Slavery As A Reason Of American Civil War - Free Essay Example

After the Revolutionary War, the young United States of America was looking to change its ways. As a now independent Nation, they looked to set their own identity. One of the things they did was end what was known as the African Slave Trade in 1807. The end of the African Slave Trade was unknowingly the first step towards the American Civil War. With the discovery of the new world, all kinds of people traveled to the new Colonies in hopes of becoming wealthy. One of the ways they found they were able to do this was by setting up farms and growing exportable produce. Tobacco was the number one product coming out of the southern states to England and other parts of the world. Initially, large planters used indentured servants from England to tend to the fields. Between the 1650s and 1680s, indentured servants continued to be imported at the rate of some 1,000 per year (Mitchell, 1983). As the servants worked to pay off their debt to the large planters, they would earn their fr eedom and then find that jobs were tough to come by in America. There were few opportunities after their freedom was earned and they soon found themselves serving as domestic servants and tradesman sometimes for the same people they had just earned their freedom from. Others were able to become farmhands and laborers working mostly for the large planters, using their acquired skill set from their time as an indentured servant. As Englands employment opportunities increased overseas, English indentured servants became less available in America. As tobacco continued to be the main source of trade for the large planters, and with a rapid reduction of indentured servants, the Chesapeake Colonies (Dominion of Virginia and Province of Maryland) began to shift their workforce from servants to slavery and began using the well-established African Slave Trade. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Great Britain imported African Slaves primarily through the Royal Africa Company. This was a n enormous revenue generator for Great Britain as they taxed all imported slaves to the new Colonies. This arrangement worked well mostly for Great Britain for many years until the Revolutionary War began. During the Revolutionary War, the Colonies banned and/or suspended slave trade with Great Britain as one of their first steps to freedom from the Crown. The non-important movement was an attempt to cut all economic ties with Britain. After the War, America passed legislation for the government to tax and control the import of slaves to America. In 1807, they passed more legislation and terminated the use of the African Slave Trade. The American people saw the closing of the African Slave Trade as a huge humanitarian accomplishment even though it brought much wealth to the Virginia slave owners, and economical and political power to the southwestern states. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning of a new problem. The closing of the African Slave Trade gave way to the Ame rican slave trade. Now that no more slaves were being imported, the slaves that were on hand would become a much more valuable asset. After cutting ties from Great Britain, Virginians found themselves with a surplus of slaves after the demand for tobacco had fallen (no more exporting to Britain). As a new means of revenue, they promoted the expansion west to new settlers. Virginians sold the idea that settlers would need American slaves to help cultivate the land to bring profits to the new land owners. One of the largest purchasers of slaves was the southwest. These cotton farmers depended on the slaves to tend to their lands. This expansion increased the price of a slave to an all-time high bringing wealth to the slave owners in Virginia. As the southwestern states became wealthier and more populated, they became the more powerful states in the south. With the election of President Abraham Lincoln, the threat of abolishing slavery was eminent. The southern states felt t hat if slavery was abolished it would ruin the economy in the south. Not only would the planters lose the labor on their lands but that their lands would become useless with no one to work them. They believed this would not only affect the southern states but the entire countrys banks, stocks, and bonds. The southern states threatened that if any of the upper-southern states didnt succeed with them, they (the upper-southern states) would no longer be allowed to sell their slaves to them the powerful, wealthy southern landowners. With American slave trading as their main source of revenue, the upper-southern states would have ended up with a surplus of slaves with no one to sell them to. These States, who relied upon and did not have any moral opposition with owning slaves, saw the abolishment of slavery as a huge blow to their way of life. They felt that the only way they could preserve it was to succeeded from the Union who supported the complete abolishment of slavery. T his perceived (and threatened) economic deterioration would ultimately lead Virginia to join the Confederate States. This led to the succession of the south and to the Civil War.

Regulations For The Army Of The United States - 901 Words

Regulations for the order and discipline of the troops of the United States â€Å"The Blue Book† Barron Friedrich Wilhelm Steuben wrote the regulations for the order and discipline of the troops of the United States in the winter of 1778. The Continental Army spent that winter at Valley Forge under the command of General George Washington. The army was a group of raw untrained farmers and to this point in the war had perfected only one military maneuver, the retreat. The true history of the Barron’s military experience is in question. For the beleaguered Continental Army the Barron and what became to be known as the U.S. Army’s blue book of drill and ceremony could not have come at a more crucial time for General Washington and his army. The overall idea of the Barron’s regulations for the army was to bring standardization of how the army performed every aspect of their daily life. The idea of standardization to any army is paramount to its success. The Continental Army at this point had very little if any among its ranks. It is very important for an army to march the same, shot the same, dress the same and to become a group that acts as one. Doing all these exercises together not only creates a cohesive unit but also a feeling of Esprit De Corps a feeling of connection from one soldier to another it binds them to one another. An army with a high Esprit De Corps will fight with more intensity and with a great deal ofShow MoreRelatedWear and Appearance of Military Uniform Essay765 Words   |  4 PagesThe wear and appearance of soldiers in the United States Army are while in uniform should be neat. There should be no excess â€Å"things† in a person’s pocket but it should lie down flat. The person wearing the uniform should look neat and concise not drawing attention to themselves. Soldiers should look like a unit or group with everyone blending in not standing out because they look different. 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Deviant Behavior and Social Control free essay sample

