Unit question: Why did Americans fight the Civil War? Did they fix the problem?

A Civil War is when citizens of the same country fight a war. The American Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery. Some will claim it was fought over tariffs, or states' rights (federalism). However, federalism was used by its white residents to justify the ownership of slaves was the root of the conflict (see Sectionalism from Unit 4). The American Civil war was fought between the Union, or Northern states that had outlawed the use of slaves (called free states) and the Confederacy, or Southern States that not only allowed slavery but had an economy that completely relied on it (called slave states). 

The problem started long before 1860, but the secession of the Southern states into the Confederate States of America began with the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as the President of the United States. The Confederacy sought to preserve (keep, maintain) their institution of slavery and plantation economy. The Union (Northern States, free states) did not seek to outlaw slavery in the beginning, just hold the United States together as one country. As the conflict raged, however, emancipation and abolition of slaves in the Confederacy became increasingly urgent. The Union, with their superior manufacturing and industrial economy enforced a blockade on the entire Southern Gulf Coast until the Confederacy's surrender in 1865. 

Following the end of the war began an era called Reconstruction, which was an era of rebuilding and repair, where America had to find a way to unite again after the war. "Radical" Republicans, as they were called, were Northern abolitionists and Unionists who controlled Congress and helped freedmen seek to establish their freedom, education, and voting rights (suffrage). However, after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 (political, extra-judicial murder), Radical Republicans and the Freedman's Bureau assisted southern freedmen and women by maintaining control of the South through 5 military districts that occupied and forced former Confederates to honor the recently ratified Constitutional amendments that guaranteed suffrage and general freedoms to freed slaves and black Americans in general. These amendments were the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. These amendments are often called the Reconstruction Amendments. However, much like today, elected representatives and Congressional Republicans of the time struggled against presidential policy under Andrew Johnson (vice president to Lincoln) that ultimately gave power back to former Confederates and failed to protect the enfranchisement of freedmen. Reconstruction failed, even after 3 constitutional amendments, and America traded a brutal system of slavery for a sinister system of segregation and institutional discrimination. 

Other important vocabulary:

proclamation: announcement

segregation: separated by race or ethnicity

discrimination: unfair treatment