History

First: Watch my short instruction video on answering the Final Essay at this
link: https://kingsborough.yuja.com/V/Video?v=1377729&node=5131489&a=1019109071
Then: Answer this essay below.  Each part (a, b, and c) should be at least two
paragraphs and must include IDs from our class powerpoints.  Use your own words to
explain and analyze the connections, and do not just cut-and-paste from the
powerpoints.  Google information will lose points.
Compare and contrast the differences between the 19 th  century North and
the South in all of the following cases:
(a) Describe each of their economies, from the American System
through 1860
(b) Explain each of their views on proper morals and values for men and
women
(c) Explain each region’s view on secession – was it legal and under
which circumstances? What was the earliest source of this
disagreement?

Part A:
American System (1816)
After the war of 1812 came the “Era of Good Feelings,” with seeming political unity and
one-party rule: the Republicans. Many Americans were thinking about the nation’s
future growth and expansion.
One such member of the House of Representatives was Henry Clay of Kentucky, a
border state between South and North. Clay proposed to Congress a plan for the
nation’s economic future.
He called it the American System.
1. Unity through Division — the country would be divided into separate regions, with
the South and West concentrating on agriculture, and the Northeast on manufacturing.
2. Gov’t-funded transportation improvements — roads, canals
3. Tariffs on imported goods — to stimulate domestic manufacturing and increase
wealth
Result — the entire economy unified into one national market to benefit all. But this
carried risks as well as rewards, and the South hated the idea of tariffs.
North:
Market Revolution
There were a number of changes associated with this Market Revolution of 1820-1860,
and many of them had a major impact on people’s lives in these Northern states.

4. Farms turned to specialization and cash crops almost entirely.
5. Transportation Revolution — canals, railroads, steamboats
6. Industrial Revolution — rise of the factory system
7. Huge growth of cities — size, population, immigrants, crowdedness
8. Class System — growth of a large influential Middle Class
9. Growing interest in political participation — Democracy
South:
Plantation Slavery 1800-1860, South
Slaves were divided into large work “gangs” of 50+ slaves, depending on their physical
condition and abilities.
They were assigned repetitive tasks like picking cotton, for many hours at a time. For
masters, this was very efficient and productive.
But for slaves:
10. Brutally hard work, sometimes up to 12 hours at a time in the hot sun; bad health
risks
11. Men and women treated equally in terms of job requirements, punishments,
productivity
12. Boring tasks, slaves receive no education for anything but manual labor
13. Harsh conditions and punishments for not meeting quota of 200 lbs. picked per
day
14. Drastically shortened lifespans for slaves, died at only 33 years of age
In the 1800s, slaves were very valuable and expensive
Part B:
North:
Doctrine of the Spheres
As part of this Second Great Awakening, they promoted an ideology of gender called
the Doctrine of the Spheres. This code of behavior said that men and women were very
different, with separate but complementary roles, behavior rules, and “spheres”
(appropriate environments).
Men:
15. Naturally aggressive
16. Use their strengths to benefit society in the world at large
17. Public sphere — world of work, politics, outside
18. Aggressions could turn to sinful behavior if left unchecked
19. Comfortable with other men — ‘homosocial’

Women:
⁃ Naturally moral and spiritual
⁃ Designed by nature and culture to be nurturing and caring
⁃ Private sphere — the world of home, domesticity, inside
⁃ Should influence and civilize husbands & children
⁃ Most comfortable in the company of other women
These rules were spread by traveling preachers and especially in printed publications
like books, newspapers, and magazines.
Both men and women were responsible for propagating these values, and judging other
women who did not abide by them.
For Northern women, it was expected that they try to fulfill the tenets of True
Womanhood as proper, moral females.
True Womanhood (1830s-1850s)
The rules and expectations of True Womanhood were widespread among middle-class
Northerners of the mid-1800s, and were believed and articulated by women as much as
men.
There were four overall qualities “True Women” should have and demonstrate:
20. Piety — being religious Protestants
21. Submissiveness — to both husbands and to God
22. Purity — chastity, faithfulness, morality
23. Domesticity — living fulfilling lives through home and family, making the home a
refuge from the polluted outside world and sin.
The ultimate goal and responsibility of women’s lives was motherhood, and the greatest
joy as well. In the household they ruled supreme, since men were rarely expected to be
there for long.
While they loved their husbands from afar, many women’s most intense relationships
were with their children and other women, with whom they spent time, corresponded,
and confided.
For these women, patriarchy was almost completely gone from the home that was their
domain.
But – they were economically dependent on husbands, and still lacked public citizenship
rights to control their own money and property, to vote or testify, to divorce from bad
marriages, to be fully independent adults.

Some reformer women felt this was wrong, and began agitating for a women’s rights
movement.
South:
Code of Honor
A code of behavior qualities expected from wealthy Southern men. Its main
characteristics included:
24. Truthfulness and trust worthiness
25. Bravery and courage; often learned in military schools
26. PATRIARCHY: caring for all dependents, including family members and slaves.
Undisputed male rule over households.
27. A spotless reputation, and a willingness to defend it
The Plantation Mistress
Southern women from the wealthy plantation class were expected to play both public
and private roles throughout their lives
Public Role (Southern Lady):
28. From the tiny group of Southern aristocracy
29. Raised as ‘upper-class Lady’ to marry well, continue family line
30. Social responsibilities and reputation are crucial
31. Sheltered as a child from harsh realities of slavery and great responsibility as
Plantation Mistress
Private Reality (plantation mistress):
⁃ Responsible for entire domestic side of Plantation life
⁃ “Slaves to the slaves”
⁃ Often fearful, insecure, uncertain about status; very aware of the limits of her
authority
⁃ Severely limited by boundaries and rules of patriarchy
⁃ Might take out her frustrations on house slaves
Part C:
Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison or Republicans who felt that the alien and
sedition acts went to far, and were unconstitutional. They wrote an anonymous
response called the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, name for the two state
legislatures where they were discussed. They said:

32. In the Constitution, the states only gave certain specific powers to the Federal
Government.
33. If the Federal Government tried to exercise any additional “undelegated powers,
its acts are unauthoritative, void and of no force.”
34. The states always have the power to judge if any federal law exceeds its
authority. Making the side for themselves if a law is unconstitutional. (This is called
"compact theory. ")
35. Finally, the resolutions implied that if the federal government continue to abuse
his power unconstitutional he secession might be legal.
These resolutions were condemned by 10 other states as dangerous and promoting this
union. But they were a major part of the Republican parties beliefs, especially in
southern states.
In the end, the quasi-war with France and that quickly, the sedition act and it
automatically, and the disliked President John Adams was voted out in 1800 when he
lost the Thomas Jefferson.
The Republicans now dominated the presidency, Congress, and most of the federal
government.