DBQ: The Reconstruction Era

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The Reconstruction Era: 1861-1877 After the Civil war, the period after was known as the Reconstruction era, and was a beginning towards a more unionized America. The South had lost the war, and the North was well on their way to reestablishing the states as a whole Country, and was beginning to rebuild the South once again. With a new era of ideals, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were passed and created a whole new victory for the slaves of America. They were granted freedom and citizenship, along with the men given the right to vote. But the South did not hold this well, for they still discriminated the blacks, and formed into racist groups to terrorize them and their new rights. Abraham Lincoln, the new elected President, was motivated …show more content…

Before the civil war had occurred the North and South were in debate about things such as slavery. The United States was dividing. The Republican party had been formed, and was anti-slavery. Before the party was formed, America was a black business, but in the years before the Civil War, America started to fall apart. (Doc A). An example of America falling apart is “Bleeding Kansas.” People from the North and South went to Kansas and started to violently confront (politically) one another. Events like this and much more caused the Civil War, which lasted for four years. During the Civil War colored men were called upon to fight for their country (Doc D). The men that fought were said to be protected and paid. This would then boost the slaves in the South to runaway and join the Union and their cause, which was not hard considering the cause was to free them and bring the Union back together. Within those four years was the bloodiest war in history. More men had died in the Civil War than any other war put together. The Union had 1,566,678 casualties and the Confederacy had 1,082,119 (Doc B). If the Civil War had not occurred, neither would have the Reconstruction era. Technically speaking, the Reconstruction era wouldn’t have occurred at all if the events leading to the Civil War didn’t happen and slavery didn’t exist. The Civil War is a reason for the Reconstruction era and why it