How Americans Interpreted the Concepts of Freedom and Equality from the End of the Civil War until 1906 - Essay Example

? HOW AMERICANS INTERPRETED THE CONCEPTS OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY FROM THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR UNTIL 1906 The United s of America was a troubled country throughout the 19th century. There were tensions among friends, families and even siblings. Most of these came about because of differences in ideologies amongst people. The differences were mainly class related, with the hottest issue being slavery. Equality and freedom was yet to be fully realized in the expansive nation. Although the northern states campaigned against slavery, the southern states embraced the practice; most southern states used slaves as workers in their expansive farms and establishments (Biddle, Daniel R., and Murray 2010, 92). The 1860 presidential elections saw Abraham Lincoln, a northerner and staunch anti-slavery campaigner, elected as president of the United States of America. Consequently, his anti-slavery policies led eleven southern slave states to gang up and call for secession from the USA. These renegade states formed a new nation called the Confederate States of America. However, the Union (United States of America) saw the move as a threat to its sovereignty and engaged the southern states in a fierce battle that lasted four years. The Union finally won the war in 1965 with the promise of a more united country where people would be accorded freedom and equality. Although the end of the civil war marked the end of slavery, absolute freedom and equality were still a pipe dream to many Americans (Foner 2010, 56). This is evident in the books written in the period right after the civil war. This paper provides an analysis of events in three books that bring out the American perception of freedom and equality between 1865 and 1906. The first book, Ragged Dick, written in 1868 by Horatio Alger, Jr., reflects the events in the life of a young man, Ragged Dick; moved from being a poor street boy to a respectable person. Despite being a minor, Ragged Dick drank alcohol and smoked cigarette occasionally. However, to many people’s surprise, he was an honorable young man; unlike many of his kind in similar situations, he would not engage himself in criminal acts to make quick money. He had a burning desire to succeed, a virtue that earned him praise in society. His good nature endeared him to the successful people around him; some trusted him to handle small chores for them and he never failed them. His ability to save money, a feat that not many people, not even the affluent in society, could pull was his greatest strength. Dick bought only on he needed and saved whatever amount he could spare. For instance, when Mr. Whitney gave him five dollars as payment for an errand he had run for him, Dick used the money to rent his first apartment and opened a bank account to save the rest. Ragged’s breakthrough came when he got a job in a mercantile firm after rescuing the owner’s child from drowning. With the job, Ragged Dick’s life was transformed from that of a street boy to that of a respectable individual in society. He even changed his name to Richard Hunter, Esq. Ragged Dick brings out the opportunities that liberty and equality presented in the United States; the author is successful in indicating that success did not rely on a person’s history, but solely on his or her effort and determination. The post war America provided a level playing field for everybody. The second book, The Souls of Black Folk, written by W. E. B. Du Bois got published in 1903. The author talked about the predicament of the African American population after the civil war. He said that the biggest problem of the twentieth century would be that of racial segregation. Despite gains made after the American War, which ended slavery, equality had not been realized in American society. Bois talked of the slow progress made after the war, the challenges that blacks faced during his time, as well as the chances that the future presented in the twentieth century. Although the government under President Lincoln fought hard to stop the slave trade, it did not do much to create an enabling environment for the ex-slaves to prosper. The Freedmen’s Bureau worked hard to reconstruct what had been destroyed during and before the war but faced stiff opposition from the southern states, court bias, mismanagement, and neglect by the national government because of the fear of elite black people. In spite of these setbacks, the author points out that the Bureau’s biggest success was the creation of African American Schools. Du Bois accused the government of watching as racial segregation took over from slavery y allowing the enactment of policies that undermined the African American society. He championed for the right to participate actively in elections, the right to education, as well as civic equality amongst the American community. He was particularly bitter that even though slavery had been a concern of the past, black Americans continued to rely on cotton as their main source of livelihood. Only few African Americans had succeeded to make substantial progress to become household names in the American economy. The final book in this analysis, The Jungle, is a story about Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian migrant who had moved to Chicago to follow the American Dream. Jurgis lived with his newly married wife, Onaa Lukoszaite, in a Chicago suburb called Packintown. He also had several relatives who had come to Chicago with the same objective of bettering their lives. The events in the book, however, suggest that contrary to the immigrants’ expectations, life in Chicago was full of misery. They had to do weird jobs in order to survive; in addition, the wages they received was not proportionate to the work they did and conditions under which they operated. For instance, Jurgis worked in a filthy meat packing plant whose temperatures went extremely low in winter. Despite that, he had to go to work in order to fend for his family. His father had to payoff someone in order to get a job; he promised to give away a third of his wages, only for him to pass away because he could not withstand the harsh conditions he experienced at work. After getting an accident at work, Jurgis spent three months in bed nursing injuries. His employer stopped paying his wages, and when he got well he refused to reinstate him to his job. Though he eventually got another job, Juegis broke down when he lost his wife and unborn child during delivery; he had left the family only to come back and get his wife experiencing labor pains in a shelter. She died because they could not meet the expense of taking her to the hospital. Sinclair blames the hollowness of the American dream to the fact that the American society was capitalistic. When Jurgis joined the socialist movement, things started working for him. He got a job and started embracing socialist ideologies. The Jungle presents the America as a capitalist society where a few rich people thrive at the expense of the poor majority (Rogers 2011, 153). The authors are not united on the successes of America in the post-war period. Whereas Ragged Dick portrays the country as a place where there are equal opportunities for everyone despite their background, the reverse is true for The Souls of The Jungle and Black Folk. This means that the even though slavery ended, thus bringing freedom, equality did not suffice; discrimination against African Americans still existed, even though at a lower level than before the American Civil War. Bibliography Biddle, Daniel R., and Murray Dubin. Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010. Foner, Eric. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. Rogers, Lawrence D. Apostles of Equality: The Birneys, the Republicans, and the Civil War. Michigan: Michigan State University Press, 2011. Read More