Throughout history, America has dealt with its fair share of civil disputes and differences. One of the largest and most well known disputes is associated with the idea of slavery, and civil rights for African Americans. Prior to the Civil War, the institution of slavery left African Americans feeling oppressed. African Americans had little to no rights, and were subjected to mistreatment on a regular basis prior to the Civil War; whereas, by 1877, with the help of the Federal Government, African Americans held critical roles in American politics and were -generally- well regarded in society. To begin, prior to the Civil War, most southerners would have considered African Americans to be inferior to white men. Although this may have still …show more content…
Prior to the Civil War, attempts made by Congress to compromise and relieve tensions such as the Compromise of 1850 helped address the issue of slavery in newly acquired lands by America during the Spanish-American War. Sadly though, this compromise was accompanied by the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced escaped slaves to return back to their owners in the South. This definitely caused a rift in the sectional tensions between the South and North, especially because the Fugitive Slave Law was never really enforced. Government was trying its best to address slavery, but it surely didn’t fix anything. Abolitionists living in the North made strong efforts to end slavery. During the Civil War, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation helped free slaves in the states who were rebelling against the Union. Which, ultimately helped shift the objective of the Civil War to freeing slaves. The hatred of slaves grew even greater following Lincoln’s decision, but this didn’t matter in the end. In the South, the significance of cotton gin and tobacco forced southerners to rely on the peculiar institution of slavery. Slavery was so embedded into southern society that it almost seemed impossible for Americans to change it. Looking forward into 1877, with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation and the introduction of the 13th through 15th Amendments finally helped African Americans gain the rights they truly deserved. Although many may have objected to these acts of Congress, the majority of Americans began to truly accept blacks into society. Lastly, the Civil Rights Act was one of the last acts of Congress that truly helped define the rights of African Americans, for it laid out the foundation of accepting the fact that America would forever be a segregated and free nation by promoting good treatment of blacks. All of these examples provide strong evidence as to the difficult times African Americans
During the time period of 1860 and 1877 many major changes occurred. From the beginning of the civil war to the fall of the reconstruction, the United States changed dramatically. Nearly one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence which declared all men equal, many social and constitutional alterations were necessary to protect the rights of all people, no matter their race. These social and constitutional developments that were made during 1860 to 1877 were so drastic it could be called a revolution.
We saw the Thirteenth Amendment occur to abolish slavery. We also saw the Civil Rights Acts which gave full citizenship, as well as the prohibiting the denial of due process, etc. Having the civil rights laws enabled African Americans to new freedoms which they did not used to have. There was positive change occurring in the lives of African Americans. However, there was still a fight to suppress African Americans and maintain the racial hierarchy by poll taxes and lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Sadly, this is when Jim Crow laws appeared. During this time African Americans were losing their stride, there was an increase in prison populations and convict labor, and the convicts were
From the start of the American Civil War, 1860, until the end of the Reconstruction, 1877, the United States of America endured what can be considered a revolution. Prior to the year 1860, there was a lack of union because of central government power flourishing rather than state power. Therefore, there was a split of opposite sides, North and South, fighting for authority. One major issue that came into mind was of slavery. At first, there were enactments that were issued to limit or rather prevent conflict to erupt, such as the numerous compromises, Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. They did not fulfill the needs of the states, South states in particular; therefore, in the year 1860, the Civil War had commenced. There was the issue of inequality of Blacks in suffrage, politics, and the use of public facilities. However, much constitutional and social advancement in the period culminated in the revolution. To a radical extent, constitutional development between 1860 and 1877 amount to a revolution because of events like the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights Act, the amendments that tried to change African Americans lives in American Society and contributed to get the union together. There is the social developments as well that to a lesser extent had amounted to the revolution because of organizations like the Klu Klux Klan, Freedmen’s Bureau lacking, and discrimination against African Americans that caused progression of violence and white supremacy.
In 1619, slaves from Africa started being shipped to America. In the years that followed, the slave population grew and the southern states became more dependent on the slaves for their plantations. Then in the 1800s slavery began to divide America, and this became a national conflict which lead to the Civil War. Throughout history, groups in the minority have risen up to fight for their freedom. In the United States, at the time of the Civil War African Americans had to fight for their freedom. African Americans used various methods to fight for their freedom during the Civil War such as passing information and supplies to the Union Army, escaping to Union territory, and serving in the Union’s army. These actions affected the African Americans and the United States by helping the African Americans earn citizenship and abolishing slavery in the United States.
There have been many great battles throughout American history. One of those battles is as interesting as it is important to our history. Many have wondered when looking back, “Why did the North win the Civil War?” However, for one to understand why the North one, they must first be educated on the background and events of the Civil War. Throughout the Civil War, many events have taken place that lead to the North’s victory.
