The Civil War's Impact On Liberty And Equality

The Civil War had a positive impact on the way the United States views Liberty and Equality. There were many major events during the Civil War that had a major impact on the amount of rights given to African Americans after the War. African American slaves had little to no rights during the war, and one document called The Emancipation Proclamation followed by the thirteenth Amendment changed the way African Americans are treated today. The Civil War was between the North, a manufacturing industry, and the South, which was a major farming and slavery business. The big dispute was mainly over “states’ rights versus federal authority, westward expansion and slavery.” The North had this huge opposition towards the idea of slavery and its expansion …show more content…
They were used to help the economy and to work the newest invention of the cotton gin. However, slaves did not only work in the fields they worked in other areas as well. Such places would be other types of agriculture such as corn and livestock, and some slaves also worked in the cities working at skilled trades. They may have been diverse in that they worked in many different atmospheres; however, they were all similar in that their working conditions were all the same. Slaves always started at the break of dawn, only stopped for lunch at noon, and then continued to work until dusk. Even though the free white laborers worked for a full day, they got to control their own work time and what they did with it since they were working for themselves. The slaves were under control and they did not have the freedom to do whatever they wanted with their work time. However these slaves had formed communities that were essential to the success of the economy. Slaves that worked on a large plantation had some freedom within their slave cabin or also known as the “quarters”. This is where the slaves would talk about their owners by calling him names and basically talking bad about him behind his back (“Pre Civil War”). However it wasn’t just their working conditions in which they were treated unequally.
Once African American slaves started to appear in uniforms, they started treating them as fugitive slaves rather …show more content…
“The United States fought the Civil War to bring about "a new birth of freedom," World War II for the "Four Freedoms," the Cold War to defend the "Free World””(Foner). This quote shows that the Civil War had an impact on the future of the United States and how it would remain a free nation. It also shows that it was up there with other major wars such as the World War tow and also the Cold War. All three of these wars had such a big impact on the freedom in America we have today. So therefore, the Civil War has most definitely made a huge difference on our view of liberty. “If the meaning of freedom has been a battleground throughout our history, so too has been the definition of those entitled to enjoy its blessings. Founded on the premise that liberty is an entitlement of all mankind, the United States, from the outset, blatantly deprived many of its own people of freedom” (Foner). This quote shows that the concept of Liberty and Equality have been fought over multiple times throughout the course of our history and has been debated multiple times. Everyone deserves a chance to have his or her own liberty. Before the Civil War it had taken away this entitlement to liberty from all African American slaves and weren’t given the chance to enjoy it. The Civil War impacted the United States’ view on liberty and equality even though it was not a very positive