Reconstruction Era

I've heard this conversion in many different situations, mainly it takes place at the dinner table when the whole family is present. What was the biggest recession or catastrophe to happen to the United States? Most of the time the first response nowadays is “911” or “Pearl Harbor '' not saying these weren’t catastrophic but really? For the Americans these were not the worst. The Civil War was fought on US soil with American soldiers. That was the worst thing we have seen here on American soil; 750,000 soldiers perished, if the war were fought today with the population we have now. The civil war would have been seven million dead americans at least.

Thinking about what it would've been like after the war ended, how in the world were we planning on making it back to a prosperous country? This is what is known as the “Reconstruction” period. The government was quickly working on a bill to ban slavery, give African Americans civil rights, and bring the 11 southern states back into the union that suceeded. America was in a very fragile state after the Civil war and it was chaotic trying to bring the country back. The main problem following these events was to find the social status of slaves after they were free, this brought much confusion and anger in some areas.

After the Black Codes were established in the south then the former slaves were having trouble in the job department, people had very limited job sources. So most of the freedmen would go back to farming and living how they used to, just under somewhat different circumstances. The southerners were not so easy to just give up land and work that used to be “theirs”; they thought they were getting the short end of the stick and a fight arose. The next 12 years were a fight to maintain a social order that the white southerners believed they “deserved” due to the prior situation. It was a longer thought than expected and people were and probably are still not happy to this day but what would we be if slavery was still accepted in America? Surely not the “greatest country in the world” if that's what y’all were thinking. Our reconstruction period was not a great time in this country and brought out the worst in Americans. However we did choose the justified choice and we acted as swiftly as possible. It was a terrible time in our history but it was a time that shaped who is known as The United States of America.

Secession Blog

Starting in the late 1850’s and 60’s the new world was being fueled by a hatred fire burning at the coals that were the nation. This fire and this fight was called liberty. Slaves were tired of how they were looked down upon and treated as property, the northern states took note and raised a voice. This was a troubled time and people were not in agreement about what should be done and who should be considered “right.” In the early 60’s the southern states started getting mad over what was happening, Late Senator Jefferson Davis was one of the main influencers on the start of secession in the south.

Reflecting on what happened following the events of the Boston Tea Party and how the new settlers created the Declaration of Independence, they saw clarity in how to evade the north's powerful hand. The southern states were planning to drop out of the pact they agreed to be a part of. They were going to leave the union(“states”) they only agreed to be a part of. There was justification in their actions, nothing in written law at the time blocked the states from trying to form their own “nation’ in the south.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was the republican candidate running for President of the United States or what they thought was the US. As a candidate he was running on a platform that was suitable for both sides of the spectrum, he was claiming to not be opposed to slavery but also not be in favor of it. Abraham said that he was not going to stop slavery but only not let it expand into the western regions; looking to contain the south and the expansion. Later he went on and abolished slavery, he did do the right thing but it caused some “revolution.” This was one of the main triggers for the southern states to start to pull apart from the union they first joined.

The main reason we are called the “United States” is because all of the states signed and ratified in agreement to establish what is known as America. We are a bunch of city states that are all banded together due to trust and agreement. Just before the civil war the southern states thought that they were being let down or unfulfilled with the agreement they made to be a part of the union, so they decided to back out. 

After almost all of the southern states seceded from the “america” it was very soon followed with the Civil War. This was the most tragic war that has taken place on US soil, there were almost a million people dead and the devastation to the whole economy and country generally was just unimaginable. Slavery was the way of the south they were not willing to change so the North and Ullysses S Grant brought the fight to them. The North won the war and slavery was soon abolished for good, with the release of the 13th amendment granting all people freedom.