Discussion 1

Covering Chapter 12 and “House Divided” reading online:

1) Analyze the major developments [hint: four] between 1848 and 1861 that contributed to the Civil War. Can one argue that one was the most significant? Explain.

2) Summarize the main points of Lincoln’s House Divided Speech. Why would someone from the South who followed the ideological discussions around the question of slavery have reason to be concerned about Lincoln’s opinions as stated in this address? Would this speech satisfy an ardent abolitionist? Why or why not? How do the ideas of this speech reflect the times in which it was given? What other main events in the march towards Civil War have influenced Lincoln’s thinking on slavery and the part it plays in the union at this point in the disintegration of the Union? From what he says in this speech what are Lincoln’s thought on the founders of the United States or rather those who wrote the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia? Address at least two of these issues in your initial posting.

Classmate response:

1, the capitalist political development of several stages ⑴, 14-17 century, the disintegration of the European feudal system and the rise of capitalism ①, political characteristics: feudalism in politics, economy, thinking and other aspects of the impact of capitalism dawn show. ②, the main content: the Renaissance, religious reform and the Nederland bourgeois revolution. ⑵, 17-19 century, early bourgeois revolution, political major turning point and change period ①, political characteristics: the bourgeois forces to grow, to speed up the transition to capitalism. ②, the main content: the British and French bourgeois revolution, the US War of Independence, feudal state reform, colonial expansion, the Enlightenment. In the mid-19th century, the capitalist system finally prevailed over the feudal system and established a dominant position in the world. (1) Political characteristics: the bourgeois revolution and reform were surging, and the industrial bourgeoisie gradually gained power. ②, the main content: the establishment of the capitalist system and the initial formation of the world system, the emergence of different social trends, the bourgeoisie to suppress the revolution and the implementation of aggression and expansion policy. At the beginning of the 1970s and the beginning of the twentieth century, the transition from capitalism to imperialism, the final formation of the capitalist world system, the political characteristics: the transition from the major capitalist countries to imperialism, the significant change in political life and the relatively stable political situation. ②, the main content: the expansion of national functions, bourgeois democracy and the legal system more robust, political formation of the two parties, imperialist aggression and expansion. ⑸, a war – the end of World War II, the development of modern monopoly capitalism and crisis period ①, political characteristics: private monopoly to the state monopoly development, fascism arrogance and anti-fascist struggle. The main capitalist countries jointly anti-Soviet and condone the fascist aggression, the formation of anti-fascist alliance ⑹, after World War II – the late 20th century, the late period of the second half of the world, Is the national monopoly of capitalist development and capitalist development of the uneven growth period ①, political characteristics: the reorganization of the capitalist world, the political development of capitalist countries, the main content: the formation and development of state monopoly capitalism, the United States became the world political hegemony, “Cold War” situation, imperialist implementation of hegemonic policy and neo-colonialist policies and the resistance of the people of the world