The Civil War and Its Aftermath
The issue of slavery led to increasing tensions between Northern and Southern states in the mid-19th century, culminating in the Amerikanischer Bürgerkrieg Zusammenfassung from 1861-1865.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 attempted to maintain a balance between free and slave states as new territories joined the Union. However, the abolitionist movement gained strength in the North, advocating for the end of slavery. Between 1619 and 1808, approximately 300,000 Africans had been forcibly brought to America as slaves, primarily to work on Southern plantations.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, Southern states began to secede, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. While Lincoln's primary goal was preserving the Union, the war became increasingly focused on the issue of slavery. In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in rebel states to be free.
Highlight: The Union (Northern) victory in the Civil War resulted in the abolition of slavery and citizenship rights for former slaves.
However, the post-war period saw continued oppression of African Americans, especially in the South. The Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1865, used violence and intimidation to terrorize black people and their allies. In 1896, the Jim Crow laws legalized segregation, creating a system of "separate but equal" facilities that was inherently unequal.
Vocabulary: Lynching refers to the illegal execution of an accused person by a mob, often racially motivated.
