The Civil War And The End Of Reconstruction

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The Civil War in 1861-1865 was a time period in which the United States wrestled intensely over what kind of nation it would be. The war initially stemmed from the differences between the North and South, or between slave states and (mostly) non-slave states. These two sides argued over the right to continue the institution of slavery. The North wanted to abolish slavery whereas the South believed it needed slaves to keep its plantations running and its cotton-based economy successful. Following the Civil War, during the time period of Reconstruction, the abolition of slavery was followed by further reform movements to overcome racial inequalities and both rebuild and modernize the devastated Southern economy. Great changes occurred everywhere. The sum of these changes, at the constitutional and social levels, amounted to a vividly different nation. Despite counter-movements that sought to return to America to a state that had existed prior to the Civil war, by 1877 the nation had undergone constitutional and social revolutions. From the period before the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction, America underwent many constitutional changes that changed both the shape of American democracy and the role of its government. The greatest constitutional conflicts were focused on states ' rights versus the power of the federal government. When the South seceded from the Union in 1860, the United States government responded by invading to quell the rebellion. South Carolina had seceded from the union because it thought that the federal government posed too great a threat to its state prerogatives. Soon after, all the southern states followed. South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession, Dec. 24, 1860, referenced the restrained powe... ... middle of paper ... ...and southern resistance by the KKK. The racial division between whites and blacks caused significant changes in America and amounted to a revolution. The time period of 1860-1877 were times that represented great constitutional and social changes in America. The outcomes of Reconstruction were immensely significant. The North got what it wanted, no slaves. The Southern States had to finally accept the 13th and 14th Amendments, and this advance gave blacks in America many rights that whites had. The Freedmen’s Bureau was also established, and this institution helped freed blacks find housing. The power of the federal government grew, and blacks earned their civil rights. There was, however, tension between blacks and whites given the racial divide. Overall, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, America was firmly on the road to the modern nation we know today.

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