The American War of Independence - Essay Example

(2) Union policy over slavery changed throughout the course of the war because of internal rifts between the Northern and Southern states, which were in a tight competition for political power. First, the Southern states wanted slaves to be counted in the census so as to have more representatives in Congress than the North, but this was vetoed by the North. The result was a compromise that each slave was only worth three-fifths of a white Southerner. Second, the South wanted to expand slavery into the newly acquired territories from the Mexican War but Northern states were strongly against this move.

Finally, Northern states were angered by the Supreme Court decision to free a slave named Dred Scott, who was brought to a free state by his owner (Oracle ThinkQuest, n.d). These rifts sowed the seeds of the civil war. Abraham Lincoln, whose own inconsistent decisions on the slavery issue contributed to the changing policies of the Union, depended on the progression of these rifts before he finally conceded to how slavery contradicted the constitutional mandate that “all men are born equal” and declared war (Taylor, 2008; Public Broadcasting Service, n.d.). (3) America made a lot of transformations from 1800-1860: it became a market economy from a mainly subsistence economy, a manufacturing industry from an agricultural one.

All these changes increased economic productivity and paved the way for industrial development. The industrial and market revolutions were significant portions of US history because they signaled the country’s rise to superpower status (US History, n.d.). (4) The Chesapeake colonies of the upper South, particularly in Virginia and Maryland, were among the primary drivers of the Southern economy. Tobacco was the most lucrative product and it made the colonies in the South the richest in British America.

The wealthy owners of large tobacco plantations owned slaves and their income was three to four times higher than other colonials. Even ordinary men with no titles were able to acquire prosperity and acres of land in Virginia, thus giving them the power of a feudal lord. Besides its own feudal system, there was a firm vestry and parish system that encouraged high religiosity among colonials. These factors effectively drove away major witchcraft scares (Son of the South, n.d.). On the one hand, the absence of a feudal system in New England prevented any uprising similar in nature to that of Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia (Bookrags, n.d.).

New England society knew no class distinctions—a characteristic instrumental to the prevention of rebellions arising from social discontentment. There were in fact regular town meetings which ensured that the sentiments of townsfolk were heard before they blew up to uncontrollable proportions (Son of the South, n.d.).