In January 1861, there were 34 states in America, 7 of which were slave states. The civil war started because of growing tensions and differences of those seven states; they became The Confederate States of America. These states included: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Also, by late spring of 1861, the Confederacy later included North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Arkansas. Tensions rose more in …show more content…
The four years of war left 620,000 soldiers dead, and tensions continued with southern states, in some cases, even to this day (Goluboff 1). The biggest positive outcome of the civil war was the abolition of slavery, approximately 3.9 million slaves were freed after the war. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are apart of the 3 Reconstruction Era Amendments that were added to the constitution after the civil war. The 13th abolished slavery; the 14th granted citizenship to those born in the United States, and the 15th gave the right for people of color to vote. Finally, The Homestead Act of 1862 gave a majority of everyone in the United States an opportunity to call themselves landowners. So, did the American Civil War change America? The Civil War gave strength to the government, United everyone nationally, and gave civil rights to freed slaves (Goluboff