Instead of being a source of "organized social power" (Elkins 28) the church had "undergone a relentless process of fragmentation." People were religious, but Elkins asserts that people were seeking "individual satisfaction" rather than building "institutional needs." Elkins (150) delves into the Transcendentalists' view of the church, which was very cynical; "the church as an institution was corrupt..." The two author views are radically different one from the other.
SLAVES & MASTERS: Elkins explains that Southerners had "...a paternal affection of the good master for his blacks" and there were "warm sentiments" in southern Society for "faithful slave" (Elkins 61). However, on page 57 Elkins reports a case where a Virginia Judge in 1827 declined to punish the master who had cruelly battered his slave. Slaves had no legal rights and hence masters could take total control over their lives. Elkins does assert that a master could not kill his slave unless the slave was a runaway. McPherson meanwhile disagrees; he writes that the master could "even kill with little fear of being held legally responsible" (McPherson 34). McPherson added that the master had "almost unlimited power...to punish without sanction of the courts..." "Virtually all avenues of recourse for the slave, all lines of communication to society...originated and ended with the master,"
Slaves did have some autonomy over their own lives, according to McPherson (McPherson 34). Leaders among the slave communities "often became eloquent preachers" among gatherings of slaves during church services (some authorized, some not authorized); also, slaves created music (Negro spirituals) and some slave families "provided an impressive example of survival in the face of adversity" (34). Elkins implies that slaves had very little autonomy over their own lives; "The master must have absolute power over the slave's body, and the law was developing in such a way as to give it to him at every crucial point" (Elkins, 49).
LAISSEZ FAIRE CAPITALISM: American devotion to limited government and to a laissez faire form of capitalism did not make the lot of slaves any better in the South. For one thing, as McPherson asserts on page 45 the "phenomenal growth of the cotton kingdom...seemed to make slavery more necessary than ever to the Southern economy." Here we have laissez faire; whatever is needed to grow the economy, leave it alone. Capitalism...
Civil Death Death and the American Civil War: Disruptions of Decency and a New Awareness of Reality Victorian notions of the body and its functions were complex given the combination of the rise in biological and medical knowledge that occurred during the nineteenth century and the prudery that gained such traction during the same era. These two trajectories were likely not in simple conflict as they might appear, but rather the increasing
Civil Wars It is estimated that between 1900 and 1967, there were 526 civil wars called throughout the world (Civil pp). Today, there are literally dozens of wars going on around the globe, and dozens more that have ended during recent years, such as the civil wars in Guatemala and Tajikistan. According to Christopher Cramer, most literature concerning civil wars has highlighted the role of political instability in the relationship between growth
Nobles, Connie H. (2000). Gazing upon the invisible: Women and children at the Old Baton Rouge Penitentiary. American Antiquity, 65(1), 5. Archaeological investigation of the Old Baton Rouge Penitentiary includes studying artifacts to determine the conditions of the children and women who were housed there as prisoners. "There were a total of 1,310 artifacts collected from this site. Five major categories of items include: 1) ceramic goods, 2) glass vessels, 3)
When a northern imposition of tariffs, ratified in Pennsylvania in 1828, began to damage southern income, the 'abomination,' as this legislation was labeled, became a flashpoint for Southern identification with anti-federalist principles. This spoke to one of the strengthening ideological holdings in the South as it pertained to maintaining a slave-labor system in spite of the nation's prevailing cultural, ethical and economical trends. The South would generally hold that the
Military Technology -- Civil War Leadership What technological advances were used during the United States Civil War? There were many technological innovations that were devised and used during the Civil War by both sides, and they are important aspects when researching the reasons that the Union Army defeated the Confederate Army. An article in Scientific American ("How Technology Shaped the Civil War") reports that first of all, the way the war was
Nursing & Women's Roles Pre-and-Post Civil War The student focusing on 19th century history in the United States in most cases studies the Civil War and the causes that led to the war. But there are a number of very important aspects to 19th century American history that relate to women's roles, including nursing and volunteering to help the war wounded and others in need of care. This paper delves into
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