The American Civil War

575 Words2 Pages

Following the American Civil War, the whole nation was forever changed and was the result of many good and bad things. Although it was a very costly war and was So, the Civil War did define us and made us the good and the bad things we are and led to an extremely significant change because slavery was abolished once and for all and African American rights followed many years later, the Federal Government imposed more power over the states, our country was divided for a while, and it left the nation in debt due to the fact that we fought each other. When the Civil War was approaching its third year, United States President Abraham Lincoln was able to make the slaves that were in Confederate states that were still in rebellion against the Union forever free. Document A states that on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and that every enslaved person residing in the states that were “In rebellion against the United States” were free and that the Executive Government of the United States and that the military and naval authority were to recognize them and could not act against them at all. Although the Proclamation did not free every slave in the Confederacy, it was able to release about 3.5 million slaves. Along with freeing all of those slaves, it also stated that African American men were allowed to enlist with the Union and aid them in the war. Another positive change that was an outcome to the Civil War was that different races such as African Americans and women were eventually given equal rights to a white male. As Document E states, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on gender, race, color, religion, etc. It also ended segregation in public facilities and in public education forever. When this act was passed, it was able to make the nation a lot better than it originally was due to the fact that everyone is now considered equally regardless of race, gender, nationality, and color. Although it was a very large struggle to get to this stage in equality, it was finally achieved and made possible with the Civil War ending and every enslaved person being freed and fighting for their rights. Although there were a lot of good outcomes that made the nation what we are, there were also bad ones. Following the Civil War and the slaves being freed, African Americans struggled immensely in order to get rights and not to get discriminated.

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