The Civil War
The Civil War began in early 1861 after South Carolina seceded from the Union and lasted until 1865. Reconstruction began as soon as the war ended but was a slow and strenuous process. The North was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to punish the South. They hesitated to punish the South because their goal was to reunite the Union and punishing the South would not lighten the situation. On the other hand, the North did not like the idea of no punishment to the South because so many men had died for the cause. The North relied on new constitutional and social developments to change the South and mold it into the image of the rest of the Union. New amendments to the Constitution clarified any previous misconceptions in the Constitution and created new social standings for the blacks. Between the years of 1860 and 1877, during which the Civil War and Reconstruction took place, constitutional and social developments concerning the welfare of African Americans and the image of the ideal society, where the South is more like the North, combined to create a change in the social structure of the nation. The role of the African American first changed during the war when they began to fight for the Union forces. The Civil W
The northerners quickly realized that they really did not want universal suffrage and some restrictions were still kept. The White League was another and both were secret societies acting like a military to stop northern interference in promoting black's rights. The Civil War was like a test for the blacks to see if they were willing to be an equal part of the nation. The one federal effort to mandate school integration was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Bureau distributed food to millions of freed slaves. In March of 1865, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau. It was hard for the North to force the South to integrate when the North was set up to be segregated. It punished the Confederates while helping slaves to establish themselves in society. Some southern whites were angered by the blacks new position in society and formed societies to terrorize them. Their main concern was that blacks had political power and they, along with economic pressure, helped to discourage black political power. Other acts and institutions were created to help slaves begin their new life as freed men but as hard as they tried, the North could not carry the blacks into a stable setting. Also, they were allowed to own land which would allow for them to provide for themselves. The Reconstruction period made many contributions to the efforts of former slaves to achieve equality in society. In 1865, the Freedman's Bank was established to promote land ownership among blacks. This was also an easy way to solve two problems.
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