1848-1861: A Social Analysis

The social elements of the time 1848-1861 contained quite a bit of dispute among different groups such as the distinct North and South. Although the conflict between these borders contributed greatly towards the social elements of this time, conflicts during elections tend to consume much of this lesson, such as the Lincoln-Douglass debates. Opposing Douglass, who was running for reelection to the Senate, was Abraham Lincoln, former Illinois state representative, and congressman (Keene, 370). A series of seven debates took place over the fate of slavery and the rights of African Americans, in which Lincoln was portrayed as being a racial abolitionist by Douglas, but Lincoln denied these charges, making clear he was for the equal rights of all races especially of the black man (Keene, 370). At the end of the election, Douglass triumphed the seat in the Senate, but during the past …show more content…
Three main developments that supplied this boom was the creation of machines made of interchangeable parts, using steam as a new energy source used to power their machines, and the benefits provided by a huge amount of cheap labor by immigrants (Keene, 364). Machines with interchangeable parts in machines meant that rapid manufacturing was now available for cheap products. The second development, steam, provides as a more reliable and more capable energy source. The revolutionization of Northern and Western agriculture was based on the building of the massive railroad networks, as well as the innovations of the reaper and the steel plow (Keene, 365). The mechanical reaper is a piece of equipment pulled by horses with sharp blades to sever wheat stalks, allowing a much faster harvest (Keene, 365). The intellectual elements of 1848-1861 greatly improved the adequacy of farming and contributed abundantly to the success of the