U.S. After the Civil War

¶ … U.S. after the Civil War in the South, North, and West

The United States and the birth of a modern nation

The experience of the Civil War in the U.S. represented a defining moment for history and for the eventual birth of a nation that came to be known as being American. It is considered by most historians that the greatest achievement of the conflict was the creation of a united people, one that would dominate the world in the next century. However, the period following the end of the War was one of great challenges, economic, political, as well as social ones.

The main issue of the political framework concerning the post war period revolved around the idea of the reconstruction of the nation and it included the vision of growth and expansion. There were three main areas of interest for the political leaders at the time. Concerning the Southern part of the country, there was the issue of integrating the secessionist states in the new Union. The issues in the North related mostly to the idea of an increased desire for economic development, and most Northern businessmen migrated south and established their affairs. Finally, the Western part of the country began to be perceived as a land of possibilities and the infrastructure works which started in the early 1870s transformed the land into a possible economic heaven.

The South was considered to be the most troublesome region in the U.S. due to its essential role in starting the Civil War. However, through the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867, it was divided into five military districts, ruled under the martial law. There had been certain conditions imposed by the Republican Administration to the South in order to be readmitted into the Union, such as the "Fourteenth Amendment." Nonetheless, once President Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872, slavery, the most intense subject of debate between the North and the South, became more a matter of arbitrary choice, rather than one of upholding the law. There were some slight improvements in the conditions offered to the freed slaves such as schools and hospitals; still they were of inferior quality as opposed to the facilities of the white population, the society in the South being thus extremely segregated.

The North, on the other hand, was on the verge of a new economic boom as businesses began to strive. Traditionally, the North had been the industrial center of the country and the technological breakthroughs made in steel manufacturing improved the efficiency and productivity of the industry. On the other hand, most businessmen found new opportunities in the South and tried to benefit from the political and economic vacuum. This orientation however, created new tensions between the Northerners and the Southerners, the latter feeling an increased aversion especially towards the economic initiatives of the former. Even so, the Northern part of the country was considered to be more prosperous and to represent the future of a modern nation.