Question

Respond to the following based on your reading. A draft was instituted in the North and South during the Civil War to meet the demand for soldiers. In the North, a person was able to avoid being drafted if they paid a $300 fee. Many poor Northerners and new immigrants to the United States found themselves fighting while rich Americans were able to buy their way out of danger. An image of an 1872 HarperThis Reconstruction-era cartoon depicts the hated “carpetbagger,” a figure who represented Northern opportunists taking advantage of political openings in the new South. (Image byThomas Nast [PD-US], via Wikimedia Commons) Use the image to answer the following questions. What does this illustration say about the type of person who got drafted into the Civil War? Would you consider this illustration to be supportive of the draft? Why or why not?

Answer 1

1.

The person being drafted appears to be poorly dressed. Poor people who were reluctant to fight were drafted.

2.

Yes—The union soldier appears to be determined to do his duty implying that the cause might be just.

No—The illustration depicts poor, unwilling people being forced into service.

Answer 2

As always has happened in the history of humanity, the rich people have so many advantages over the poor people.

The "Carpetbagger" cartoon is a humorous by at the same time serious reflection of American society at that time of war, but with heavy implications through history.

After the civil war, the carpetbagger could have been any person from the Noth trying to recruit people from the South, taking advantage of the precarious situation in the southern states.

Of course, people who got drafted had limited or non-education in his background and had problems in his families due to -among other things- lack of money to make a living.

The cartoon is a close portray of what has been happening until our days when people who have money try to take advantages or avoid things that other poor people have to do or it is forced to do.