Argumentative essay on political and social effects of civil war
The civil war had significant effects on American society and politics like non-other events in history. The war was also the most traumatic event that any generation in America has ever experienced. Additionally, around one million soldiers perished in the war. Ironically, the number of civil war’s fatalities on a single day during the battle of Antietam were four times those who died or got wounded during the D-day at the Normandy beaches. Furthermore, more Americans died during the Sharpsburg showdown than the soldiers who have perished in all the wars that the nation has fought in the nineteenth century. While the war caused numerous deaths and injuries, US experienced a series of social and political changes including improvement of healthcare services, Increased opportunities for African-Americans, the emergence of a unified America, abolition of slavery, equal citizenship and voting rights after the civil war.
Social changes
Improvement of healthcare services
The civil war started during the last gap of medieval medicine and ended at the beginning of the modern one. Each of the rival group entered the war with a selection of unqualified physicians who only read how to treat injuries and diseases in textbooks. When the civil war ended, the nation embarked on training physicians, in areas such as surgery and anatomy leading to significant medical improvement. America’s first ambulance corps, meant for rushing wounded soldiers to infirmaries was introduced during the war. The idea was to pick wounded soldiers from the battlefronts, ferry them to the dressing station, then take them to hospitals. Additionally, the available physicians planned hospitals as camps which were split into wards meant for particular functions including convalescence and surgery. The hospitals also recruited women to serve as nurses. Initially, individuals received healthcare services at home. When the war ended, healthcare facilities adopted from war fronts model mushroomed across the nation. The nurse and ambulance’s groups became fixtures, while the war’s most famous nurse known as Clara Barton embarked on introducing the American Red Cross. Today, the current hospitals directly descend from the medical centers introduced during the war.
Increased opportunities for African-Americans
After the civil war, America embarked on reconstruction, the terminology used to refer to the nation’s rebuilding process. The major beneficiaries of reconstruction were former slaves since they were reunited with their families. Additionally, the former slaves were allowed to marry in legally recognized events. Moreover, former slaves benefited from educational opportunities that were now accessible to them. For instance, the Freedmen’s Bureau introduced on March 3, 1865, built thousands of African American schools, financed numerous black colleges, and constructed teacher-training institutions.
The emergence of a unified America
Interestingly, it took the interstate war to forge one indivisible nation. Before the civil war, America’s states were only loosely connected entities and they mostly considered themselves independent of each other. The goriest war during the civil war happened in 1863 at Gettysburg leaving more than fifty thousand people dead within three days. Even though the Union prevented Confederacy soldiers from invading Northern America, thousands of youths’ bodies lied on the fields used as warzones. After the war, President Lincoln issued an address at Gettysburg urging the people to not let the individuals who lost lives to have died in vain. Furthermore, he explained the need for the nation to unite under God, re-invent freedom in the nation, and have a democratic government. The speech inspired Americans to bury their differences and work towards having a united, peaceful, and prosperous America. The negative effects of war such as hunger, deaths, and diseases which both the Confederacy and Union followers experienced also led to the emergence of a unified America. Americans had learned the hard way that fighting and conflicts were disadvantageous to both sides and when the war ended, they were willing to peacefully coexist.
Political changes
Abolition of slavery
Slavery was among the factors that led to the proliferation of conflict between the Northern and Southern part of America. The south relied on slaves to work in their fields. However, the majority of people in the north demonized the vice and considered it a violation of human rights. The northerners who opposed slavery were known as abolitionists and they campaigned for the illegalization of the practice across the nation. When abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe accelerated the anti-slavery campaigns, the wealthy class in the south feared that they would lose their livelihood and resorted to violent means of dealing with the issue. However, the need to abolish slavery could no longer be ignored after the devastating effects of civil war. Upon the end of civil war on 9 April 1865, the nation rushed to pass the 13th amendment bill which banned slavery. The 13th amendment held that no involuntary or voluntary servitude will exist in America unless it is a form of punishment to offenders. The amendment further dictated that even if servitude was a punishment, legal processes such as duly conviction of the offender shall be followed. Lastly, the bill strengthened president Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation which demanded the release of all people held as slaves.
The granting of equal citizenship
Ironically, it took a war, massive deaths and suffering for everyone to be considered an American citizen regardless of race or background. The war drew the attention of the leaders and entire America on the dangers of a nation split by the notion that some people were real Americans while others were not. Furthermore, Americans understood that they had common goals, which included peace and prosperity. The civil war proved that if Americans burned the nation, everyone would burn in it, and if they build it, every person will benefit. Therefore, on July 9, 1868, the congress ratified the 14th Amendment which granted citizenship to all individuals naturalized or born in the United States including the recently freed slaves. The 14th Amendment also forbade states from denying people the right to life or owning properties, without following the legal processes. The bill further forbade states from denying particular people an equal right to protection by law. Lastly, the 14th Amendment significantly expanded the civil rights protections to all Americans. Currently, the amendment is referenced in more litigations compared to other amendments because it directly mentions the duties of states.
Voting rights
The Fifteenth Amendment in the constitution gave African-Americans the right to vote due to the declaration that rights of American citizens will not be violated by the nation or states due to color, race, or the previous status of servitude. Despite the amendment’s ratification on February 3, 1870, its promise was fulfilled a century later. The Southern took advantage of the delay in passing of the bill and used discriminatory means literacy tests and poll taxes to disenfranchise Black Americans. Furthermore, Southern states used a system of violent intimidation and white primaries to suppress African-Americans’ participation in elections. While the congress delayed passing the 15th amendment, its initiation gave a glimmer of hope to African-Americans that a day would come when they will freely participate in the democratic processes. In the twentieth century, the court started interpreting the bill, dismantled the white primary system, and removed some parts in Guinn v. United States case. The congress also took measures such as introducing the 24th amendment and Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections which consecutively banned poll taxes during federal and states elections. Such decisions greatly increased the participation of African-Americans in the election processes. However, the African-Americans enjoyed the right to vote when congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which required the government to oversee elections to ensure there are no discriminatory policies such as biased literacy tests and introduced legal solutions for people who have suffered from voting discrimination.
Conclusion
Overall, the civil war led to drastic changes in the nation like no other event. Notably, the war caused more injuries and deaths compared to other battles including D-day. However, the end of the war marked the beginning of a reconstruction process that changed America socially and politically. For example, the war reminded Americans the need for equality, and the nation tried to equalize people through measures such as constructing schools for African-Americans. Lastly, the war led to dynamic political changes such as provision for African-Americans’ voting rights.
Works Cited