How Did The North Grow Prior To The Civil War Dbq

Alea Avila
APUSH
Period 07
December 20, 2016

DBQ The North and the South had recurring conflicts centered around states’ rights and the power of the federal government. Prior to the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s exploration of a slave life became a nationwide sensation that brought the issue of slavery life to those who have been unaware for decades, this led to the widening division between the North and the South. As the disagreement advanced and violence spurred, the nation became troubled. The years between 1860 and 1877 included arguably the greatest conflict in American history, the occurrence of the Civil War, where the North fought for the unity of the nation and individual rights of all the people, while the South fought for

When slavery became abolished, questions were raised as to whether the federal government would grant authority for their suffrage and enforce civil rights laws (Document D and E). The diary of Gideon Wells asserted that even though the power was within the states, only the federal authority could grant rights to suffrage as well as guaranteeing civil rights. Ultimately this was necessary in order to distribute equal rights evenly throughout the nation and prevent certain states’ discrimination toward African Americans (Document C). United, the states ratified the 13th and 14th amendments, declaring this through the federal government ensuring that the southern states could not object. This was all in hopes to further better the Union’s social development, but in return the South enforced black codes, as well as the creation of terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which limited the extent of social development after the Civil

The end of the Civil War brought along social uneasiness within the Union. Prior to the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln declared the emancipation of slavery throughout the nation, excluding the border states, with their new found freedom came the need of new rights that the federal government must enforce. The federal government granted them citizenship, civil rights, and suffrage (Document G). The illustration found in the “Harper’s Weekly” showed how African American men were given the right to vote freely without the oppression of white supremacy, although this was the Union’s intended goal, this was not the reality of the South. There was an immense change to the lifestyle of the south. African Americans were granted political power but only to an extent that benefited the superior white elites. But they were also given a chance to improve their economic status through the Freedmen’s Bureau, that offered free education among other assistances. The reaction of the whites in the South was an attempt to reinforce slavery all without using the term, they did this by enforcing Black Codes, damaging their rights, as well as the Ku Klux Klan doing everything within their power to suppress African Americans, including spreading propaganda through news outlets