The American Revolution and the Civil War, Research Paper Example

The Revolutionary War

When these British colonists arrived in the Americas, especially after sailing across an unsteady Atlantic sea for the better part of two months, if not more, these colonists claimed this land became theirs upon arrival.  This was their discovery; this ocean had established this frontier into what they recognized as their property; therefore, the American Revolution truly began, in the minds of numerous anticipated colonists, they moment they threw out those anchors and hopped off the boats (Murphy, 2008).

Beside, London was more than three-thousand miles away, so that distance is what created that “New World” appeal.  Options and dreams and liberation had now become more than a dream, but now a reality to substantiate by these individuals; above all, these individuals would soon discover what it feels like to think and act as an individual (Murphy, 2008).

Unwarrantedly, however, when the British government tried to lay claim on this land now claimed by these British citizens seeking to lay claim, subjugate, develop, and then flourish on undiscovered land, by all means a bit of diversion came about — in fact, eight years of it (Murphy, 2008).

Another rather unaccredited name that jumps out of this period would be Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia.  To a large degree, Dunmore seems to parallel Abigail Adams.  Dunmore issued a proclamation in the end of 1775 to declare freedom to any enslaved Negro who joined the Army, whereas Adams tried to establish many of these same rights for women during this period (Murphy, 2008).

Women, in fact, did not gain the right to vote until 1919 (1920 was the first official election in which they could vote), and Blacks did not gain any rights whatsoever until even after the Civil War and the assignation of Abraham Lincoln (Lefkowitz , 2007).  U.S. citizens see how both of these issues fell through, herein notably both of these names, especially since the only time they are brought to light is within the context of some academic history text (Murphy, 2008).

These “unsung heroes” added to the American Revolution, as they also displayed British loyalty, just as much as did any of the rest of it. Women, of course, are the unsung heroes.  They handled the home life, worked jobs and “brought home the bacon” to feed the family, so of course the greater majority these women demanded to be treated as equals.  Therefore, each party — the fighting soldiers, as well as the task-driven females at home, who played the part of both parents now — had a right to a voice (Lefkowitz, 2007).

Getting back on topic here, in terms of the major advantages and disadvantages of the British and the colonists as the American Revolutionary War began, on the upside, when many patriots were British Patriots — including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, amongst others — the yearnings of these Americans was adhered to and copacetic with British Royalty.  The government took care of all properties, and evenly at that; this created a sense of uniformity and safety that all patriots commemorate (Lefkowitz, 2007).

However, when a government enacts laws and regulations purely in order to show a bias — such as the “Repressive Acts,” the “Tea Tax Act” (that lead to the Boston Tea Party), “The Stamp Act,” and all of those others — then a revolt will surely happen.  This is what lead to the formation of the United States of America (Lefkowitz, 2007).

The Civil War

The United States (U.S.) annexed the Confederate State of Texas in 1845, and not too long before the Civil War (Reaves, 2010).  This is how the U.S. included Texas as the twenty-eighth state in the Union.  At this time, the U.S. was at war with Mexico in concern to property rights.  Texas had already achieved its independence from Spain; actually, Texas was still a part of Mexico at the time of the Mexican independence from Spain in 1821 (Birdwell, 2011).

Therefore, Texas earned its independence as an independent republic from Mexico in 1836.  Accordingly, Texas should not have had anything to do with the causation of the U.S. / Mexico war from 1846 to 1848.  But it did; that is, rights to the state’s voluntary annexation as the twenty-eighth state into the U.S. helped cause this stir (Birdwell, 2011).

Concerning Texas’ economy and its formation since the U.S. annexation, at that time much of it centered on the military and its militant involvement.  Take, for instance, San Antonio.  From the City of Antonio Official Website, “Economically, it is believed that the military and Department of Defense (DoD) activities have a substantial impact on the local economy” (Birdwell, Nivin, Ph.D. 2006).  Thus, even during that war between the U.S. and Mexico, San Antonio built its economy on military activity.

Though oil was not discovered until the very initiation of the following century, Texas still had many rich resources at the time of and before the U.S. Civil War.  A thriving cattle industry, exorbitant and unique geological features and landscapes, Texas had its benefits, even more at the time of the time of the U.S. civil war (Reaves, 2010).

Getting back to San Antonio, the second largest city in the state, it follows the regime of a council-manager form of government.  This means that this city follows one of the two most commonly used types of government in the United Sates; the other is the council-mayor form of government.  Every eligible voter can vote on each Senator.  Moreover, the council members are elected at large.  Regarding policies, taxation, and zoning incentives, the City of San Antonio makes no representations, guarantees, or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, currency, or suitability of the information provided via websites (Reaves, 2010).

Concerning major issues currently facing the city, residential zoning along with residential growth are two issues that are facing San Antonio currently.  However, they are not as greatly bothering this city as much as most of the other large cities in the country.  Yet still, residential growth is a bit stagnant (Reaves, 2010).  In concern to how this city will pull through this economic recession that the U.S. is currently facing, San Antonio should be just fine for two reasons; one, because San Antonio is located in Texas, and Texas has pulled through this economic recession far better than most other states in the union; and two, because San Antonio is the second largest city in the state.  It has not changed too much since the civil war and its time and resources spent on fighting for those confederates (McDonnell, 2006).

