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SUMMARY OF AMERICAN HISTORY
AMERICAN HISTORY
NAME
INSTITUTION
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SUMMARY OF AMERICAN HISTORY
SUMMARY OF THE AMERICAN HISTORY
American Yawp is a collaborative, evolving text that discourses the American history from
Indigenous America, The American Revolution, The Civil war, The Reconstruction, and the
Capital and Labor, among others (Ayers and Edward, 2003). this period is a settled history since
there has never been any other civil war, conflict, slavery, or inequality in the recent history of
the democratic United States of America.
The American Civil War, which is termed as the most disastrous and bloodiest war fought on
American soil, happened between the year 1861-1865 after the chaotic balloting of Abraham
Lincoln. The southern states, which felt oppressed, called for secession due to, State rights,
slavery, and westward expansion, which was the primary basis of the Civil War, while the
northern states wanted to preserve the American Union. Military mobilization reached high
levels since the war affected almost every American as it had transformed into a struggle to
eliminate slavery, resulting in more than 750 000 deaths (Berry and Stephen, 2011). After 1865,
slavery had been eradicated, the secession question had been solved, and America was a Union
once more. Still, in many ways, some questions were unanswered, such as who will take the
responsibility of rebuilding the southern states, how the Nation would become one again, and
what role the African-Americans occupy in society.
After the Civil war, most of the southern states lay in remnants. The infrastructure had been
destroyed entirely, and according to the author, the future of the entire southern states was
uncertain. The reconstruction predicament was the main question that lingered among citizens as
the Radical Republicans and African Americans pressed the whole Nation to finally recognize
the pronouncement of independence's assurances of equality of all individuals and have
inalienable human and civil rights. The Nation commenced the reconstruction of political,
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economic, social, and racial violence to restore the American Union (Eric, 1988). The
reconstruction accomplished Abraham Lincoln's dream of the re-establishment of the Union
since the Civil War, and its reverberation ended forever the Legitimate slavery thought women
and the African Americans continued to be second-class citizens.
The economy had to be rebuilt after the Civil war, and it was achieved by both the North and
South republicans including, Union soldiers, teachers, business people, farmers, and political
leaders, both white and blacks, through the establishment of school systems, industries, equitable
taxation and abolishment of slavery.
During the reconstruction period, women wriggled to make sense of change and death. Elizabeth
Cady, the leading women's rights advocate during this period, saw a chance for disenfranchised
groups as she formed a Women's Loyal League in 1863, which helped abolish slavery by
petitioning Parliament for a constitutional adjustment. The 13th amendment marked a triumph for
the women league attesting to the value of women and the prospect for radical change. Elizabeth
Cady also led women to champion for equal rights for all and advocated for women's rights.
The author discusses the rise of inequality, the labor movement, the socialists, the populist
movements, and the new age of labor war in the United States. Afterwards the Civil war,
industries slashed workers' wages which lead to worker's strike and caused the Nation's
economic decline across the country. The workers' protests led to massive destruction of poverty,
especially rail property, and as the protests escalated, they almost approached a class war. The
use of the military to restore peace during the protests resulted in the death of 11 individuals and
wounding of several others in Baltimore, and also killing 20 more protesting in Pittsburgh. After
these deaths, more chaos erupted across the country, with protesters fighting with the military
while destroying property. Courts, state militia, and the police were unable to contain the
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protesters, and it forced the intervention of the federal army to calm the protests but not after
more than 100 civilians had lost lives and property more than $40 destroyed in 'The Great
Upheaval' (Alfred, 1990).
The book American Yawp writes that the labor unrest in the United States accompanied
Industrialization. The post-Civil War age saw the rise of the industrial revolution and
technological inventions, which slashed production and distribution costs. Class divisions
became apparent since industrial Capitalism fetched wealth and poverty since it created investors
and owners and created employees.
American history intersects with me as the peace and unity declared after the Civil War reigns up
to the present day, and the rights of all citizens, including African-Americans and women, are
upheld in the constitution. The most surprising thing about this period of American history is that
it took war and blood shade on American soil for the constitution to be amended and to allow
equality of all citizens under the law, abolish legal slavery under the 13th amendment, and grant
blacks the right to vote under the 15th amendment. All these rights could have been guaranteed
without blood shade.
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Reference
Ayers, Edward L. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859–
1863. New York: Norton, 2003
Berry, Stephen, ed. Weirding the War: Stories from the Civil War’s Ragged Edges. Athens:
University of Georgia Press, 2011.
Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York:
HarperCollins, 1988), xxv. [
Alfred D. Chandler Jr., Scale, and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 52.