Land Surveying During The Civil War

The Reconstruction happened in period following the end of the American Civil and the main goal was to reintegrate the Southern Confederate States back into the Union after they had been defeated by the Union (Northern States). As would be expected, the process was met with many challenges as the interests of both groups had to be addressed. There was debate over the terms under which the Confederate States would be allowed back into the Union, and whether it was the president or congress to set these terms. There was also the question about what rights freed slaves had and their role in the new American society. Even though the war had ended, the reconstruction presented a new battlefront for a political struggle between the North and the South. This paper analyses what reconstruction sought to achieve, and why it failed with dire long-term consequences.

Throughout the 19th century, the distinctions between the North and South in the United States were controversial. Prior to the Civil War, the North consisted of business owners and middle-class men. The South consisted of mostly farmers. The North was industrial, using railroads and factories. The South was agricultural, with mostly farms and plantations. The North paid their labor workers. The South used slaves. Not only did their opposing views on slavery and the separation of the two cultures, tensions arose that eventually led to one of the most gruesome wars in history.

In the beginning of 1865, the Civil War came to a close, abandoning over 620,000 dead and a destructive path of devastating all over the south. The North now was confronted with the task of reconstructing the destroyed and aggrieved Confederate states.

A few years ago I was curious and did a free name search on Ancestery.com , and what I found was that hundreds of people with the Ellison last name served on both sides in the Civil War. In honor of this interesting fact I would like to explore this time period in American history to see how my ancestors lived. In this paper I am going to primarily put my focus on the people of this war , and what technology used during this period of dramatic change in american history.

The Civil War was not “Civil”, it was one if the worst wars in history. The United States of America suffered so many deaths. The Civil War happened from April of 1861 to April of 1865, about 620,000 people died during the Civil War. With the growth of the Industrial revolution, also came new technology, this new technology increased transportation, communication, and weaponry, which eventually helped the Union win the war.

I chose the Civil War because I enjoy the history of the United States. I thought the Civil War be an interesting topic since it was a big part of slavery. The Civil War changed our history so I think that is why people find it such a popular part of history, and most likely the reason I enjoy learning history. A bonus was that I already knew three things about the Civil War era. Abraham Lincoln was also the first president who declared he was going to get rid of slavery. If the Union didn't win the war, I believe we would still have slavery. Also, that the Union and Confederate each had their own president.

A revolution is a dramatic and sudden change in an organization in the social order that is replaced by a new, more favorable system. When Historian Eric Foner called the Reconstruction period “America’s Second Revolution”, his characterization was correct. Reconstruction can be viewed as a revolution because the previous social order, slavery, was replaced suddenly by a more favorable one, freedom for African-Americans. There was a long period of politicization for incorporating free African-Americans into white society. Reconstruction also revolutionized the preconceived notion that the states had autonomous power.

The Civil War that occurred was one of the darkest times in our history as a country. It was a time where there was a complete breakdown of social and political systems. Hundreds of thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands more were aversely affected. However, it was also a time of remembrance and significant moral progress. It is remembered as the turning point in American History and would be the foundation for the Civil Rights movement many years later.

LOAD THE CANNONS! BOOM! BANG! CRACK! AHHH! MARCH! FIRE! BOOM! RETREAT! This is what you would probably here in the Civil War monthly. But why did we have a civil war? What is a civil War? Good Question. I'm here to answer them. But first let's talk about what it was. It was a war in the United States of America about the North and South. America was splitting up side vs side. The Union vs The Confederates. Now back to why everything got messed up and had a war and a half million lives lost. The United States of America had a Civil War because slavery, sectionalism, and disagreements about compromises.

Technology has not only significantly improved daily life, but it has also changed warfare. In the 1860’s, controversies of the practice of slavery, westward expansion, and political authorities caused high tensions between the Northern Union and the Southern Confederacy. As the tensions built up, the Civil War began on April 12th, 1861 after the secession of the Southern states. Determining the independence of the Confederacy and the fate of the Union, the Civil War was a period of major technological transformation. In 1865, the Union officially won the Civil War with advantages such as industrialization, a larger population, and most importantly, technological innovations. Advancement in technology, such as the telegraph, railroads, and rifles, effectively changed the Northern military strategies by establishing a rapid network of communication, providing an efficient and safe system of transportation, and improving the performance of the weapons.

As the civil war was ending many people could see that the odds of the north winning increased dramatically however many people can argue this idea based on the several events that took place during the second phase of the civil war. Carl Schurz concluded, “The Civil War was a revolution, but half accomplished.”(Roark et al 434) Reconstruction started before the civil war ended until 1877, when people of the United States tried figuring out how to put the country back together. Many people had different ideas on how the reconstruction should be handled as a result conflict began between different political groups, between groups in the south, between north and south, and between congress and senate groups. The dramatic transformation of southern states took place during the reconstruction that proved their victory was the organization and formation of government, being reunited in the union, and acquiring constitutional and legal status of African Americans.

Although the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Reconstruction brought great hope to America’s four million former slaves, the efforts of Congressional Reconstruction ultimately failed to establish equal rights for the freedmen because the racist mindset still dominated American society at the time and Democratic influence steadily overcame Republican control in Congress. Despite the Union’s victory, the end of the Civil War brought many significant national problems, including an economically and culturally devastated South and the protection of the freedmen. After a period of Reconstruction under Lincoln and then under Andrew Johnson, it was Congress’s turn to determine the path of Reconstruction. While the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation were large steps in the freedmen’s road to equality, it was never going to be that easy to attain true equality for all. The Southerners’ mindset was still fixated on the idea that freedmen were naturally inferior.

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

Reconstruction was one of the most important periods in American history. It was a period right after the Civil War lasting from approximately from 1863 to 1877. During this time, the leaders of the country and the congress struggled with a challenge of bringing the South back into the Union politically, economically and socially. One of the key challenges they faced was how to reunite the nation and what to do with the thirteen rebellious states that broke off from the Union and joined the Confederacy. Another challenge the government was dealing with was what to do with four million former slaves who now needed housing, food, work, education along with basic civil rights such as voting and government participation. In my opinion reconstruction was more successful in bringing back the South economically and politically. Social reconstruction on the other hand, was almost an impossible task due to lack of commitment to insure equal rights for African Americans. In this essay I will examine successes and failures of presidential, congressional, and social reconstructions.

As the American Civil War came to a close, the United States started to revamp the country, during what became known as the Reconstruction Era. Throughout this Period of time (1865-1877), the authorities attempted to fix America politically, economically, and physically. The United States unfortunately faced struggles, when people were evidently unable to adapt themselves to the era. As a result of bringing an attempt to come back from the defeat, the result was insufficient. This clearly shows that the Reconstruction Era was certainly not a success because the changes created by the government failed to make positive changes to society.