Беликова Е.К., Саратовская Л.Б. - The United Kingdom and United States of America in Past and Present (1268141), страница 20
Текст из файла (страница 20)
In the following seven years the influx of newcomerscontinued and by 1856 the state already numbered 300,000.Almost all ofthem tried to make their fortunes by mining gold and thousands of minerslived in camps separated from their loved ones, alone in vast and hostilewilderness. Very many of such fortune-seekers died because of difficultconditions and illnesses. Law and order were constantly broken downthere. Even if a miner “struck it rich” (had success) there were alwaysthose who tried to take the gold away: gamblers, outlaws, thieves, andsaloon keepers. Yet there were some who made fortune by selling goodsto the miners.
A German businessman Levi Strauss bought strong denimcanvas and used it to make pants for the miners. Farmers raised foodstuffto sell to the miners and settlers on their way west. Most of the farmersthere were Mormons, who built new towns and grew corn and fruit onlarge irrigated fields of Southern California where the latest harvestingtechnology was used. The gold rush helped to change California from afrontier area into the 31st American state.The Civil War. While the nation was growingand developing, the situation with the NativeAmericans and black slaves was getting evenmore complex. The American Revolution gavegreat impetus to the movement to end slavery bygranting freedom to those blacks who served in thearmed forces.
Following the American Revolution anumber of states abolished slavery, and its opponentshoped that emancipation would gradually spread toother areas of the country. But although manynortherners opposed slavery, most of them rejected immediate efforts toeradicate it. Age-old prejudices against the Indians and blacks preventedthe “white” Americans from considering them as their equals and verymany Americans still believed that blacks were basically more inferiorthan whites.
Besides by the Constitution the issue about slavery was leftin the hands of the State legislature and Federal Government had no rightto abolish it. When Eli Whitney in 1793 invented the machine cleaningcotton of its seeds, the productivity of slave-labor in cotton-growingincreased by 50 times and slavery came to be regarded as the mainstay78economics in many Southern states. The increased importance of cottonfor the South strengthened the hold of slavery in this region.In 1820 by the Missouri Compromise Act slavery was tacitly allowedsouth of 36-30’ but not north of it, but a special Bill in 1854 virtuallyrepealed the Missouri Compromise. The new Fugitive Law compelled thenortherners to assist in capturing slaves who had escaped from theirowners in the South.The new Republican Party, which sprang up in 1854, with AbrahamLincoln as one of its chief founders, demanded that slavery be kept withinold boundaries set out in 1820.
Tremendously important in awakening thenation’s consciousness was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’sCabin” (1852), 300 000 copies of which were sold within the first yearand which was soon translated into dozens of foreign languages.Frederick Douglas’s autobiography, a poignant account of slave life, wasalso sold in numerous copies. Later Douglass edited his own newspaper,consistently urging militant action to bring about the abolition of slaveryin the USA.In 1854 the Republican Party became associated with the name ofAbraham Lincoln. The revival of slave controversy stirred him deeply.“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong”, he stated with the clarity andsimplicity of expression for which he later became famous.
He wasconvinced that America could not be divided and said “A home dividedagainst itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endurepermanently, half slave, half free”. In November 1860 Abraham Lincolnwas elected the sixteenth president of the USA. “Honest Abe”, was ashrewd politician and a shrewd politician and a person of strongprinciples who offered good antislavery credentials.
His votes weredrawn only from the Northern States. A few days after Lincoln’s election,the South Carolina convention voted for secession from the USA. ByFebruary 1861 many other southern states: Florida, Georgia, Alabama,Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas followed the lead. In February thecongress of seceded states formed the Confederate States of America andannounced slavery as the corner – stone of their constitution.In April 1861 the civil war between the North and the South actuallybegan. Although abolition of slavery was to be one of its problems, thewar was fought not only to destroy slavery but first of all to preserve theunion.
