Colonial Williamsburg's Storm on the Horizon:"The Revolutionary Origins of the Civil War"

As some of you may have already known, Colonial Williamsburg had a special two day event for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. They had conversations, interpreted events, and even a reception at the Capitol for the closing of the event. ( Yes, I know, you probably thought "A reception at the Capitol?! I WANT TO GO." I thought that too.)

But apart from the cool reception that some of us could not attend, there were very informational conversations and performances to see. I watched Professor Gordon Wood discuss "The Revolutionary Origins of the Civil War" and I thought it was wonderful. Personally, I love making connections with history... seeing how certain happenings created a "domino effect" that led to a major event, and discovering how certain events made something else inevitable down the road. So I listened to Professor Gordon Wood's discussion, took notes, and am here now to pass the information I learned to you.

So an obvious point that I am sure we all know that was said in this discussion, is that the American Revolution started the whole questioning on whether it was right to own slaves or not. Prior to the Revolution, there was no big uprising against slavery. The ideas of freedom, liberty, and rights of man certainly stirred up the question of "Should this include blacks as well?" Well of course it should is a response all of us would say now, but back then, not everyone would say that. A problem that Professor Gordon Wood pointed out that I thought was very important is that many people thought that slavery would just stop eventually. As time wore on, slavery would just die off. Professor Wood stated that Dr. Benjamin Rush said in 1774 that "Slavery will not exist in 40 years." Nobody really thought to act out because they were convinced slavery would just disappear in due time. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

In the discussion, Professor Wood also pointed out the similarities of viewpoints between Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Jefferson believed just like Abraham Lincoln believed that slavery was an important issue that must be solved for the United States.

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An important point that Professor Wood kept bringing up was the major sectional differences between the North and the South. If you know a thing or two about the Civil War, then this is just a review. It is very easy to see that during the times before the Civil War, the North and the South were splitting apart as far as viewpoints, way of life, and even manner. For example, the North was more commercial, and really into the business industry whereas the South was more traditional; focusing more on agriculture. Another big difference was that the South counted on slaves for their way of life. I am not saying that the North did not have slaves. They did. But in 1804, every Northern state established an eventual abolishment of slavery. So while the Northern states were working on abolishing slavery, the Southern states were counting on slavery for their economy. The invention of the Cotton Gin in 1793 made cleaning cotton a much faster and easier job. So the want for even more slaves obviously would increase because the plantation owners could make an even bigger profit with more slaves and a machine that will get the job done quicker. There were other differences between the North and the South such as the conflict of states vs. federal rights, and even the election of Abraham Lincoln. (The South believed he shared the same viewpoints of the North, and was an abolitionist.) It is easy to see that the major sectional differences obviously contributed to the succession of the Southern states from the Union.

Also in the discussion, Professor Wood pointed out that the Missouri Crisis was sort of a sign that a war between the North and the South was inevitable. When Missouri petitioned to become part of the Union, they wanted to have no restrictions on slavery which obviously upset the North. But a compromise was worked out between the two sides. Missouri was to be a slave state, and Maine (who was being blocked by Southern Senators) would be a free state. But also, this compromise stated that no territory to the north of Missouri's southern border, the 36 30 degree parallel, could enter the Union as a slave state. This meant that the expansion of slavery out West would stop.

But The Missouri Crisis was sort of a wakeup call to the North and the South. Professor Wood said that the Northerners realized then that slavery was not going to just stop in due time, and the Southerners realized that the Northerners were certainly not going to stop their quest of ending slavery for good. There was certainly a "Storm on the Horizon" and it sure was brewing to become a big one.

To hear a bit of Professor Gordon Wood discuss how the American Revolution had effected slavery click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGiFKDBZ8s

Photo from Google Images