The Divided America During the Civil War
The politics of the era in history immediately coming before the war were also instrumental in bringing about bitter differences and rivalries between the North and the South, with each trying to outdo each other and to have more political power through either securing the presidency or having more Allied States (McPherson 90). These differences, which began long before the war, persisted or intensified during war and made the two warring sides to exhibit totally different characteristics as far as culture was concerned. It was this cultural difference that has led to some of what is seen in the way of life in the modern day America. This paper explores these cultural differences as well as how the effects of these respective cultures may affect the present day culture.
The Role of Racism
Racial differences formed the basis of most of the differences that were exhibited by the people in those days, both during and just before the Civil War. Racism was very popular in the entire nation. This is one aspect that seemed to unify the North and the South. It was an endemic culture which had originated from as far back as the time when the first settlers arrived in the country. The different ethnic communities in the country were subjected to different levels of racial prejudice (Fahs 222). The racially motivated discriminations were especially targeted at the Native Americans.
Most people from Latin America (Latinos and Hispanics) also came in handy as victims if racial discrimination. It was a rare sight to find colored people with good jobs in the factories in the North, and the farms in the South were worked by these colored people. In todays culture, it is very easy to find whites almost appearing as the superiors especially with respect to blacks and the colored. There is also a tendency for the white people to live better lives than others because, just as it was during the War, access to resources has remained for largely skewed to favor the White Americans. All these had a foundation in the Civil War days (Fahs 221).
The Role Played by the Economy
During the war, the economies of the North and of the South were very different. As would be expected, these differences played a very big role in shaping the cultures of the people. While the Northerners engaged in working in industries, the territory having a rather advanced industrial revolutionary economy, the Southerners were mainly farmers in the vast plantation farms (McPherson 90). The two distinct economic activities in the South and in the North played a big role in shaping culture. The Southerners were fairly poor people because they had to really toil on farms to as much as earn themselves a decent living. The slaves often did the most work, with their masters doing nothing (McPherson 90).
In the North, things were different (Woodworth 212). There was no slavery and the people worked in industries which gave them a very good chance to lead a decent life as they earned enough money. The North was more developed than the South, and the people there easily adopted urban lifestyles. It was almost usual to have people in the North living in urban centers and engaging in infrastructure development and expansion more than their Southern counterparts. Due to the thriving economy of the north, most Northerners were able to bear children faster, leading to a rapid rise in population (Harper 1). In addition, the Northerners mingled a lot more freely with Europeans, leading them to adopt most of the popular European culture. Perhaps the most notable culture in the North that resulted from aping Europeans was the practice of Christianity as a religion (Woodworth 211).
The modern culture depicts some of the issues that date back to the Civil War days. The fact that the Southern states are still the leading farmlands in the country is a proof of this. Most Southern states are dependent upon as the bread basket of this nation, with most of the agricultural produce in the country coming from there. Plantation farming as well as animal husbandry is common economic activities. The Northern states are surprisingly very much dependent on white collar jobs in companies and firms. Its a tradition carried forth from the early days (Fahs 221).
Factory and Plantation Work
The North and the South were very different in the way work was done. While in the South slave trade prevailed and workers were essentially slaves, the North had people who worked particularly in factories (Woodworth 213). The Southerners worked on farms planted with cotton. In many ways, the Southerners did not as much as stick to slavery because of the fact that they were cruel or inhumane. Rather, they realized that in order for them to survive, they had to have people working in these cotton farms and to operate the cotton ginneries used to process the cotton. As this was the lifeline of the people of the South, it was a matter of necessity to have a pool of laborers from whatever source in order to keep the ginneries running and the cotton farms green.
The Southerners so relied on their cotton plantations that they considered themselves as good as dead without them. The fact that the war was weighing heavily on the Southerners called for more slave laborers to fight and to ensure all the fighters were provided with what they wanted. The use of European technology also found its way into the South although this was at a very slow rate. It became a common culture for slaves on cotton farms to be seen being worked into understanding how a certain farm implement was operated. Although this was no at all very advanced technology, at least not to the Europeans, it was very new and rare here (McPherson 91).
The situation was totally different in the North, where although factory work demanded no fewer laborers, they lived with a policy that there was work but not for slaves. Slavery was illegalized completely. Although it was common for the European settlers to love to be worked for, they too, through their Christian faiths, forcefully opposed slavery (Woodworth 211). The Northerners worked in factories and were very modern. However, the threat from the South always remained. It was a matter of putting in place more defense measures that would ensure that there was no way the South would overtake them.
The war witnessed a lot of use of non-conventional weapons, sometimes machinery parts being used in the north while farm implements were popular weapons in the South (Fahs 223). Today, this country is predominantly a Christian one, with the other religious groups forming a distant second. This is attributed to the fact that the more powerful North had its culture spreading more rapidly. This coupled with the fact that the European settlers later spread to other parts of the country as well, made Christianity to thrive (Fahs 221).
Conclusion
The American Civil War served as a climax of the intense rivalry between states in the south of the country and those located in the north. It was a war that also shaped the cultural dimensions of the country, with the North and the South clearly demonstrating different cultural aspects. While some of the cultural foundations present in the modern America can be said to have been brought about by environmental and social factors, others aspects of the culture have a direct link to the popular cultures during this war. Apart from the fact that racism was a practice in both territories, the North and the South hardly had any other cultural aspect in common. This is still reminiscent in todays cultural practices, with the Southern states being very much reliant on plantation agriculture and general farming, while those in the north are popular in their love for industrial work.
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