Why did Ownership of Land and Control of Labor become Major Points of Contention between Former Slaves and Whites in the South?

Why did Ownership of Land and Control of Labor become Major Points of Contention between Former Slaves and Whites in the South?

Introduction

Racial slavery helped fuel a powerful racism that turned out to be and has remained a central theme in the history of the United States of America until this day. The institution also led to class tensions within the South between slave owners and poorer Whites and created sectional tensions that led to the U.S. Civil War.

Discussion

The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, was waged from 1861 to 1865 between factions comprised of the northern and southern states. Although typically associated with the institution of slavery, the war was the culmination of decades of regional disagreements over ideological, political, social, diplomatic, and economic issues, which dated back to the founding of the nation.

When the war began, the population of the north was more than 18 million, while the population of the south was around 9 million, of which nearly one-third were slaves. Much of the nation's industry was located in the north, which also had an abundance of natural resources. The seemingly overwhelming resources of the north were countered by several factors, which tended to balance the sides in the war. First, though the Union had a standing army when the war began, it numbered only 16,000, and was dispersed widely across the continent. It could not be brought together into a single force. Many of the officer corps was southern by birth, and at least one-third of the West Point graduates in the U.S. Army resigned their commissions to take positions in the newly raised Confederate Army. With both sides having to raise armies virtually from scratch, ranks in both armies were initially filled with untrained people. The second factor having a major impact on the war was the strategic aims of each side. The north, facing what they viewed as a rebellion of states in opposition to the national government, had to eliminate secessionist forces and occupy enemy territory until such time that the federal authority could be reasserted throughout the south. The south, facing what they viewed as a war of northern aggression, did not have to attack foreign territory; instead, they had only to defend occupied territory. This gave the south the advantage operating in a consolidated area with interior lines of communications, troop movement, and supply. To achieve victory, the south adopted a Fabian strategy similar to that used by George Washington during the American Revolution. Named after the Roman general Fabius, the strategy involved efforts not so much directed at winning, but instead directed at not losing. The strategic aim was to make the continuance of the war so costly and unwanted to the enemy that they would eventually give up.

Over the four years of the war, combined combat casualties for both sides left over 600,000 ...