Durkheim said, â€Å"We must not say that an action shocks the common conscience because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it shocks the common conscience. † The strain theory by Robert K. Merton suggests that American are geared toward deviance because of a lack of legitimate options to attain the monetary goal that Americans emphasize (Tischler, p. 146). Travis Hirschi posed the control theory which focuses on the importance of the people around you to mold you into a regular lifestyle. He said that there are four main points to why someone will become deviant or not: attachment to others, commitment to conformity, involvement in conventional activities, belief in the moral validity of social rules. If someone displays these four points than they will probably be a functioning member of society. Sociologists suggest the techniques of neutralization, which are ways we will justify the deviant act to ourselves so that we are able to complete it. The five techniques are denial of responsibility, denying the injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the authorities, and appealing to higher principles of authorities. Lastly, there is the labeling theory which states that individuals will commit secondary deviant acts after the fact that they have already been deemed a deviant by society. A flaw in this theory is that it does not give reason for why the original deviant act was committed. Every theory previously posed does have legitimate facts behind why it could be the cause for deviant behavior, but no single one is completely correct. Although the mesomorphic body type may be deemed as a more aggressive person, this would not be the only reason why the person was deviant, so the biological theory cannot stand alone. The psychological theories have a lot of mental disease that makes them more prone to deviant activity, but it is also proven that these traits are overcome by a good social environment and in some cases the proper medication. Just like the psychological theories, the sociological theories are proven that the environment that one is raised or lives in is a highly important factor, but it is possible for someone in a good environment to be deviant and vice versa. 2. What types of crime exist in the Unite States? There are four main categories of crime in the United States and these crimes range from rape to robbery to embezzlement to public drunkenness. The first category of crime is violent crime which consists of acts such as murder and assault. These crimes usually come with the longest prison sentences, and the good news is that these types of crime have been on the decline over the past few years. Next we have property crime which consists of three quarters of the crime in the United States. Car theft and burglary are examples of property crimes. According to the FBI, a white-collar crime is â€Å"characterized by deceit, concealment, or a violation of trust. † Bernie Madoff, the Enron corporation, and ponzi schemes are what we consider to be white-collar crimes. Finally, we have what are called victimless crimes. These are crimes that break what is considered law, but have no direct victim. Prostitution, drug use, and DUI are all what can be considered victimless. They use the term â€Å"victimless† but the argument can be made that the victim is the person committing the crime because their actions usually harm themselves. 3. What parts of the court and prison system are effective, and what parts are ineffective? Only two out of the four major goals of prison are effective. The first of which is to separate criminals from society, is accomplished by the physical act of taking criminals off the street and putting them behind fences that are twenty feet high with barbed wire, towers with armed guards, and impenetrable buildings of brick and mortar. This is honestly the only thing that our courts succeed in doing, but when you separate them from society, you put them with fellow criminals who have new crimes to teach. The second goal that can be considered effective is that prison is a legitimate punishment for criminal behavior. For me, being in prison is a mental and physical hell because it causes you to be broken down while in a small cell with a bar door and no window and no means of escape. For others it may not be like this though, because as mentioned before in the theories of deviance, a criminal may have psychological problems where they are unable to conform and prison makes them conform so they begin to enjoy what they are unable to have on the outside. Also, most criminals peers are other criminals, so while incarcerated they do not feel completely separated from their usual world. The other two primary goals of the prison systems can be considered highly ineffective. Deterring criminal behavior is the third goal of prisons and as the statistics show, this is not commonly achieved. If prison were a good deterrent than we would not have the crime rate that we have today. If the reward of the crime is greater than what the punishment will be, a crime will be committed. The last goal of the prisons is to rehabilitate. The facts are concrete when showing that prison and the programs within have minimal success rates. My personal observations over the past two weeks concur with the facts. I would estimate that close to ninety percent of the inmates who are in here for drug and alcohol related offenses talk about getting high or drunk on the day they are released, and with fellow inmates. The inmates who are guilty of burglary or robbery and other related offenses admit that they don’t know any other way of life, and that they will continue their criminal ways when released. There will never be a perfect society in which there is no deviant behavior. There is, however, ways in which we can continue to develop a better understanding of what causes the deviant behavior and ways in which we can prevent it. The prison system is continually developing new trial programs to help addicts and alcoholics, along with incorporating programs for criminals to get started on a career path instead of a criminal path. I do not believe that these will ever be one definite answer to why one becomes deviant, but let’s hope that as future progresses the rate at which deviance occurs decreases.