Visit and explore the digital archive at the link below. In your opinion, were the two communities more alike or different? Why do you think so? Which elements found the most similarities? The most differences?
http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/
Due by January 4th, 2010
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The communities were more different than alike beause Franklin County, PA in the north had better land values, more churhes and schools, and mainly voted for Lincoln while the Augusta County in the south differed by having worse land value, less schools and churches, were split politically between the candidates Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell initially before the war. The elements with the most similarities were only the geography, the agriculture and the highly developed infrastructure of the two counties. So therefore from the very start the counties differed more than they were similar.
ReplyDeleteAfter the war the differences only got bigger as the south fell far behind the north in population, acres of improved land, farm value, school attendence, literacy and manufacturing. Augusta county and the rest of the south also had higher taxes after the war than the north did. Lastly, the south did have the Freemans' Bureau following the end of the war, most likely because it was more of a neccessity there than in the north where it was accepted that slaves had been officially deeemed free since 1863.
I believe that Augusta and Franklin are more different then the same because Augusta was a pro-slavery town while Franklin was not. August being pro-slavery and discriminating on slaves would have social differences between the towns. An example would be the way newspapers reflected slaves, or black men, with the articles from Franklin and Augusta. Elements that I found to have the most similarities would be the church. Each town had the same types of churches and beliefs. For example, Augusta and Franklin both had Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, German reforms, Catholic, and Baptist churches. Although Augusta being an anti-back community the Baptist church did build two “colored churches” but Franklin did have more African American Churches. One difference between the towns was that Franklin had Mennonites, and Augusta had United Brethren churches. The topic that brought about the most differences would be tied with slavery, and that would be the newspaper articles, and crime in the two towns. The articles under “eve or war” Augusta’s mainly talked about how slaves or black men are being convicted and killed for their actions. They look down upon slaves and the raise up the white man even though the white man could be killing the slaves. In Franklin on the other hand, they still do have articles about the acts of slaves, or freed black men; but they have more articles about everyday life and talk of people in the town. Crime in Augusta, that was written down was about murder, stealing, and black men being involved in almost everyone. While in Franklin the articles talked about buildings being destroyed by fires.
ReplyDeleteAugusta County in Virginia and Franklin County in Pennsylvania were more different than alike, because Augusta favored slavery and Franklin did not. This issue brought about differences in industry, politics, and social ideas. Augusta's overall population accounted for 20% slaves before the war, while a greater number of larger farms flourished in which slaves could work. Franklin, on the other hand, had less land but more improved land with a higher value without slaves working them. The issue of slavery was highly disputed throughout Augusta as seen through the election of 1860 when the candidates Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas received votes from Augusta, whereas mostly everyone voted for Lincoln in Franklin County. Socially, there were also many differences between these two counties including larger number of churches (mostly white), higher taxes, Freeman’s Bureau, and more problems with slaves in Augusta county, while a higher total number of people (including native and foreign born), higher education and literacy rates, and manufacturing flourished in Franklin. There were also a number of churches just for African Americans in Franklin.
ReplyDeleteSimilarities between the two counties are the geography, the fact that both counties had farmland and agriculture, and both were very active sites during the war whether for supplying troops or training and housing (right word?) the troops of either the Union or Confederate soldiers when they passed by. The war brought about more differences between the two counties, instead of uniting them, because the South could not take the changes of their system as easily as hoped.
There were similarities between Franklin and Augusta, in Pennsylvania and Virgina, however the many differences between the two counties greatly outnumbered what they had in common. The main difference between the two areas was that Augusta County was proslavery, while Franklin County was anislavery. Another great difference between the two counties was their populations, for Augusta County had a population that was significantly lower than that of Franklin county. Before the war, the black population and white population in Franklin was generally equal, which grealy differs from the black and white population in Augusta, in which the black population was much higher than the white, due to slavery. The political belifs that people had in each County also differed, a fact that is reflected in the Election of 1860. In this election, Lincon gained a vast majority of votes in Frankin County, due to their anislavery status, while the candidates Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell each gained votes in proslavery Augusta.
ReplyDeleteSocially, the two counties were quite different. Previous to the war, the number of churches in Franklin (17, 3 of which were for African Americans) greatly outnumbered the 6 churches in Augusta. Education also split the two areas, for all residencies in Franlin were closer to schools, the farthest of which was 3 miles, while in Augusta it was 5 1/2. Funding for schools was also higher in Franklin, as was the number of students attending.
Augusta and Franklin, although very different, did have similarites. Both regions relied on agriculture, however manufacturing did occur in Franklin. Also, the two areas were both geographicly similar. Previous to the war, many of the towns in each county had the same number of freed blacks as inhabitants. Also, after the war, the total number of churches in each county became just about equil, even though populations in both areas remained different.
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ReplyDeleteok nevermind, it is working.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read, the colonies were overall more different than similar. However, their differences started even before the wars began; Agusta and Franklin were divided in the political aspect first, between political candidates Breckinridge, Bell and Douglas. the political tension casused even more differences. In Franklin, PA (the north), had better land quality, supported Lincoln, and had more churches and schools than Augusta in the south, who had, in essence, the complete opposite of Franklin. The two communities differences only increased after the war, with slavery, population, amount and value of the land, population in schools, and literacy and manufacturing rates increased (or deacreased for the south). The north, Franklin County, succeeded in all these aspects, while the south, Agusta, failed to prgress very much in any of them. However, the communities did have their similarities, though few, such as a highly developed organization, geography, and agriculture. Althogh the two communities had similarities, the differnces were greater, and had more of an influence on the overall well being of the communities.
