Confederates and Colonists
The Confederate States of America consisted of seven states in the Lower South region determined to protect the slave industry through secession from the other states (Lesh, & Finkelman, 2008). Unlike the colonists that were interested in preserving the unity of America and the protection of human rights, the Confederates were interested in using slave labor to transform the raw materials into products for the local market (Dallek, 2008). The American colonists were better organized with advanced weapons, unlike the Confederates that fought independently for a common course, which is secession. Moreover, the interests of the Confederates and colonists also varied. For instance, the colonists were focused on preserving the welfare of everyone in the union in order to create a self-sustaining and diverse economy while the confederates insisted that their agriculture-based market had to be protected at whatever cost (Lesh, & Finkelman, 2008).
Union and England
The union called the United Kingdom is a sovereign state comprising of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Under the union arrangement, the four states have autonomy with a single sovereign parliament (Dallek, 2008). This means that England is a member of the UK union. In terms of language, English originates from England while the UK union integrates other languages such as Scottish, Irish, and Welsh (Lesh, & Finkelman, 2008). This means that the UK is a sovereign state, unlike England and other union members that depend on the United Kingdom for sovereignty. The government structures in England are devolved through a self-governing structure of the United Kingdom union.
Confederates and Colonists: Patriots and Rebels
The American colonists were considered patriots because of the zeal to overthrow British rule in order to establish an independent nation for America (Lesh, & Finkelman, 2008). The colonists functioned and acted on the republicanism philosophy opposing the loyalists supporting continued British dominance and rule. Moreover, the colonists consisted of nearly every member of the society from professionals, slaves, to ordinary Americans fighting to gain self-rule (Dallek, 2008). On the other hand, the Confederates were considered rebels because they were threatening the unity of the young American state through a secession campaign. As a result, they were loathed for fighting against the accord of the American people just to preserve their self-interest in the slavery industry (Lesh, & Finkelman, 2008).
“If it can go wrong it will?”
The expression, ‘if it can go wrong, it will’, means that things can actually go wrong in a situation, especially when an individual creates a room for them to collapse. This expression reminds an individual of the need to stay on top of a situation to avoid a wrong twist or turn due to laxity or inability to make concrete decisions (Dallek, 2008). For instance, in a typical living environment, mankind has to juggle between different interests and strike a perfect balance to avoid neglecting one event over another. The inability to balance different interests or events creates room for wrong outcomes. I remember an event when the expression came to pass. I had a term paper that was to be written and submitted within three weeks, but I failed to meet the deadline due to negligence. Every day, I would assure myself that there is a lot of time on my hands for doing the four-paged term paper. Each time I sat down to work on the paper, I would easily be distracted by other commitments and events with the consolation of excessive time.
For instance, two weeks before the deadline, I had started working on collecting relevant information about the term paper when a friend called requesting me to join her for charity work. I thought doing charity was a one-time event that would not consume a lot of my time since I would resume working on the paper within a few hours. On coming back, I had to run private errands for my parents and before I knew it, the day was done! The same trend occurred most of the time and I kept consoling myself on the basis of more available time. When I finally managed to create time to work on the term paper, it only had 24 hours to the deadline. At the same time, I had another overnight homework that was to be submitted the following morning for a different course. I have to apply the opportunity cost principle by foregoing the term paper on the pretext that I might negotiate with the lecturer to add more time. Although more time was eventually added, I lost five marks for a late submission. Moreover, I did the paper in a hurry and submitted a report that could only attract a score of 60%, but I had the ability to score at least 80% had I been on top of the situation. As a result of poor system thinking, I was unable to integrate different interests to strike a perfect balance in execution for optimal outcome. Unfortunately, this imbalance made me fall into the trap of inability to gain control of the situation.
References
Dallek, R. (2008). American history: Reconstruction to the present. New York, NY: McDougal Littell.
Lesh, B. A., &Finkelman, P. (2008). Milestone documents in American history: Exploring the primary sources that shaped America. Dallas, TX: Schlager Group.