The South Is Seen As A Romanticize Version Of The United...

Mid-Term Exam #3 The South is seen as a romanticize version of the United States. A place where virtue, honor, and strong religious morals were upheld in common society. However, the recurring themes that the South would have the role of being the ongoing rebel against most national policies that gave any sign of hindering their way of life, the concept of individualism, yet keeping its own societal identity. From the Revolutionary War onwards, the South has been developed as the shining example of what an American should be like. Slavery was a huge attribute of Southern society, though looked down upon by the world, it was practiced and eagerly defended by political logic and religious zeal. One argument is made from a Senator†¦show more content†¦The South has been criticized for practicing the archaic ways of slavery deeming it: barbaric, inhumane, and out of touch with the changes of the world. The argument continues through George Fitzhugh’s Southern Thoug ht, â€Å"Labor pays all taxes, but labor in a slave society is property, and men will take care of their property. In free society, labor is not property, and there is nothing to shield the laborer from the grinding weight of taxation – all of which he pays, because he produces everything valuable.† (Fitzhugh Southern Thought pg. 823) Furthermore, the identity the South identifies itself as a place of self-worth and pride in what your property can produce while enjoying the fruits of their labors. A land where taxes cannot take away the riches and treasures that are produced in their fruitful land. The South possessed identity, and with that identity came the sense of individualism. One of the leading causes of the Civil War was the belief that the South’s sense of individualism was in danger and to be eradicated from the face of the United States. Ironically, during the Civil War the draft was enacted into Southern conscriptions making it more of mandator y duty to southerners to join the military. The first general American military draft was enacted by the Confederate government on April 16, 1862, more than a year before the federal government did the same. The Confederacy took this