Information about the North & South

When contrasting the North and South you must consider the differences in climate, geography, population, cities, economy, culture and transportation. The South has a climate that is generally warm and sunny, with long, hot, humid summers, mild winters, and heavy rainfall. Its climate is ideal for agriculture and the ability to grow many different crops in large amounts. The Southeast is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and has many broad, slow moving, navigable rivers. Cities developed along these rivers and as ports along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The Atlantic Coastal Plain is an area of fertile, rich soil and swamps. To the west of the Atlantic Coast Plain is the Piedmont, another area of good farmland and forests. The population of the South was made up of Europeans (mostly of English and Scotch-Irish descent) and enslaved Africans. By 1860 there were 4 million slaves in America and the United States was the largest slaveholding republic. The total population of the South reached 12 million, one third of whom were slaves. The South was an overwhelmingly agricultural region of mostly farmers. Most farmers lived in the backcountry on medium sized farms, while a small number of planters ran large farms, or plantations. Only one-fourth of the Southern population owned slaves, and most of these were the planters. The rest of the population was made up of white independent farmers, tenant farmers (who rented land and paid the landowners in crops or money), laborers, or frontier families. Most Southerners lived on farms, scattered along the coastal plains and the small farmers in the backcountry. Since the economy was based on agriculture, industries and towns developed at a slower pace than in the North. There were many small towns along the banks of rivers and the coasts. Only a few large cities developed as trading centers in the South. Plantations were so large and so distant from each other that they became almost self sufficient, like small towns. The Southern economy was based on agriculture. Crops such as cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar cane and indigo were grown in great quantities. These crops were known as cash crops, ones that were raised to be sold or exported for a profit. They were raised on large farms, known as plantations, which were supported by slave labor. After Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, cotton took over as king of the southern economy. The cotton gin was a machine that separated the seed from the cotton fiber much faster than it could be done by hand. The cotton industry began to develop rapidly, spreading over many parts of the South. In 1793 Southern farmers produced about 10,000 bales of cotton. By 1835, they were growing over 1 million bales a year. Cotton exports made up two-thirds of the total value of American exports. To clear land and grow cotton, Southerners used slave labor. Slavery was essential for the Souths prosperity. The South had little manufacturing, and Southerners wanted cheap imports. Since they exported most of their cotton and tobacco, they believed that high tariffs-taxes on imported goodswould scare away the foreign markets that bought their goods. For these reasons the South was against tariffs. The North has a climate of warm summers and snowy cold winters. The terrain is rocky, hilly, and not good for farming. These conditions along with a short growing season made farming difficult. Most of the forest was made up of timber used for shipbuilding. There are many sheltered bays and inlets on the Atlantic coast. Settlers found that ships could sail along wide rivers into many of these bays. Most of the rivers are fast, shallow, and hard to navigate. At a certain point, called the Fall Linea plateau over which eastward-flowing rivers fell onto the plainthe many waterfalls of most rivers made them no longer navigable. At the Fall Line many ships dropped their cargo. Cities, which served as trading centers, grew up at these points. Soon people realized that the waterfalls were a cheap source of energy, and the waterpower began to be used to run factories.

JOHN F. KENNEDY
BAY OF PIGS INVASION In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The U.S. government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. Before his inauguration, John F. Kennedy was briefed on a plan by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed during the Eisenhower administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. Thehttp://www.jfklibrary.org/AssetViewer/H55aYSncgkGYZPzBVLT0IA.aspx plan anticipated that the Cuban people and elements of the Cuban military would support the invasion. The ultimate goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. The aim of this "quarantine," as he called it, was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address. SPACE PROGRAM In 1961, President John F. Kennedy began a dramatic expansion of the U.S. space program and committed the nation to the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. President Kennedy understood the need to restore America's confidence and intended not merely to match the Soviets, but surpass them. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on "urgent national needs." He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." President Kennedy settled upon this dramatic goal as a means of focusing and mobilizing the nation's lagging space effhttp://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/mh1-N-CII0-lFLnLLd4LaQ.aspxorts MARILYN MONROE It was one of the most famous performances in American history -- Marilyn Monroe's version of "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy at a democratic fundraiser on May 19, 1962. But it was a moment after Monroe sang at Madison Square Garden in honor of the president's 45th birthday that is attracting attention. A black and white image, which is now up for sale, is the only known photograph of Kennedy and Monroe together, perhaps because of the rumors of an affair that have swirled for 50 years. In the photo Monroe, wearing the same dress she performed in, is speaking to President Kennedy, whose head is tilted slightly and looking down while listening to her. His brother, Robert Kennedy, is standing next to the pair looking on. ASSASSINATION John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday,

November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and the latter's wife, Nellie, in a Presidential motorcade. The ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 19631964 concluded that the President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and that Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Oswald before he could stand trial. These conclusions were initially supported by the American public; however, polls conducted from 1966 to 2004 found that as many as 80 percent of Americans have suspected that there was a plot or cover-up FAMOUS PHRASES A child miseducated is a child lost. John F. Kennedy A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. John F. Kennedy A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten. John F. Kennedy A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed. John F. Kennedy America has tossed its cap over the wall of space. John F. Kennedy Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both. John F. Kennedy Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. John F. Kennedy Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. John F. Kennedy Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House. John F. Kennedy Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us. John F. Kennedy Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. John F. Kennedy

Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as The Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically expressed through terrorism. Since the mid-20th century, the KKK has also been anticommunist.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan - cite_noteQuarles-9 The current manifestation is splintered into several chapters and is classified as a hate group. The first Klan flourished in the South in the 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. Members adopted white costumes: robes, masks, and conical hats, designed to be outlandish and terrifying, and to hide their identities. The second KKK flourished nationwide in the early and mid 1920s, and adopted the same costumes and code words as the first Klan, while introducing cross burnings. The third KKK emerged after World War II and was associated with opposing the civil rights movement and progress among minorities. The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent reference to America's "AngloSaxon" and "Celtic" blood, harking back to 19th-century nativism and claiming descent from the original 18th-century British colonial revolutionaries.[15] All incarnations of the Klan have wellestablished records of engaging in terrorism, though historians debate how widely the tactic was supported by the membership of the second KKK.

Jim Crow laws

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages. Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 18001866 Black Codes, which also restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Carpetbagger
In United States history, "carpetbaggers" was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners (also referred to as Yankees) who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877. The term referred to the observation that these newcomers tended to carry "carpet bags," a common form of luggage at the time (sturdy and made from repurposed carpet). It was used as a derogatory term, suggesting opportunism and exploitation by the outsiders. Together with Republicans they are said to have politically manipulated and controlled former Confederate states for varying periods for their own financial and power gains. In sum, carpetbaggers were seen as insidious Northern outsiders with questionable objectives meddling in local politics, buying up plantations at fire-sale prices and taking advantage of Southerners. Carpetbagger is not to be confused with copperhead, which is a term given to a person from the North who sympathized with the Southern claim of right to Secession. The term carpetbaggers was also used to describe the Republican political appointees who came South, arriving with their travel carpet bags. Southerners considered them ready to loot and plunder the defeated South.