Compare And Contrast Civil War And Reconstruction

Civil War & Reconstruction The civil war was the deadliest war in American history. Many things can be contributed to the combustion of the civil war. As the United States began to gain more wealth, and more land there was a need for better regulation of affairs internal in the American colonies. There is a kaleidoscope of issues that span from colony borders to the transatlantic slave trade that made up the issues that finally tumbled early America into civil war. African slaves that were brought to the colonies played a major role in the civil war and the choices of the black people in the colonies may have single-handedly clutched victory for the union forces over the confederates. The aftermath of the civil war lead to major reforms in …show more content…
African-Americans served in the Civil War on both the Union and the Confederate side. In the Union army, over 179,000 African American men served in the army, as well as more serving in the Navy and in other support positions. African-Americans who fought in the war were free northern citizens and runaway slaves from the south. In the south for the Confederacy many African-Americans still saw the bonds of slavery and were forced to serve mostly in labor positions. By 1865 as a last resort the Confederate forces allowed slaves to enlist, but very few actually did. At the onset of the civil war many free black men rushed to volunteer for service with the Union forces. Although African Americans had served in the army and navy during other wars they were recently permitted to enlist because of a 1792 law that barred them from bearing arms in the United States army. Black units and soldiers that were captured by the Confederates faced harsher treatment than white prisoners of war but their decision to be willing to fight alongside the Union army and not much at all for the confederate was a deciding factor in the …show more content…
Reconstruction did positively affect African American people in the country. The abolishment of slavery in the United States meant that African American people could pursue their own interests and become self-sufficient productive people in American society. Even though the amendment abolished slavery many slaves were not freed and still held captive in the South. The other amendments given to African Americans after the civil war’s conclusion did not mean the end of struggle for blacks in the slightest, but it showed that black people were finally starting to be seen as people in the United States, and not just as slave