Introduction
Every society aims at tracing its history with an aim of understanding their present situation. Certain historical events are directly or indirectly traced to future events. This is the same case to the American history, it allows people to trace back events and actions that helped shape what America is today. This paper will therefore trace the American history in the period of 1763-1776 and 1848-1861 and expound on them.
Escalation and polarization periods
The period between1763 and 1776 is known as the American revolutionary period whereby the colonies in the United States rose up against the British colonizers and together fought for their independence. The American Revolution begun in 1763, when the British rule was firmly established within her colonies and the French threats towards the British colonies came to an end. This move encouraged the British colonizers to make rules for the colonies that were very hash and tough. Some of the rules that were imposed on the colonies included the payment of taxes to the British colonizers. (Parish, 1997) The British colonizers explained this as a legal fee of helping them to maintain the colonies under her authority. These laws were very oppressive to the colonies and the situation was worsened by the fact that the colonies were not allowed any government representation in the British Administration. The British colonizers were accused by their subjects that they abused power and dissention among the colonies. These colonies tried to resist these by petitions, threats and demonstrations. But from around 1772, patriotic groups had begun to be formed to fight for the rights of the colonies. The patriotic groups formed their own committees of correspondence in their own provinces, which acted as their congress (Provincial congress). By 1774 these patriotic groups had done so much for the colonies, the hallmark being the formation of a united congress.
This period was marked with a lot of protests from the patriotic groups. In response to this, in 1775, the British colonizers sent combat troops to fight the Protestants, but the colonies were quite organized with their militia. This led to the revolutionary war which begun in 1775, though among the colonies there were a few loyalties, who comprised of about 15-20%, the patriots comprised of about 90% of the population. This meant that the British troops would only contain a few coastal cities for a period of time. Hence in 1776, representatives from the thirteen original states voted for the declaration of independence (Parish, 1997).
The period between 1848 and 1861 was characterized by the civil war in America. The war polarized the American society and is considered as one of the worst wars in the history of Americans. Slavery was the main cause of the civil war. The civil war broke out because they was a disagreement between the two regions, that is North and south, since the two regions had been in place in the constitution. The two regions had signed the tacit agreement where by the North agreed not to interfere with slavery in the southern states while as the south recognized slavery as something that should be encouraged and finally abolished when the time is right. The civil war begun because of the failure of the two side to compromise, for instance the state fugitive law did not allow the slaves a chance for a jury trial. When a compromise was reached in 1850, the two regions could not agree with the terms that were given, they were not willing to accept traditional boundaries that were set, the rule of law or accepts the limits given. The civil war started as a result of slave catchers trying to capture fugitives in Boston and Pennsylvania. This was followed by an act of congress where by it passed the Kansas-Nebraska act in 1854, which opened up Kansas as a battlefield. Guerilla warfare was used in Kansas from 1855-1858, as the two regions were trying to protect their own as agreed on the tacit agreement.
The two periods in history, that is, 1763-1776 and 1848-1861, had somewhat some similarities and differences. Some of these similarities include, during this period there was a lot of resistance, the escalation period was marked with so much resistance from the colonies against the British colonizers, while as the polarization period was marked with resistance from the slaves. The thirteen colonies in America were fighting for their freedom to rule their land and on the other hand the slaves were fighting for their freedom and rights as human beings (Parish, 1997).
Another similarity is that the two periods were marked with wars; the escalation period was marked by wars between the British troops and the patriot’s militia. The polarization period was characterized by a series of wars, for example the war between the north and the south regions due to controls of the regions and not honoring the tacit agreement.
The two periods were also characterized by some differences, which include, the escalation period-involved two different countries, that is Britain and America. The Americans were trying to regain their freedom from a different country. Polarization period involved warfare among people of the same nation but had different ideologies. The two regions thee north and the south had different ideologies about slavery and this was a direct cause of the civil war, the north believed that slavery is wrong while as the south thought that it was right.
Emancipation proclamation
On September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued an order to have slaves released. But this order did not apply to all the states because on January 1 1863, the president issued another order indicating the states that will be affected by the above order. The emancipation proclamation was a way of showing Americans that the fight against slavery was being dealt with by the federal government. But in the real sense this proclamation freed very few slaves (Parish, 1997). Firstly, this is because the order issued by the president applied to the states that rebelled against the federal government and the rebellious states did not obey the president’s order. Secondly, the proclamation did not apply to the slaves that were already held in Areas where the union was. Thirdly, the order did not apply to the slaves that were on the southern side region. Therefore the emancipation proclamation freed a very small portion of the captured slaves.
Reasons why the union won the war
The emancipation proclamation to some extent helped the union to win the war against slavery. This is because the southern side did not have enough military support and could not get any help from any European countries. This is because Britain could not get involved with the southern side because of the order passed by president Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, France was so involved with Mexico, hence the southern side could not get any military help. Secondly, the leader of the union employed very strict tactics during the war and he could easily replace the men who were killed in the union while as the southern side could not. This meant that the union had a strong troop at all times. Thirdly, the union blocked the entry point to the southern side ensuring that the southern troops could not replace their weapons and ammunitions (Parish, 1997).
Reconstruction
After the civil war there was a period of reconstruction to rebuild the southern areas that were destroyed during the war (Mettger, 1994). After the war the southern region was left in social, economic and political turmoil and hence to restore peace the region had to undergo reconstruction and especially the freed slaves. For a period of ten years a lot of changes and progress had taken place in the southern part, this include building of schools, teachers were trained to integrate the community and the greatest change was the election of black leaders into the government offices. The reconstruction period allowed the freed slaves the time to adjust and settle in the community (Mettger, 1994). This was done by the establishment of areas/lands that the freed slaves would stay before being integrated into the community. The reconstruction was definitely a step in the right direction but not a total success. This is because the rules that were set up during the reconstruction were not strictly followed. For example it was agreed that the army would move in the areas were the released slaves were living so that they can offer the protection. But in 1877 the army was removed from the residential areas. So if maybe the laws put in place were strictly followed, then maybe reconstruction would have been a total success.
Conclusion
The American community has gone through a lot of changes and these have been the basis of its history. All along history seems to be repeating itself in one way or another. The period 1763-1776 and 1848-1861 have shown their similarities and differences as other periods have done.
References
- Peter, Parish. Readers Guide to American History, New York: Taylor & Francis, 1997.
- Zak, Mettger. Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, New York: Penguin,1994.