Civil War Reconstruction

Equality in the U.S. after Civil War Reconstruction

Equality in the U.S. after Civil War Reconstruction

The Civil War (1861-65) was perhaps the most momentous event in American history. The Civil War was the most traumatic episode of the history of the United States. The scars have not entirely closed until today. All wars after having participated in the U.S. have taken place far beyond their borders, but this conflict devastated the south and the region subjected to military occupation. Many Southern whites, the threat to their political and social hegemony, they resorted to illegal means to prevent African Americans from achieving equality. Violence against them by extralegal organizations like the Ku Klux Klan became increasingly common. In 1870 and 1871 increasing disorder led to the adoption of a Law Enforcement by which to rigorously punish those who seek to deprive them of their civil rights to freed African Americans.

The endurance of the U.S. as one state was at jeopardy and on the effect of the battle was the nation's capability to bring to authenticity the ideals of equality, liberty, justice and human dignity. The words of the Declaration of Independence which states that all men created equal had no meaning for the million and half of blacks who were slaves. Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder himself, acknowledged that the system was inhuman and incorporated in the Declaration a challenge to slavery, but southern delegates to the Continental Congress forced to remove that part.

The defeat of the Confederacy left the region economically destroyed most fertile agricultural country and devastated its rich culture. Although the Republicans 'radical' Congress sought to protect black civil rights and incorporate them into the mainstream of American life, their efforts resisted by President Andrew Johnson. Johnson, a Southerner who had remained loyal the Union during the Civil War and provided service as V.P. Republican, took office in the murder of Abraham Lincoln.

The war solved two key issues that had divided the United States since 1776, ended ...