American Racial Beliefs

The Cause and Evolution of American Racial Beliefs Through History The American racial belief that Native Americans and African Americans were lesser peoples due to their color and intellect lead to the spark of the civil war in 1861, ultimately ending in the abolition of slavery. Such American racial beliefs also led to absurd justifications of slavery and a change in who should be free and who should not over time. Territories of the differing beliefs included the North (the union states) and the South (the confederacy) in early America. According to the American definition of freedom between 1619 and 1863, the whites were free men, as they were superior to the African Americans and Native Americans in both skin color and intellect. …show more content…
So they participated in the widespread idea of slavery, buying and trading slaves and mastering them. In the late 1700s, Thomas Jefferson heavily believed that the African Americans and Native Americans were unfit for life in a republican society, due to their lack of education and intellect. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson addressed his views of the Indians and Blacks. He stated that the first difference between the Indians and the Blacks is their skin color. He made this remark, “the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us.” [1] Thomas Jefferson stated that nature is causing the difference between the Indians and the Blacks. Jefferson attempts to justify his belief in slavery over inferior races, in particular the African Americans. Thomas Jefferson also states that the Blacks are inferior, this time in reason. He stated, “It appears to me that in memory …show more content…
Lee surrendered his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, at an old Virginia courthouse. Following the completion of his military assignment in 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant revealed to Edwin M. Stanton the reasons for the war’s outcome. He stated, “Believing us to be one people, one blood and with identical interests, I do and have felt the same interest in the ultimate welfare of the South as of the North.”5 This statement showed that as time went on, peoples began to realize that the US would not be successful unless the North and the South unite as one. This is not saying that Ulysses S. Grant and others did not see the clear differences between the two territories, however they saw past it for the greater good of a common country. The surrender ended the four-year Civil War, and sparked a new period in American history known as