Moving on now, the most populated state in the U.S. presently, California, was also annexed shortly before the civil war (1848).  Though Texas is larger, California has a greater populace (in excess of thirty-three-million U.S. citizens currently).  California is a rather ample size state within the western U.S. It has more people than any other US state (more than 33 million people).  Its most renowned cities are Los Angeles (L.A.) and San Francisco, and he state capital, Sacramento.  San Diego and San Jose are also extremely populated and, therefore, some of the most desired counties in the entire country.

Hollywood, which is known for the films produced, a place where television and movie stars reside, lead their domesticated lives, as well as function as civilians, is a district of L.A. Some may argue that the movies and film have been an enormous authority over the creation of culture within the united states, and some would counter that argument with the fact that art mimics life, or that the culture was the creation for the artistry of film production in the first place.  So where are we then?  That’s right, another chicken-egg argument.

Regardless, a sunny location in Southern California where mountains and beaches are within an hour driving-distance, along with the richness of the natural resources available, and the fact that this county of L.A. does not get too far above or below seventy-five degrees year round, leaves little to wonder why such an abundance of people flock to this region.   Still, to this day, several of the considerable changes in technology and laws advocating equal opportunities originated in California.  Furthermore, California allocates more state revenue from taxation to the U.S. government than it spends within its own sovereignty, despite that California has the aforementioned most populated cities (L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose).

These desired parts of California now highlighted, the California Gold rush during that time more than doubled the immediacy for the confederacy to head west.  The Northern States, too, really.  Concerning that state’s gold frenzy, in all actuality, two conflicting concepts currently taught in grade schools can only make one wonder; if James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, and then caused the California Gold Rush, then why did nobody know about Francisco Lopez, who discovered gold in 1842?  We all know that greed has always been at the forefront of causation for war, so how tangible can the facts be that gold was not actually discovered by U.S. citizens until 1848, until shortly after the U.S. success of that 1846-48 war, and that oil was not discovered in Texas until well after its statehood had been declared?  This may be a reach, but these facts do stir curiosity and concern.

Conclusion

However, how are any of us to learn anything other than what has been written?

In spite of everything, the main culprit was greed.  Many people try to blame the economic advantages of the Union, or the northern states, while others attempt to blame the conservative ways of the Confederate states.  Some claim that the Confederacy had been guided solely on the might of the soldier in charge at the moment, who bullied his way into a rank, thereby making their loss due to nothing more than their temporary or in-the-moment and scattered methods.  Other accusations have been made that confederates worked on their own hidden agendas, that they were not in this confederate effort as a team; so a war have could have never been won if nobody is granting a collective focus.

Many claim that people follow the money, so that’s why the Union came out victoriously.    They had dominance in facilities, materials, and assets, and unfair advantage, so the confederates lost a war unfairly.  None of these, however, are feasible.  They can and have already been argued incessantly.  Since the southern states harnessed traditional strategies, military strategies included, whether they worked in the past or not, the Confederacy had no understanding of when to run the offensive strategies, follow defensive tactics, or sit patiently on the sidelines until this ambush self-implodes.  By the same token, since Mexico only fought for the sake of historical convention, to label their tactics as purely avaricious would seem a misnomer.

Greedy for materialist reasons, yes; that would be the wrong word entirely.  But greedy in the sense of proprietorial or intemperate, no; for the confederate army, those words, synonyms for greed, would hit the target head-on.  Therefore, greedy in terms of materialistic and capitalistic and progressive for the North fit perfectly, while for Texas, despite that Texas claimed to be a confederate state (and created confusion), greedy in terms of proprietorial or intemperate, or even stubborn.  In that sense, proprietorial or intemperate for the entirety of Southern U.S. States alongside Mexico.  Texas just slightly stood as its own entity.  The confederacy, the Union (the Northern states), Mexico, and Texas (shortly after it was its own entity) each wanted their authoritative voices to be heard.  Thus, this war was fought purely for reasons of greed.

No doubt, this time was a turbulent time, but every role in this half-decade played its piece in this puzzle.

Resources

The American Pageant-14th Edition by David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen and Thomas A. Bailey.

Murphy, Daniel P . The everything American revolution book. 2008.

Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold’s Army: The 1775 American Invasion of Canada during the Revolutionary War. 2007.

McDonnell, Michael A. “Class War: Class Struggles During the American Revolution in Virginia,” William and Mary Quarterly 2006 63(2): 305–344.

Birdwell, Miriam. Nivin, Ph.D., Steve. Economic Impact of the U.S. Department of Defense. Prepared for: Military Transformation Task Force and the Office of Military Affairs. City of San Antonio Economic Development Department. Economic Analysis and Coordination Division. City of Antonio Official Website. 2006. Web. 28 June 2010.

“Why Did The South Lose The Civil War?.” 123HelpMe.com. 08 Jul 2010

Reaves, Lawrence “A Brief History of Houston, Texas.” A Brief History of Houston, Texas. 7 July 2010 EzineArticles.com.