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Other fact ours, such as the turn of political power to the elite planter class in the South, also give the IM precision that the Civil War was not quite the catalyst for change that people expected. Reconstruct action governments set up by Republicans may have enacted some temporary reform ms, but Democratic Redeemer governments reversed most of them. Despite the hopes of many N rather Republicans, the Civil War barely changed American political and social relation unships.
Those people who were expecting a dramatic social revolution following the C evil war were severely disappointed, as very little social change took place. This is esp. Cecilia clear grading the life and social status of freed slaves, who were, to a large extent , kept in a position as close to slavery as possible. Mainly following the Amnesty Act of 1 872, stout here white voters were able to regain control of the state governments and oppress Africanize Ricans in a way that rendered emancipation “unsuccessful and utterly odious” (DOC 7).
Although ugh slaves were legally free, the wealthy planter class took all measures to ensure that nothing g really changed. Similarly, the political cartoon (DOC 5), depicts how members of the lower class sees were unable to improve their social standing. The carpetbaggers that white Southerners h dated under Reconstruction are being buried by President Hayes in the second, showing t hat social changes did not endure after Reconstruction governments were replaced. Eke social relationships, politics did not appreciably change in the years during g and after the Civil War.
Although Lincoln may be remembered as an antislavery crusade r, his goals during the Civil War were almost entirely unrelated to slavery. He did not wan t radical change in American politics, only a return to normalcy: “My paramount object in this star juggle is to save the Union” (document 1). By 1880, it would be clear that the Civil War did not r evolutionist the political structure of the South. During Reconstruction, Radical Republicans SE tip Reconstruction governments that aimed to protect the rights of blacks, many of which formed the governments themselves.
Although Southern governments could be changed, Southern attitudes could not. Whites of North Carolina believed that “they have been ruined by” t he North, that secession “was right,” and that “they can manage the negro better for themselves eves” (document 3). The end of Reconstruction proved that if political attitudes did not change, the e Southern overspent would promote a prolific rights, preclinical political agenda only if the Reconstruction governments were in power. Just as it did not help blacks, the Civil War did not politically advance women.
After being arrested for voting, Susan B. Anthony s says she was tried “by forms of law all made by men, interpreted by men, administered of men, n favor of men, and against women” (document 4). The lack of political advancement for whom en IS even more evident than that of blacks, who were enfranchised officially, if not in practice; it would take over three decades for women to be nationally enfranchised. The Civil War did d not change political relationships to any meaningful extent: the Union was reunited, black KS were eventually subjugated again, and women did not gain rights.
Although many aspects of antebellum life were unchanged by the Civil War, tot hers changed immensely. Despite its ultimate failure, the attempted redistribution of land to freedmen acted as a catalyst for social change. The mere idea of “40 acres and a mule” p landed the seeds of social change in positivist war America (document 2). A society cannot be free I f the landless are ruled by those who live in mansions. This thought of economic equality pa De the way for Civil Rights movements in the future.
Even more change lies in the increase of government spending on rivers and harbors. After the civil war, federal expenditures in HTH s area multiplied by more than ten times (Doc 6). This sudden improvement of water transport action allowed for increased domestic and foreign trade, as well as a boosted fishing economy. The Civil War did not create enduring change in political and social relationship as in the United States. Groups like blacks and poor whites that could have challenged the social supremacy of the planter elites were prevented were not able to.
Great politic al change was also elusive, as women and blacks were still disenfranchised after Reconstruction and the South regained much of its political power. There was, of course, some change that resulted from the Civil War. The notion Of black rights began largely during Reconstruction, whew n blacks exercised more power than ever before, and planted the seeds for the nattily Chining and Civil Rights movements of the twentieth century. The federal government also beck name more involved in the economy. Although there was no radical change, the Civil War helped k pep America on the gradual track towards freedom.