my military force so the south was under
a military dictatorship. A few rules were made
to keep things from getting out of control. The rebelling states had to
free slaves and the 13th amendment, which strengthened the federal government.
Even after this though Southerners refused to accept the new reality so it lead
to the 14th amendment, which made it where every man born on American soil had
citizenship and the 15th amendment giving all citizens, excluding females
still, the right to vote.
So the original problem
was a fear of a strong central government which lead to local control to even
it out. When the change came around, or the new territories then a problem
,war, came around. To make up for the
new changes, or growth, the federal government had to be strengthened. Thus
summarizes how the U.S. went from creating a new government to the failure of
the new government and finally the unions reconstruction.
What I have posted above is an essay I wrote so after listening to my History professor rant on about "The American Experiment." After reading it and thinking back on what he said I noticed that there are a couple things that bug me when people talk about this.
One thing that gets on my nerves is when people describe the civil war they talk about the slavery and they spread the rumor that the civil war was based only on freeing the slaves. If you took the time to read my essay you can see that slavery being discontinued was not the man project of the civil war, in fact it was accidental. The true reason the civil war started was because plantation owners didn't get there way when a "White Farmer" named Lincoln became president. One state in particular left before Lincoln even claimed the office, South Carolina. Talk about throwing a fit and here I thought we could all act like adults.
The second thing that seems to get on my nerves is seeing a " The south will rise again" bumper sticker. I honestly think the south has never rose, but what really happened was a bunch of plantation owners causing a fuss over not getting there way. When I didn't get my way I was told " Tough titty said the kitty but the milk is still good." In other words get over it. I'm sorry if you think the south will rise again cause I'll be honest it is not happening. If you disagree then go ahead be South Carolina, it shows your ignorance.
No offense to my friends who are currently or have ever resided in South Carolina.
