America in 1865

Race While state rights was still touted as the main reason for the rebellion that had just been quelled a few months prior, it was understood quite clearly that race was the particular hot button issues in the USA at the time. The nation had only just abolished slavery and this had led to the rise of Freedmen. Freedmen were individuals who had taken their freedom and thus moved to the regions that would have allowed them to express that freedom. This had led to the establishment of the Freeman Bureau. Their job was to help facilitate the transition of those individuals who had just gotten out of slavery into becoming bonified members of the society. Such conditions, coupled with despair due to the lack of opportunities would translate into a societal issue that affected one race in particular alone1.

There was also clear conflict that was created between the Freedmen and the rest of the white population. One such case involved a Confederate soldier who could not gain access to his house after the surrender of the Confederate Army to president Ulysses Grant at the Appomattox courthouse. According to his release papers, Mr. White, the afflicted party, was to be held in probation and allowed to head home without any provocation on his person. However, the narrative was still one where blacks were vilified. The newspapers still reported cases that they were unsure of as facts, such as the Aquila Creek plot where it was stated that black workers were planning to assassinate white labourers4. The result was the continued proliferation of a culture where individuals of colour were deemed dangerous.

Women’s Rights In the society that existed then, women were not in positions in society that were empowered. Women in society became empowered enough to become important in industry and trade. Clothes kept trailing behind them collecting dirt and creating more of a mess than a fashion statement2. However, women had established themselves in the war with their actions over the years of the civil war. For one, they had been in the Sanitary Commission during the civil war, helping maintain health and providing nursing services to the sick and wounded on both sides of the battle. They were also extremely important as school teachers in emancipated schoolhouses for children of freed blacks5. Women provided services far beyond the scope of their previous Women made many helpful and important avenues to help society.

This expression of ideas in public without fear of contradiction was the fundamental difference between the Victorian era and the beginning of the new one. Of interest was the birth of scientific reasoning as a means to explain why things are the way they are. One of the funniest was the belief in phrenology, the ability to tell character traits in a human being by taking a look at their head shapes. President Andy Johnson was touted as being ‘being of excellent constitution’ due to his large base of the head. Phrenology as a science has today been debunked as a joke and indeed it does sound ridiculous now thinking about it, but then, these new ideas were the formulation of independent thought and self expression that came to define the new age of progressive thinking that were not hallmarks of the Victorian era15.

This had also put some fear into the potato harvest because wet weather would probably have led to the setting of blight or rot6. Later in the month, rains began to fall that led to a bigger disruption of expected harvest than expected due to damage as well as disruption of food storage plans due to wetness. This was especially devastating to the brewing industry. One of the major industries of the Virginia region is the brewing industry where barley was malted5. However, there was much hope to be had on the animal front. This would serve to increase the financial gains of those who had held gold in reserve as well as to increase the purchasing power of the dollar.

Secondly, the gold price had been dropping and there was a need to raise it back up. A drop in gold prices would also mean that the paper money would have less purchasing power and these would have been terrible for the economy11. The systems also needed support in the creation of reforms for the banking sector in order to ensure that there was as little thieving as possible when it came to money transfers, especially considering that the main banking market at the time was situated in New York12 On top of this, there was the establishment of a business tariff. While the American culture are the time heavily frowned upon the use of tariffs, they had become extremely important to the growth of the economy due to their use as income sources for the government12.

The debt that a country can handle therefore serves as a good indicator of the amount of goods and services that the nation can produce, indicating the nations financial health and what needs to be achieved for financial stability. Conclusion A study of the newspapers of the time provides a good look at what the norm of the nation was at that time, especially considering that print media was one of the chief sources of information and means by which ideas and notices were passed along. By studying these old publications, we therefore have a glimpse of the opinions and ideas that were considered of merit then, and in turn, we gain an understanding of the situation that was then. Works Cited 1.