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AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR, WAS A CATACLYSMIC EVENT FOR A
COUNTRY LESS THAN 100 YEARS OLD.
The reasons for war are deep-seated, and the
discussion that preceded it was often elegant and
persuasive, but the war of words would eventually
spin out of control and the shooting war would begin.
As the South saws its power and influence begin to slip
away, into the hands of the brash and upstart North,
its way of life and its entire economy seemed to be
at risk. Yet the risk was greater still; it threatened to
tear a fragile Union apart that had been created from
a diversity of states, in terms of both their history and
their culture.
Here the roots of the conflict are examined from
the political situation before the war to the decision
made to wage war on fellow citizens. The Civil War
would prove to be the ultimate test for the soldiers
who fought and for their country.
Set ISBN ..........978-1-4222-3881-3
Hardcover Set Price ...........$166.35 $124.75 (S&L)
Hardcover List Price ..............33.27 24.95 (S&L)
Multi-User eBook List Price ...42.60 31.95 (S&L)
Full color • Library bound
Trim Size: 8 x 9½ • 80 pages
Grade Level: 7-12
HBK ISBN E-ISBN
Civil War Victory and the Costly Aftermath ............ -3886-8 -7896-3
Slavery and the Abolition Movement .................... -3883-7 -7893-2
The Battle of Gettysburg – The Turning Point
in the Civil War ................................................. -3884-4 -7894-9
The Origins of the Civil War........................................ -3882-0 -7892-5
The Politics of the Civil War..................................... -3885-1 -7895-6
5 VOLUME SET © 2018
MILITARY CONFLICTS
T H E C I V I L WAR
On rareoccasions, resentment
over the treatmentof slaveswouldboil
over intoopen revolt. In1831,Nat
Turner,a slaveownedbyawealthy
Virginian farmer, JosephTravis, lead
whatbecameknownasNatTurner’s
Rebellion.Over the spaceof three
months,never involvingmore than
around60or soarmedmen,Turner
wasable tokill55whites, though in
the endhewas corneredand captured,
andTurnerand17of his followers
werehanged. Inawhitebacklash
against the slaves,up to200 lost their
lives,but the“rebellion”had terrified
thewhitepopulationand rumors
spreadof even largeruprisingsacross
theSouth.
Dixie, theOldSouth
56
BELOW:DiscoveryofNatTurnerby
BenjaminPhippsonOctober 30,1831.
Engraving byWilliamHenryShelton
(1840–1890).
Originsof theCivilWarFirstEdit.qxp_Layout 1 01/03/2017 10:10 Page 56
TheOriginsof theCivilWar
57
ELIWHITNEY (1765–1825)
EliWhitney, famousAmerican inventor is best known for
inventing the cotton gin. Itwas one of the key inventions of
the industrial revolution.Before theCivilWar the cotton gin
was responsible for shaping the economy of theSouth.
Witney’s inventionmeant that upland short cotton could be
made into amore lucrative crop.However, the unfortunate
effect of thiswas that it strengthend the economic
requirement for slavery in theUnitedStates.
Before the cotton ginwas invented, the seeds from the
cotton plant had to be removed byhand, a process that had
been time-consuming and labor-intensive.Theword “gin”
derived from the shortenedword “engine.”Whitney’s
patented,mechanical deviceworked liked a strainer or sieve.
The cottonwould be run through awooden drum and a
series of hookswould then pull the cotton fibers through a
mesh.The seedswould not fit through themesh andwall fall
to the outside.
It has been reported thatWhitney told a storywherein
hewas pondering an improvedmethod of seeding the cotton
when hewas inspired by observing a cat attempting to pull a
chicken through a fence. Itwas only the feathers thatwould
be allowed through.
Asingle cotton gin could generate up to 55 pounds
(25kg) of cleaned cotton daily.This in turn, contributed to the
economic development of theSouthern states, as planters
earned great profits, promoting them to grow increasingly
more cotton slaverywas the cheapest form of labor
the farmerswould simply purchasemore slaves.
Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin invention in
1794, but itwas not validated until 1807.Whitney and his
partner,Miller, did not intend to sell the gins.Rather, they
expected to charge farmers for cleaning their cotton – two-
fifths of the value, paid in cotton.This schemewas ultimately
resented by the farmers andwith themechanical simplicity of
the device and the primitive state of patent law,made
infringement inevitable, so gins from othermakers found
ready sales. In the end, patent infringement lawsuits
consumed the profits and their cotton gin companywent out
of business in 1797. In1817,WhitneymarriedHenrietta
Edwards.Theywent on to have four children.Whitney died
on January 8, 1825 at 59 years old.
Therehadbeenother such
attempts earlier in the19th century,
notablybyGabrielProsser in 1800
andDenmarkVessy in 1822,but
neither turned into actual revolts.
Thesewere rare,ashadbeen the case
at theheightof theRomanEmpire,
butwhen theUnion troops flooded
into theSouthern statesduring the
AmericanCivilWar, suchwas the
reaction from freed slaves that180,000
ormoredonned theblueof theUnion
to fight against their formermasters.
TheSouthwasnot fullof
aristocratsasHollywoodwouldhave
usbelieve,and thevastmajorityof
white farmersdidnotown slaves.They
farmedat subsistence levels,unable to
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