When the Civil war broke out, the North could expect an easyvictory. It had superiority in material resources and more than doubles the79population of the South (20.7 million against 9 million, of which 3, 5were blacks).On the other hand, the South was in some respects veryfavorably placed for resisting invasion from the North. The countryabounded in strong positions for defense, which could be held by arelatively small force while the northerners had to advance longdistances, thus exposing their lines of communication to attack. Assoldiers, the Southerners started with certain superiority for most of themwere accustomed to fighting as a normal and suitable occupation for men.Besides among their leaders there were two men of great military talent –generals Jackson and Lee, while the Northerners lacked such brilliantofficers.
During the first stages of the war the Union Armies had a lot offailures. But Lincoln himself read books on strategy, scanned militarymaps, and outlined plans of campaigns. And his determination soonbegan to be widely felt and appreciated by common people. The beliefthat he could be trusted spread quickly and at the end the Northern armyacted as an emancipating crusade.Lincoln’s greatness of mind and heart were unexcelled. In his famousGettysburg Address (1863) Lincoln made public his great plans ofreconstructing the country on a new, more democratic basis: “The greattask remains before us – which this nation, under God, shall have a newbirth of freedom – and the government of the people, by the people, forthe people, shall not perish from the earth”.Since 1862 the blacks were allowed to join the Northern army and bythe end of the war one Northern soldier in eight was black commanded bywhite officers.
Soon the segregated troops proved themselves in battle:38,000 were killed, a rate of loss 40 times higher than among whitetroops..In the summer of 1863 General Grant of the North won several decisivebattles and cut Tennessee and Arkansas. In a series of fierce battles helost 60,000 but gained his objectives, destroying everything on its waythat might help the Southerners continue the fight.In 1864 Abraham Lincoln was unanimously renominated President. Hegave the closest attention to the final military phase of the war, visitingthe army. .On April 3, 1865, Grant and Lee had to recognize the futilityof further resistance.
The confederate soldiers laid down their arms andwere allowed to return to their homes in peace.The war lasted four years and cost the nation 600,000 lives but theconcept of an indissoluble union won universal acceptance. A more80technically advanced and productive economic system resulted from thewar. he war forced the Government to proclaim emancipation for slavesoldiers fighting for the Union.
In 1865 it was followed by the antislaveryamendment to the Constitution making slavery illegal throughout thewhole country. Lincoln’s part in this matter was undoubtedly central andthe liberation of American slaves will be always associated with hisname.On April 14, 1865 during a theatrical performance in Washington,Lincoln was lethally wounded by a southern conspirator John Booth andearly next morning he died. The feat of Abraham Lincoln’s life is bestsummed up in the following lines from the poem by Walt Whitmandedicated to the memory of this great American:O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip be done,The ship has weathered every rock; the prize we sought is won.Shortly before his death, the president endorsed suffrage for “veryintelligent” blacks and former black soldiers in the Union army.
AfterLincoln’s assassination President Andrew Johnson continued Lincoln’smoderate policies. The !4th Amendment, defining national citizenship soas to include blacks, was passed by Congress in 1866 and was ratifieddespite rejection of most Southern states.That Northern victory launched the era of CongressionalReconstruction which lasted 10 years starting with the ReconstructionActs of 1867.Under that legislation the 11 Confederate states werereadmitted to the Union and had to accept the 14-th and later the 15thConstitutional Amendments, intended to ensure the civil rights of theblack freedmen.At first Reconstruction of the Union seemed to hold many promises forBlack men and women in the South, who were allowed to leave theirformer owners and move to other states.
But in reality the Northernefforts brought few serious changes in the status of black people. Thelaws did not guarantee any social rights of the Blacks. They did notrequire redistribution of land or wealth and power and only temporarilyinterrupted white supremacy in the South. Without land and propertyblack freedmen again became dependent on white landowners andworked for them as tenants. Harsh labor-contract laws, imprisonment forminor crimes, work under deplorable conditions for coal, lumber, orrailroad-building corporations left most blacks in situation slightlyimproved from slavery.
![](https://s.studizba.com/z.php?f=/templates/si/i/noavatar.png&w=100&h=100&t=1"){kind=avatar}