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Given this website with all of its statistics and other given information, I see some similarities between Augusta County in VA and Franklin County in PN, but definitely many more differences. For instance, during the Eve of War time period, the farm values in both counties were about the same price while the difference was in what each farm produced. For some reason, Augusta leaned more toward corn production while Franklin was more wheat. While on a completely different bases, during the time of the war, Augusta County seemed a lot more organized compared to Franklin County when observing the timeline. Finally, after the war ended, I decided to look at the population differences. From one graph I noticed a significant decrease in Franklin while Augusta steadily increased. I could not find out why, but after researching some more, I also noticed that the property value in Franklin became more valuable.
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ReplyDeleteAugusta County and Franklin County were more different than they were alike around the time of the civil war. The most obvious difference is slavery. Augusta's has a lot more slaves and a higher percentage of slaves per total population than Franklin has. Other aspects of the counties showed difference's caused by slavery such as their presidential election results. Most of the votes in Franklin were cast for Lincoln, but in Augusta they voted mostly for other candidates like Breckenridge, Bell, and Douglas. Another difference was that Franklin had more schools and a higher literacy rate as well as a higher population than Augusta. Economically the counties were similar in the fact that they about the same number of farms, but Franklin had about twice the number of manufacturing facilities. The two counties were more different than they were the same mainly because of the fact that Augusta had slavery and Franklin did not.
ReplyDeleteClearly the largest difference between Augusta County and Franklin County is slavery. Augusta was a pro slavery community mainly focused on punishing and killing slaves while Franklin did not. Other differences between the two counties was political preferences which ties into the differed opions on slavery. Because Franklin County did not support slavery they were in favor of Lincoln who eventually abolished slavert and Augusta favored Douglas and other candidates who would not threaten slavery. The greatest similarity between the two counties is tied to the land. Both relied on agriculture for economics mostly because they are so similar in geography. I find it difficult to imagine these two Counties so close together would function so differently socially and politically, despite being located next to each other.
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Overall the communities of Augusta Virgina and Franklin Pennsylvania,had many more differences than similarities. Augusta being pro-slavery while Fraklin was anti-slavery,caused many political and social differences between the couties.During the 1860 Presidential Election the majority of Augusta citizens voted for Bell and Douglas while the people of Frankiln voted for Lincoln and Breckenridge. The majority of the newspapers in Augusta ridiculed the blacks and labled them as the crimials, and after the war they told of how the ex slaves should still stay with their masters. The Franklin Newspapers mostly dealt with their daily lives and politics.The population was also different, even though Franklins overall population was higher, Augusta had a higher balck population because of slavery.Because of slavery the Milita was used more in Augusta for protection of whites from slave rebellion.
ReplyDeleteThe farms in Auguta were larger but worth less than the highly cultivated farms in Franklin, and the land was poorly suited for agriculture. In Franklin they had more productive weat farmers and that was without slaves, while with slaves Augusta had a higher corn production. It also seemed that Franklin had more of a flat geography with better soil types, while Augustas was more elevated with many different soil types.
The major similarity I found between Augusta and Franklin was the church.Even though Franklin had over ten more different types of churches including three African American churches.Their similar churchs were, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodists and Episcopal.Between these two counties there were many more differents then similarites dealing with many aspects such as; slavery, political and social views,and land/farming.
As many stated above, the greatest difference between the two communities was based on the controversial subject of slavery. While disputes raged throughout the union between supporters of slavery and the opposing abolitionists, the same issues faced the Augusta County in Virginia and the Franklin county in Pennsylvania. Augusta being pro-slavery and Franklin county being against slavery, caused various social, economic as well as political differences between the two towns.
ReplyDeleteOther major differences between the counties was the presidential candidates that the majority of each community supported. Franklin county citizens voted mostly for Constitutional Unionist John Bell, and Northern Democrat, Stephan Douglas, while Augusta county citizens largely supported Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln and Southern Democrat, John Brekinridge. Socially, the two counties also varied in what their newspapers published. Franklin newspapers often talked about topics dealing with everyday living as well as political news, while Augusta newspapers generalized African Americans as felons (relating to the county's pro-slavery standpoint).
Similarities between the two counties, though not large in number, included the obvious geographic similarities and a strong reliance upon farming (though Franklin also manufactured goods), as well as the importance of religion (Franklin having 17, while Augusta only had 6). Both communities had Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal churches.
The two counties, Augusta VA and Franklin PA, were based upon different sets of values. Franklin was a northern colony, but being in the southern part of the north Franklin County had more cultivateable land than New England States. These northern colonies were more family and community based. This sense of community brought a more organized and dependent way of life. Also in the north there was more structure, in that children went to school, families went to church, adults attended town meetings, etc. The north was a very moralized society because it was family based and parents raised their children with the positive ideals such as abolition. However, in the south, Augusta County VA, there were fewer families, and the goal, instead of living a moral and educated life, was to make money. This desire to make money brought the people of Augusta County to the pro-slavery side. Slaves made work easier and more profitable which brought in a higher income. Also, rather than the close-knit community of the north Augusta was more farm oriented and each family, or farm owner was more or less independent.
ReplyDeleteThe two counties were slightly similar because they both had an economy mostly based on farming. But even in this similarity their intentions of farming were different. Augusta farmed on a large scale with many laborers to produce as much crop as possible in hopes to make money. Whereas in Franklin people farmed to produce food for their families and when they did plant for money it was with much less labor and a much smaller scale.
The counties were two different worlds with two different goals that were structured by the earliest of settlers and stayed that way for decades to come.