Civil War Dbq

The American Revolution was considered a revolution because there was a revolt that resulted in the restructuring of American government, society, and politics. Though not officially labeled as a revolution, the American Civil War that began in 1861 was revolutionary and should be regarded as the Second American Revolution. The Civil War drastically changed the social, economic, and political systems of the United States through the abolishment of slavery. The Civil War was fought between the North (Union) and the South (Confederacy) over the North’s proposition of abolishment and state’s rights. The Southern states relied heavily on slavery in every aspect of their life, so the South was not accepting of the plan to end the cruel practice.

The transition of millions of slaves to free individuals was an enormous social change for America. In the South, this change took away some of the social status among the white men because those who owned slaves were considered higher class than those that didn’t, but without slaves, this status disappeared. Furthermore, the Europeans had to learn to live as one with African Americans and see them as equals, rather than as greatly inferior. Equality is something that is still being discussed in America today since there is still racist individuals and systematic racism, however, if it wasn’t for the Civil War occurring when it did, America would be even farther from equality than it is now. In addition, the North faced a social shock as well as they tried to integrate thousands of African Americans into their culture and

The Southern economy relied almost exclusively on the labor of African Americans before the war, but after the war that had to change. Southern landowners used slave labor for the production of cotton and tobacco, two businesses that were the foundation of the economy in the South (Southern Argument of Slavery). With the end of slavery, these business and landowners were forced to pay wages to people who were working for them. With that being said, these wages were typically paid to African Americans and poor white individuals who were struggling after the war, so the pay was very low. Another reaction to the loss of slave labor, as well as a reaction to accrued debt was sharecropping. Sharecropping is when a landowner rents out part of their land in return for a portion of the crops grown on that land. Furthermore, cities started forming in order to provide different work opportunities, since many former slaves didn’t want to work on plantations any longer (America’s Reconstruction). With America in more debt than ever before and with the loss of free labor the economy was drastically altered