Americas Post-Civil War Growing Pains - Essay Example

? Essay America’s Post-Civil War Growing Pains History and Political Science October 20, America’s Post Civil War Growing Pains Introduction The Post-Civil War era was a period that took a lot of readjustments and transformation of the society. The war created bitterness, and something had to be done to pick up the pieces in order to proceed to the progress of America. Political bickering and party agenda blocked the lenient plan of President Lincoln for reconstruction. After the war, and during the reconstruction period that introduced reforms, industrialization made progress. But during this period, a lot of people who entered America suffered a lot of pain because of discrimination. The treatment of whites and blacks were different, and it took a long time before everything in immigration was smoothed out. Two questions loom on this topic: Could events have been different if President Lincoln had not been assassinated, and how industrialization affected the lives of the American citizens during this period. To the first question: Could events in the Reconstruction period have been different if President Lincoln had not been assassinated. Yes, I believe it would have been because he had a lenient plan of transformation. The period of 1865–77 was called the Reconstruction Period in the U.S. history because it was a time when the federal government reinstated the states that had seceded during the war. It was a time when President Lincoln had to face many political and social issues such as “how to deal with the states when they were reunited, how to deal with the freed slaves, and how should Southern whites be treated” (Kelly, n.d.). If President Lincoln had it his way and if he had not been assassinated, he would have had lenient proposals for the seceded states. First, he wanted to consider those states that seceded on or at the outbreak of war as if they had not seceded. He wanted to grant pardon to southerners who participated in the war if they pledged allegiance to the United States. Second, President Lincoln would allow readmission of the state if it formed a government that would guarantee freedom of slaves, and if 10% of white voters in that state took an oath of allegiance to the US (Kelly, n.d.). His political opponents did not agree with this and after his death, made the reintegration difficult. To the second question: How industrialization and urbanization affected the life of the average working American during the period. It was significantly affected in many ways: economically, socially and culturally. The industrialization that started in early 1800s continued to grow steadily amidst the Civil War, although the American industry at that time was described to be typically small. However, after the war, when reforms were introduced, industrialization grew more tremendously as machines replaced hand labor, railroad network allowed marketing and distribution of goods in many areas, and inventions made work processes easier. Machines produced a greater number of goods, gave jobs to more people, and created specialization and labor division. As industrialization grew, the life of the average American was affected. Since businesses were situated in cities, people began to flock the cities in droves to look for work. The availability of jobs in cities attracted people from the farms to the cities. This situation, according to the website of theusa.online.com (n.d.), created an economic division of the rich and the poor, which was widely resented by the people. It had created the wealthy, middle class and the underprivileged class of society. Immigration caused the population of America to grow by more than double, from 40 million to 100 million from 1870 to 1970 (theusa.online.com, n.d.) This period also depicts different pictures of an era. The South was economically behind the North because of the war while the frontier life of the West ended. The South remained to be an agricultural area all throughout the period of industrialization. The farming system was divided into independent farmers and the tenanted system. Independent farmers owned small pieces of land they worked on, and were considered poor. The tenant farming was not productive because farmers lacked the incentive to improve the land that they did not own, and owners had no control on its production, so agriculture was not productive, while businesses thrived in the North. The North became the hub of commerce that eventually placed the U.S. as a world leader. Now, for the two examples of how the federal and/or state courts and legislatures handed down decisions or passed laws during the period that served to discriminate against non-white citizens and immigrants, two significant laws radically reduced immigrants at that time. In 1882, the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act was a show of a racist antagonist sentiment because it disallowed Chinese from permanently immigrating to the U.S. At first, it was only termed for ten years, but the government made it permanent later on, in 1902. The Americans were afraid of the cheap labor the Chinese provided. The decades of exclusion ended in 1943 when China became a US ally against Japan (“Chinese Exclusion Act l882,” n.d.). Another law that clearly showed discrimination was the Emergency Law that was favorable only to immigrants from Western Europe. The Emergency Law was a result of the report of the Dillingham Committee, created in 1907, that considered immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe “threats to the American society and culture” and therefore, recommended immigration reduction policy (“Dillingham Commission 1907–1910,” n.d.). The Dillingham Commission was created in reaction to the “growing political concerns about immigrations in the U.S,” whereupon a quota was set limiting immigrants of any country seeking admission to US, to only 3%, or a total of 150,000, annually. The recommendation also banned the immigration of Asians. Conclusion Clearly, our forefathers had the best intention of general welfare for the United States but in so doing, had inflicted pains and injustices to people in the society. The quota system of immigration has been carried so far, thus making immigration to America stiffer than ever before. Freedom of slaves and individuals has been guaranteed in the Constitution, but freedom goes with responsibility of obeying the laws of the land, and disobedience means pain, which is caused in the modern setting of punishment. References Chinese Exclusion Act 1882. (n.d.). Open Collections Program. Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. Harvard University Library. Retrieved 20 October 2012 http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/dillingham.html. Dillingham Commission (1907-1910). (n.d.). Open Collections Program. Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. Harvard University Library. Retrieved 20 October 2012 http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/dillingham.html. Kelly, Martin. (n.d.). Reconstruction. Americanhistory.about.com. Retrieved 20 October 2012 from http://americanhistory.about.com/od/reconstruction/a/Reconstruction.htm. theusa.online.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 20 October, 2012. http://www.theusaonline.com/history/industrialization.htm. Read More