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Francisco De La Luz

Ms. Montes

U.S. History

28 February 2017

America after the Civil War

On July 1861, the Civil War begun in a farm outside the small village of Manassas

Junction, Virginia. The Civil War’s main conflict was slavery. The North and South parts of the

United States didn’t agree with each other on the the topic of slavery. In the North, African

Americans were free men and women. While in the South, they were used as slaves. Many

African Americans who were slaves in the South attempted running away to the North to be free.

Some made it, but others got caught and were brutally punished. When President Abraham

Lincoln visited Gettysburg, he gave one of the most powerful speeches in American history, the

Gettysburg Address.

The Civil War moved the United States closer to the American ideals. Before the Civil

War, African Americans didn’t have Rights or Liberty. When the war ended, slavery was

abolished and African Americans gained Liberty and Rights.

Equality didn’t come until the 1950’s, when every person, no matter the skin color, was

considered equal. The civil War also brought Opportunity to every person in the United States.

After the war ended, The “American Dream” was born, where people hoped to have the chance

to attain their hopes and dreams.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. In this

speech, he says, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent in

Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” This speech was one of
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the reasons for the end of the war. The phrase, “All men are created equal,” gave a different

perspective of slavery, and it made everyone fight for Equality.

After the Civil War ended, it opened the doors to the possibility of owning land for any

American. During the Civil War, people of color didn’t have the Right to own land. The end of

the civil war marked our chances for integrated schools that would happen in the civil rights

movement. Before the Civil War, people of color didn’t have the Right to an education. After the

war, people of color gained the Right to a good education.

After the Civil War came a time for prosperity and change. It brought forth a chance for

education, owning property, equality, liberty, and rights. We still have a long way to go to fulfill

our American ideals. The end of the Civil War marked the beginning of that goal.