America: The Story of Us (Part 4: Division)

The United States of America was built on hardship, sacrifice, and discovery. In 2010, the history channel have created this 12-part docu-series where it talks about many of those hardships, sacrifices, and discoveries.

This is part 4 of this 12-part wiki series about the History Channel's docu-series, in this part we will talk about how the episode named "Division" talked about how the slavery issue was dividing the country.

## Division

### The Erie Canal

The episode takes a bit of a detour first as it goes to New York where a big digging project is taking place; the Erie Canal.

The purpose for the canal is to find a faster way to ship goods and people to the west, beginning in 1817 the project was made by engineer Benjamin Wright and it took 8 years to complete, though the canal was in use long before it was completed. It connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie, it also took a lot of gunpowder to blow away certain mountains if there were any in the way. The canal would also see the growth of certain cities such as Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Though, the Erie Canal would connect our country, but there were things in our country that is splitting it apart.

### Divided by Cotton

The episode now goes to the south to talk about how cotton would preserve the slavery issue and begin to divide this country.

Industrialization is exploding across the northern states, but the southern states are still living a rural life and rely on handpower to make their commodities, and one of them is cotton which is labor intensive, but ever since the invention of the Cotton Gin which makes the job easier, the slavery issue would rapidly grow in the southern states. Cotton is a rich commodity which made whoever grow it rich, mostly white cotton owners who owned African-American slaves.

These cotton owners would bet on these African-Americans to see who the white cotton owners would have as their slaves, these African-Americans would be examined from head-to-toe, and sometimes would be mistreated even through examination. Usually, the African-American men would work in the cotton fields, and the women; housemaids for the cotton owners. But for some, this goes against to what the United States meant, a land of the free where people were treated as equals, but in the south mistreatment and sometimes even horrible atrocities were committed on the African-American slaves, this issue would get worse over time and to the point where the slaves would have no choice but to escape from their owners.

### Quest for Whale Oil

The episode takes another detour in the "division" to talk about Whale Oil which powered machines in the 19th century as well as light lanterns during that time as well.

Whale Oil (as said before) was the power to keep steam engines running and was also used in old lanterns as well. But getting the Whale Oil was no easy task, it took a crew of Whalers to hunt for these Whales in the Ocean which was hard in itself as the harpoons did little damage, but what was significant in the Whaling business is that it was mostly Northerners who often saw African-Americans as equals to their white co-workers. Eventually, in the Atlantic the Whale was nearly hunted to extinction.

One of the reasons why the US wanted to open up trade to Japan, it wanted Whale Oil.

### Escaping Slaves

As said before, the only way for an African-American slave to be free in 19th century America was to escape it entirely, some would ride on trains bound for a free state with made up identification papers that sometimes wouldn't hold up to inspection. Nevertheless, these slaves would successfully escape, like a man named Fredrick Douglas who would later become instrumental in the freeing of the slaves during the American Civil War.

Other slaves would risk their lives to help other slaves escape such as one woman slave named Harriet Tubman who would help other slaves escape by the means of the Underground Railroad and would do anything (even go as far as using opium to keep babies quiet) to help other slaves escape from their ruthless and terrible cotton owners.

But the escape slaves also became an issue, in 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was imposed and slaves who successfully escaped would be re-captured by their owners and the slaves couldn't have a trial, even if they were legally free, they could be sent back. Worsening the slavery issue.

In fact, so much so, that the Northerners were trying to change the minds of others regarding to slavery, a housewife named Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin which talked about all of the negatives and tragedies of slavery, surprisingly the book became a bestseller.

### One Man's Holy War

The episode now goes to Kansas where a conflict over slavery would escalate to an event which would be known as Bleeding Kansas.

During this time, a man back east named John Brown ventured into Kansas and along with his team of abolitionists killed 5 pro-slavery activists. In 1859, he would go to Virginia and capture an armory at Harper's Ferry where he wanted to begin a slavery revolt, but he was unsuccessful in recruiting any slaves and he soon became trapped after US Soldiers laid a siege on the ferry, John Brown was then captured.

Brown would eventually be convicted and sentenced to be hanged for his actions, but this would widening the already ripped seams of the American union, they would widen even more.

### Lincoln and the divided nation

As the divided issue got worse, one man who won the presidency; Abraham Lincoln would propose to preserve the union, though he is reluctant to free the slaves at first, but will not allow it to expand which is what some owners in the south are wanting to do. He would disguise himself as he received death threats along his way to Washington DC.

Nevertheless, the south responds to the inauguration of Lincoln by seceding from the Union to form the Confederacy. On April 12, 1861. Southern forces have attacked a fort in South Carolina called Ft. Sumter. Thus, the American Civil War begins.

That'll do it for this part, in the next part we will talk about how the Civil War went and how industrial power gives the Union the edge. Until next time this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.