Difference Between American Revolution And 1860

The Revolution of the United States between 1860 and 1877 Between the years of 1860, the year Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States, and 1877, the end of the Reconstruction period, several monumental constitutional and social changes were made. Black slaves were freed, and blacks were now viewed as equals before the law. Blacks were granted citizenship and black men were given the right to vote. The Federal government gained much more power than the individual states. Each one of these changes was viewed as a significant development and combined they amounted to a revolution. Even though the government was not overthrown, the short timeframe in which these monumental changes were made led to this time period being labeled as a revolution. In 1860, the largest constitutional problem was how much power should be given to the states and the Federal Government. Most southern states strongly supported states’ rights because they thought they should have the right the nullify certain laws that were created by the North and would be unfavorable to them. For example in 1828 the Tarff of 1828, called the “Tariff of Abominations” by the South, was imposed by the North in order to protect northern industries. This tariff would only hurt the south requiring them to spend more money on wool and other raw materials. South Carolina, the strongest supporter of states’ rights, nullified this law and the nullification crisis took place. Now just over thirty years later South Carolina is still advocating states’ rights, their Declaration of Causes of Secession states “certain duties were imposed upon the several states, and the exercise of certain of their powers was restrained, which necessarily imperiled their continued existence as sovereign states.” South Carolina was not pleased with how much power the Federal Government was getting and that Federal Governments’ power supersedes that of the individual state. During this time period of pre to during the Civil War, the North and in particular Senator John Sherman of Ohio had a different view on states rights. …show more content…
In his speech to Congress on February 10, 1863 Senator Sherman said, “ The policy of this country ought to be to make everything national as far as possible; to nationalize our country so that we shall love our country.” Senator Sherman is saying here that everything should be run by the central government, and if this happens the country will become more united with people who love and support it. Sherman and much of the North supported the theory that if each state has too much power the country will never unite and without a strong central government the country would fail. Both of these views represent what the North and the South wanted in regards to states’ rights prior and during the Civil War. After the War had ended in May 1865, Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, wrote in his dairy, “ We shall get rid of slavery by constitutional means. But conferring on the black civil rights is another matter. I know not the authority.” Welles says now that the Union has won the war the Federal Government within the power of the Constitution has the ability to outlaw slavery. This is huge constitutional change within itself. The Federal Government is now outlawing the South’s most lucrative industry. Welles, part of Lincoln’s administration, supports the abolishment of slavery, but he says that the Federal Government does not have the right to interfere with black civil rights. The Federal government not only interferes with black civil rights, they pass laws protecting and giving rights to blacks. They also create a police force designed to protect blacks against acts of terror. All of this is done without the consent of the states, therefore states’ rights and their power is severely diminished to almost nothing. As Senator Lot Morrill of Maine says in his speech to Congress on February 1, 1866, “I admit that this species of legislation [Civil Rights Act of 1866] is absolutely revolutionary.” The Civil Rights Act of 1866 stated that all persons born in the United States were citizens and described their rights without regard to race. This was extremely revolutionary on both