Labor & The Civil War Custom Essay

The ?dignity of labor? was integral to the Union and Confederate visions of the American Republic both before and after the Civil War. Develop a 4-5-page essay that

discusses how the notion of ?free labor? changed from the beginning of the Civil War to the end. In developing your essay you may consider which types of ?labor? were

considered honorable and which were not as well as how changes shaped the lives of particular people from approximately 1850-1877. Your paper should be 4-5 full pages

with proper citations. As always, use examples from course readings and lectures to support your argument.Readings:

Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood, Chapters 4, 5, & Conclusion

Declaration of Seneca Falls: https://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.html

Sojourner Truth, ?Ain?t I a Woman?:? https://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/sojour.htm

Marc Reinhardt, Who Speaks for Margaret Garner? Intro and Chapters 1, 2, & 3
Marc Reinhardt, Who Speaks for Margaret Garner? Chapter. 9

Drew Gilpin Faust, This Nation of Suffering, Chapters 1, 2, & 3

Secession of the State of Mississippi:

https://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/secessright/secessright.html
Drew Faust, This Nation of Suffering, Chapters 7, 8 and Epilogue

Ida B. Wells, https://courses.washington.edu/spcmu/speeches/idabwells.htm

Ku Klux Klan Violence in Georgia: https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6225

Professor’s tips: As you tackle paper two, I invite you to make use of any and all readings
from the course syllabus. Some (Eastman) will be less useful than others
(Roediger, Cott, primary sources during those weeks), but I encourage
essays that move chronologically beyond the 1850-1877 dates stipulated in
the prompt. To repeat, it is acceptable to write an essay that considers
the period before the Civil War–though you must at least mention the
conflict.

Reading the prompt, don’t get hung up on the scare quotes around "dignity
of labor" or the mention of Union and Confederate visions. Instead, replace
Union and Confederate with, respectively, North and South (regions of the
country), and consider the arguments for (and against) and lived
experiences of the contrasting labor systems.

For example, how did the publicity surrounding Margaret Garner’s life
illustrate competing visions (plantation slavery vs. wage labor) of the
American economy? How did the entrance of women into the northern wage work
force exemplify but also complicate the dignity (respectability) of free
labor? How, argues Roediger, did northern wage laborers underline the
dignity of wage laborer by contrast to southern slaves and slavery?