Essay Questions

What was the impact of the Civil War of 1865 on the citizens of America?

The Civil War of 1865 had many negative implications on the citizens of the United States of America. These effects included the deteriorating of the economy, shortages of food and essential goods and loss of life of soldiers and other citizens. Stephen V. Ash clearly shows this in his book, A Year in the South.

The economy back slid as a result of the war since most government resources were being directed to funding the war. The value of currency kept on depreciating as time went by. Cornelia MC Donald was skeptic of how well her husband’s pension would serve her family since the value of money kept on reducing. Louis Hughes who was a slave sold tobacco plugs and since he could not trust the value of the money, he bought all the silver he could find with the proceeds that he got.

The people also experienced a lot of shortages of food and salt. The shortage of salt happened because the Union Army had blocked off the ports in which salt came into the country thereby the country fell into a spin of the inadequacy of salt which they had never experienced before. Soldiers of both the rebel army and the Union army looted homesteads and took the food they could find. This left the families destitute.

Discuss slavery in the book, ‘A Year in the South’

The book by Stephen V. Ash shows slavery at the time which was the late nineteenth century. The slaves were from the African race and were sold and bought by the Southern planters who needed them for plantation work. Louis Hughes and his wife Matilda were owned by Boss who was a Southern planter. The were leased to the Alabama State Salt works where they worked and Boss was paid in salt. The slaves experienced profound emotional and physical pain in their service. Matilda faced emotional pain from being separated from her family when her master sold her off to another master therefore leaving her family behind.