The end of the civil war should’ve marked a major turning point for the position of African Americans. The north’s victory marked the end of slavery and in addition, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment guaranteed African Americans full civil and political equality. However, the end of the civil war and the beginning of the reconstruction era was seen a ‘false dawn for the slaves in the former confederacy and border states.
Including the election and the instability of members of the Congress, the Kansas-Nebraska Act had major effects on the relationship between the parties and made politics even more unstable during this time. This act involved the “repeal of the Missouri Compromise and providing that settlers would determine the status of slavery in the territories” (Foner 479). This controversial act destroyed the balance between the free and slave states and led to the destruction of several political parties during this time. The Democratic party was divided because of this act and the more obscure Whig party “unable to develop a unified response to the political crisis, collapsed” (Foner 479). This left the two major political parties, the Republicans
There are numerous explanations for the “impending crisis” that led to the Civil War. Van Buren Administration’s unpopularity formed an aim at Presidency causing a nomination between Clay and Webster. They chose William Henry Harrison. John Tyler became a vice president nominee. Harrison won the election, but died a month later. Tyler was more extreme than Jackson, isolating him from his own party, and his proposal of the Texas annexation treaty was crushed. Whigs spurned Tyler, nominating Clay and Democrats put up James K. Polk. The Liberty Party, explicitly antislavery, which added another party to the presidential race drawing votes away.
By February of 1861 six states had seceded from the Union (Glass, 2008). The Civil War was impacted by Southern and Northern leaders. Two of the leaders in the South were Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and in the North the Union was led by Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. A few years after Lincoln’s election, the North and South swapped their party labels as the conservatives from the South grew dissatisfied with the Democratic Party's increasingly progressive platforms. Conversely, the historically Republican strongholds in the Northeast began voting Democrat.
The United States of America has always disputed over the amount power the federal government had in regards to what the federal government could control through laws. Federalist and Anti-Federalist argued for years because they could not agree if the United States should or should not have a powerful central government (Kennedy). Even after those parties transformed into different parties, the continuous debate over the amount of power the federal government should have continued. The Civil War was fought over slavery and Southern States seceded from the nation to display dominance over the federal government and eradicate laws made by the federal government the South did not support, such as those regarding slavery (Causes of the Civil War).
Considered one of the most prevalent turning points in American history, the Civil War impacted every person in that era, and continues to do so today. While slavery is well-known to have been the principal cause of the war as a whole, multifarious reasonings were also responsible for the blood stain in history.
The Civil War considered as part of nation-building flourishing worldwide in the mid of the nineteenth century and the peoples national identity was often accomplished by force of arms. The search for national identity was also extended to North America as the Civil War in 1861 to 1865 can be seen as an effort to establish a nation. This was to determine what kind of nation the United States would be (Herring, 2011). Prior to the Civil War, an era of tremendous growth in the mid-19th century had widened the split between north and south. People began to put their interests of their section above the interests of the nation as a whole and this has led to a struggle between the two sections of the country in the Civil War. The North fought offensively
Counting back to the 1800s, the tragedy of the Civil War took place. It began on April 12, 1861 till May 9, 1865, locating in multiple different states in the U.S.. This war started between the United States of America and the Confederates States of America. Some say it started because of uncompromising differences with the free and slave states over the power of the national government to end slavery in territories that have not become states yet. Although, the issue included slavery in the Civil War, politics, economics, and morality essentially caused of the Civil War, as evidenced by political theorist, John C. Calhoun. John Brown’s view on slavery, as well as Charles Pinckney’s view on slavery.
As our National Anthem goes, America should be the “The land of the free”, and our Constitution calls us “equal”. During the time frame of the Civil War, however, America was the complete opposite of free. As a whole, we struggled with finding a solid conclusion to end slavery and the unfair treatment of African-Americans who were in and entered America. Even after the Civil War, discrimination and segregation were still major issues that plagued our past society. But as for the Civil War, America was truly not the “Land of the Free”.
Race was perhaps one of the biggest issues if not the biggest issue during the pre- 1865 era and it definitely proved a long road for African Americans. Slavery was the controversial issue inside of race that served as a driving force for change. Blacks or African Americans didn’t have a say in much of anything as most of not all of them were enslaved by white people in the North and in the South. The development of African Americans becoming recognized as citizens became a symbol for signs of the Reconstruction Era coming into full effect. The fight for citizenship from African Americans was important because it made others want to fight for equal rights as well. Even though African Americans were putting themselves out there to get more rights but whites still wanted restrict them as much as possible even if they would be considered freed people. (Brundage, N/A)