Essay On Formative Events

Formative Events in United States History During the formative period of American history, there are three large events that stand out in comparison to the rest in the way they affected the nation as a whole. Without the revolution, America would not have begun. Without the expansion to the west, the United States would not be the large size that it is today, and would not be able to have such a large and growing population. Finally, without the Civil War, the nation may still have slavery as a legal form of free labor, which would greatly change the way the United States is seen as “the home of the free.” These three events during the formative period of the United States shaped the nation to be what it is today, and without them, the country …show more content…
During this time, the north and the south faced against one another in a fight over whether or not slavery should be legal or illegal. The north did not want slavery to be legal, but the south did. Slavery was such a huge part of the people’s lives in the south, and they depended on that free labor from slaves to continue to make a living on their plantations. The northern United States won the war, and slavery became illegal, but the lifestyle in the south rarely changed. Once the new law was made, it was rarely enforced in the southern states, which led to violence against the newly freed slaves. The former slave owners believed that they were superior than their prior slaves, which led to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist group that rose in the south to terrorize, attack, and kill former slaves and anyone who supported their freedom. The terrorism from the Klan spread throughout the south, and the division between the north and the south continued to exist even after the Civil War ended. The Civil War and the reconstruction shaped the United States to be closer to what it is today, and without this historical event, slavery may still be legal, which was a huge step forward to change the