Essay On Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Commonly today, people see Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation as what influenced the South into breaking away from the Union before the start of the Civil War. It is known that the sensitive topic of slavery is what began the strong sense of sectionalism in the United States. For so long the Founding Fathers and men after them did their best to avoid that very topic. States entered the Union two by two as to not upset the balance that had been so carefully placed. At first the topic of slaves were not a concern so long as it did not interfere with the northern lifestyle. As the years went by, the North and South grew in two very different directions. Prior to the Civil War the North made their way to a more industrial society while the South attempted to follow but could only do so at such a slower pace. By the time they realized just how important it was to make those advancements, it was too late. This sluggish development influenced the South’s demise at the end of the Civil War.
In the 1840s a rapid surge of immigration was brought to the United States. The Germans and Irish fleeing from economic depression and famine fueled the sudden increase of the American population by more than double what it had been. However, it was mainly the North that these new immigrants were flocking to. …show more content…
Many of the reconstruction plans involved freedom for blacks and their basic rights. Even so, black codes were created and passed in the South. Though blacks were segregated from the whites, they were given more opportunities to find jobs and be educated. In the coined “New South”, they tried to start making railroads again. Progress was made but they still were not able to reach the level the North had acquired. But that did not matter because to most people, except for radicals, because progress had been