James McPherson discusses the differences between the American North and South at length, citing more than just slavery as a divisive issue. Using voices from the north and the south, historians and local newspapers, individuals of note and the common man, McPherson does his best to represent all sides of the argument to show that the general consensus is that the North and South had two radically different outlooks on life. The north was progressive, embracing the Market Revolution and ever-changing. The South had stayed traditional, clinging to a rural community with an emphasis on kinship ties and a strict social hierarchy (p. 424). McPherson poses that theses fundamental differences created two very different societies.
A northern spokesman …show more content…
Fredrick Douglass’ narrative on the desire for freedom identifies strongly with Linda’s, describing how acutely aware they were of their situation and that going north to freedom was their only source of hope while in bondage. William Sewall’s essay on the results of British emancipation likewise supports Linda’s assertions that if her race was given a chance to work and learn for themselves they would succeed. Sewall’s statement that “let no one doubt that freedom, when it overturned a despotism and crushed a monopoly, unshackled, at the same time, the commerce, the industry, and the intelligence of the islands, and laid the foundation of permanent prosperity” fully supports Harriet Jacobs …show more content…
However, contrary to what my high school education taught, the fundamental difference between the regions was not how they viewed African Americans. In fact, their racist tendencies are closer to a similarity than anything else. It is true that the North and South were of a similar back ground, religion, language, legal system, and even had an interconnected economy. However like McPherson says in his essay, these “same similarities prevailed between England and her North American colonies in 1776, but they did not prevent the development of a separate nationalism in the latter” (423-424). The most notable differences between the North and South were ones of ideology. The folk culture that permeated the South encouraged traditional ways of life and gave rise to the hierarchy that kept Negros in slavery and allowed them to be viewed as less than human. In the North what McPherson labeled a gesellschaft society had formed, lending value to the ideas of progress, improvement, urbanization, and a generally more mobile, less traditional way of life. All of the documents contribute to the bigger picture of how these different perspectives were incompatible within the same
A northern spokesman …show more content…
Fredrick Douglass’ narrative on the desire for freedom identifies strongly with Linda’s, describing how acutely aware they were of their situation and that going north to freedom was their only source of hope while in bondage. William Sewall’s essay on the results of British emancipation likewise supports Linda’s assertions that if her race was given a chance to work and learn for themselves they would succeed. Sewall’s statement that “let no one doubt that freedom, when it overturned a despotism and crushed a monopoly, unshackled, at the same time, the commerce, the industry, and the intelligence of the islands, and laid the foundation of permanent prosperity” fully supports Harriet Jacobs …show more content…
However, contrary to what my high school education taught, the fundamental difference between the regions was not how they viewed African Americans. In fact, their racist tendencies are closer to a similarity than anything else. It is true that the North and South were of a similar back ground, religion, language, legal system, and even had an interconnected economy. However like McPherson says in his essay, these “same similarities prevailed between England and her North American colonies in 1776, but they did not prevent the development of a separate nationalism in the latter” (423-424). The most notable differences between the North and South were ones of ideology. The folk culture that permeated the South encouraged traditional ways of life and gave rise to the hierarchy that kept Negros in slavery and allowed them to be viewed as less than human. In the North what McPherson labeled a gesellschaft society had formed, lending value to the ideas of progress, improvement, urbanization, and a generally more mobile, less traditional way of life. All of the documents contribute to the bigger picture of how these different perspectives were incompatible within the same