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Pre Civil War Research Paper

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Were the United States of America always united? In the year of 1861, one of the bloodiest wars in American history commenced. 620,000 lives were lost during the war and many individuals still ask themselves the following questions; did this war need to happen; did it make a better America? The American Civil War had to happen because it made the America we know today. Before this sanguinary war began, there was a divided America. The inhabitants of these nations couldn’t define America’s founding principles, which were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The pre-Civil War era was one of the most chaotic periods in human history. The South and the North were the disagreeing nations in America. The free and industrialized North was the center of the abolitionists while the agrarian South was the center of …show more content…

However, one gruesome battle gave the inhabitants a new perspective. After the battle of Gettysburg, the president of the Union, which is the north, expressed his views of the tragedy. Even though it was short it gave the American people a new viewpoint and a new beginning. Lincoln stated, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” These impactful words gave a new meaning of the war to the American people. The American Civil War was not a war but a second chance. On January 1st, 1863, a document called the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by the president of the Union, Abraham Lincoln. According to National Archives and Records Administration, the Emancipation proclamation changed the idea of the war. Instead of just being a war, it was a war for freedom. African Americans were given a chance to live like Americans and experience those great values engraved on the constitution, which were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. African Americans were finally given

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