20 Feb 2023

178

The Worst Idea in America: Mass Incarceration

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Academic level: College

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America in the December of 2010 marked a large and unique embarrassing anniversary. McCurry (2010) indicates that about 150 years ago, some politicians from South Carolina held a convention where they withdrew from the Union 1 . With six states joining in a week from Deep South Put the United States at a war brink. Confederate Leaders cast the secession, and Jefferson Davis as a constitutional move was designed to get the government back to where the Founding Fathers would have wanted it to be. As written by Davis, secession's primary objective was sovereign states' rights protection from the federal governments through sweeping and tremendous usurpation. The idea was that it was only an incident and not the Africans presence that caused conflict. Most historian's recognized the pitch as valid and not understanding the Confederates' intention of creating a modern nation that is antidemocratic under the proposition that men were created unequally. The creation of a proslavery country was their principal objective. 

There was less guaranteed right even if the Confederates did not restore the old nation but started to make a new nation. Under the new country, the Confederate States of America's vice president in 1861 gave a manifesto for the slaveholders ignoring the assumption that the original American republic was based on that all races are equal 2 . Alexander explained that the new government's foundation was based on the bigger truth that the white and the negro are not equal. The new nation representatives rendered proslavery proposals that were concrete in their constitution. They ignored euphemism in the US original document, where no bill regarding the welfare of slaves would be passed. The definition of citizen power was now an individual state decision. The voting right was defined as citizenship by many states limited to white neutralized or born males. Some states, such as Alabama, believed that all white men are superior and form a powerful homogeneous government, allowing white foreign nationals to vote. The antidemocratic and proslavery experiment with war reckoning was put to the test by the enemies, the white women, and slaves. The civil war set the Confederates' political vision for the future to test. 

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Ten million people were living in America's Confederate states formed on a shallow democratic basis 3 . Of the total number, about 3.5m were disenfranchised and enslaved when the civil war began, while white women, 3m in number, didn't have political rights 4 . 1.2 million white men were the only ones allowed to vote, lowering the Confederate states into currents that were dangerous by evading history 5 . War in the white man's republic unmeasurably upped, forcing them to seek assistance not only from fellow white citizens but also those whose opinion on the war had initially not been solicited. In their aim to maintain slavery, wage war, and build the nation, the military and the government officials scrambled to execute designed policies for the tasks. A significant issue in the war context was slavery institutions which limited the federal government's power as they were beyond reach. There was a military shortage as 40% of men who were adults were enslaved, forcing the government to enlist 75-85% white military men to indicate popular support 6 . This led to extreme poverty in white families and food crises as white men and sons were in the frontline of wars. It caused the women's food riots in 1863, where armed attacked warehouses, army convoys, granaries, and stores. 

The riots wave by wives impacted the Confederate policy and war, where they were forced to revise tax policy and conscription. The southern poor white women's assertiveness challenged the Confederacy, where they had to answer them for every one of their men they took. Thomas Jefferson warned against slavery as it made them allies of any foreign power. Indication of slavery effects started showing in plantations where guns and powder were found in slave quarters. It affected not only the masters but also the military and Confederate government. The salve problem adversely affected the military. When slaves were caught trying to escape to the enemies, the commanders lacked a basis to punish them for treason as they owed allegiance only to their masters. The Confederate state's military had failed due to their political policies of anti-democracy and proslavery. As the 150 th civil war anniversary is approaching, it is vital to understand the Southerners' aspiration and how it would be if the Confederate government had succeeded 7 . It is evident that if the Southern States had achieved, African-American rights would have been violated with them experiencing more slavery and oppression. When the civil war is commemorated, it is out of thinking what we were saved from if the Confederate government succeeded. 

References 

McCurry, Stephanie. "The Confederacy America's Worst Idea."  American History  45, no. 5 (2010): 28-35. 

1 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

2 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

3 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

4 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

5 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

6 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

7 McCurry (2010) America’s worst idea 24-35 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 16). The Worst Idea in America: Mass Incarceration.
https://studybounty.com/the-worst-idea-in-america-mass-incarceration-essay

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