Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Epilogue

Were it not for the Civil War, slavery would have continued in America for at least a few more decades. President Lincoln’s goal at the outset was to "preserve the Union," not eliminate slavery. He even advocated sending slaves to foreign lands. When Lincoln did free slaves during the war, he offered emancipation only to those in the Confederate South, not those in border states such as Kentucky. Slavery was not formally abolished until eight months after Lincoln’s assassination. Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. The United States was not well-equipped to deal with the aftermath of the Civil war. President Lincoln has just been assassinated and his V.P. Andrew Johnson from Tennessee became President. The United States was itself inexperienced and in recovery mode as a young country not yet 90 years old! Many in the North wanted revenge on the South and most distrusted President Andrew Johnson as being too conciliatory toward the South; he narrowly avoided impeachment but by a single vote! • 3.9 Million Slaves are freed; most migrate to the Southern cities, but they are without homes or jobs and many have limited skills and little or no education • Plantation owners are not compensated for the financial loss of their freed slaves, the plantations cannot plant and harvest crops without a workforce and the southern economy is in dire straits • Ex-Confederate soldiers are required to pay taxes but are now denied the right to vote or to even hold office whereas the former black slaves now have the right to vote/hold office • Government corruption and graft are rampant in the South; crimes and lynchings are prevalent; this readjustment period in our history is anything but peaceful While the Civil War officially marked the end of slavery, it would be another 55 years before women earned the right to vote, and 99 more years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. The road to economic equality and social justice is a long road indeed and the journey is still a “work-in-process” for some. The first African-Americans came to what is now the U.S. in 1620; in the year 2020 will mark the 400 th anniversary of their arrival. Today, slavery is illegal in every country, but experts estimate that more than 27 million people in more than 165 nations, including the U.S., are still trapped in the multibillion-dollar modern slave industry. The period known in our American History as Reconstruction would last from 1865 to at least 1877 … a perilous 13 years: