Oriented around a free market economy and the tenets of liberalism, democracy encourages diversity within a political body, mutual respect and tolerance among citizens, and self-interest for the common good. However, by no means is democracy synonymous with freedom, for the latter cannot be defined so clearly. A man’s definition of freedom following the Civil War (1865-1915), for instance, was as personal to him as his name and in some cases, his life. Whether abstract or concrete, social or political, the notion of freedom emerged from the Civil War as a motto of hope and change. But to the chagrin of many—whites and blacks, Americans and immigrants—it would remain a figment of their imaginations, a fictitious promise perpetuated by a democratic system that represented “the people” in name only.
Due to divided stances surrounding slavery, conflict erupted between Northern and Southern states in 1861. While issues concerning states’ rights and succession undoubtedly contributed to the dissonance, the explicit cause of the Civil War was the South’s inability to envision a nation absent their beloved institution of chattel slavery. Yet two years into battle, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation forced the Confederacy to confront this unwelcome reality. As change murmured across the (not so) United States, the institution that the Confederacy fought on behalf of, that which was vital to Southern social and economic life, began to collapse; formal abolition was evident. Four long years after it began, the war ended with General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, though the real Northern victory came with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment six months later, in December of 1865. Marking a formal end to slavery, the amendment, according to renowned author and historian Eric Foner, “raised hopes that the end of slavery would be accompanied by the economic independence that [freedmen], like other Americans, believed essential to genuine freedom.” Though talk of freedom echoed across the United States in the years following abolition, “the color line” would remain pronounced. In fact, many saw abolition merely as the death of slavery rather than immediate equality, and this opinion was not only confined to the newly free. Emancipation and Reconstruction both turned the tables on whites: the freeing of nearly four million slaves forced many white farmers to work their plantations for the very first time, and in a twist of fate, the majority sustained crippling debt—the Confederate bonds they purchased at the beginning of the war were now worthless. As aforementioned, Reconstruction offered tremendous promise for African Americans, but it also had its limitations. In the years to come, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) recognized and protected all American citizens under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted African American men the right to vote. In addition, Congresses’ founding of the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865 sought to repair the devastation that the Civil War left in its wake. Offering housing, education, and other basic amenities, the Bureau benefitted former black slaves and poor white farmers alike. A shortage of funds, coupled with the racial attitudes of Reconstruction, led to the premature closing the Bureau however, and ultimately a setback to reform. To makes matter worse, land was hard to come by. This fact forced the majority of freedmen to endure a life that eerily resembled chattel-slavery under …show more content…
By the turn of the century, the Transcontinental Railroad’s labyrinthine tracks connected the Eastern and Western United States which shortened cross-country travel by several weeks. The Railroad was evidence of America’s fascination with machines, but also also represented American motion and modernity, literal and figurative progress. Despite ingenuity and opportunity, conditions did not improve for immigrants or blacks at the beginning of the 1990’s, and they would not until the American public was to confront the “state of the States, in what became known as the “Progressive Era.” Dissatisfaction with Industrial Capitalism and the harsh conditions that resulted from competition, led to the nation-wide reform movement that hoped to bring the system up to date, to regulate and deal with the precarious technological innovation the country witnessed at the turn of the century.
From a Birdseye view, this period known as the Second Industrial Revolution was a story of progress and incredible
Due to divided stances surrounding slavery, conflict erupted between Northern and Southern states in 1861. While issues concerning states’ rights and succession undoubtedly contributed to the dissonance, the explicit cause of the Civil War was the South’s inability to envision a nation absent their beloved institution of chattel slavery. Yet two years into battle, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation forced the Confederacy to confront this unwelcome reality. As change murmured across the (not so) United States, the institution that the Confederacy fought on behalf of, that which was vital to Southern social and economic life, began to collapse; formal abolition was evident. Four long years after it began, the war ended with General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, though the real Northern victory came with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment six months later, in December of 1865. Marking a formal end to slavery, the amendment, according to renowned author and historian Eric Foner, “raised hopes that the end of slavery would be accompanied by the economic independence that [freedmen], like other Americans, believed essential to genuine freedom.” Though talk of freedom echoed across the United States in the years following abolition, “the color line” would remain pronounced. In fact, many saw abolition merely as the death of slavery rather than immediate equality, and this opinion was not only confined to the newly free. Emancipation and Reconstruction both turned the tables on whites: the freeing of nearly four million slaves forced many white farmers to work their plantations for the very first time, and in a twist of fate, the majority sustained crippling debt—the Confederate bonds they purchased at the beginning of the war were now worthless. As aforementioned, Reconstruction offered tremendous promise for African Americans, but it also had its limitations. In the years to come, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) recognized and protected all American citizens under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted African American men the right to vote. In addition, Congresses’ founding of the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865 sought to repair the devastation that the Civil War left in its wake. Offering housing, education, and other basic amenities, the Bureau benefitted former black slaves and poor white farmers alike. A shortage of funds, coupled with the racial attitudes of Reconstruction, led to the premature closing the Bureau however, and ultimately a setback to reform. To makes matter worse, land was hard to come by. This fact forced the majority of freedmen to endure a life that eerily resembled chattel-slavery under …show more content…
By the turn of the century, the Transcontinental Railroad’s labyrinthine tracks connected the Eastern and Western United States which shortened cross-country travel by several weeks. The Railroad was evidence of America’s fascination with machines, but also also represented American motion and modernity, literal and figurative progress. Despite ingenuity and opportunity, conditions did not improve for immigrants or blacks at the beginning of the 1990’s, and they would not until the American public was to confront the “state of the States, in what became known as the “Progressive Era.” Dissatisfaction with Industrial Capitalism and the harsh conditions that resulted from competition, led to the nation-wide reform movement that hoped to bring the system up to date, to regulate and deal with the precarious technological innovation the country witnessed at the turn of the century.
From a Birdseye view, this period known as the Second Industrial Revolution was a story of progress and incredible