DID THE CIVIL WAR GIVE BIRTH TO THE MODERN UNITED STATES?

As we look back into history, we can assuredly state that there were indeed many great and many devastating events that wrote the novel of American history. But there is definitely one turning point in time that has made America what it is today. This was not a world war, but rather a war between brothers and states to preserve the nature of the union and the unity of the nation. This was the Civil War. Although much devastation; both human and financial, the Civil War changed the course of our nation to become the United States of America we live in today.

The entire cause of the Civil War had been argued through many views and opinions. Whether it be due to the secessionists wants of the Confederacy or the rebellions to give blacks freedom; what mattered the most is the final purpose of the Unionıs fight and victory. If the north had not won the war it is almost certain that life for North Americans would be different. It took the addition of the new Constitution, the supreme law of the land, to ensure that southern ideals could coexist, lawfully, with that of the northıs. Many of the amendments in this new Constitution serve as milestones in the creation of the United States. There were a certain few directly brought about by the Civil War. The pending question of black slavery was finally answered when the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. The Fourteenth Amendment stated the equality between blacks and whites. The Fifteenth Amendment gave blacks the chance and right to vote. All together these new amendments changed the lives of southern blacks forever. Blacks from that day forward were able to imprint a larger scale of social and cultural activity than they had ever been able to create under slavery.

Besides the abolishment of slavery, another outcome of the Civil War that has greatly influenced the world today is the rise of industrialism. With the Unionıs more industrialized economy some would say the South had lost the war because they were unable to compete with the modernized manufacturing capacity of the North. This new idea of industrialism rubbed of dramatically onto the southern way of life. The South would from that time forward, strive to create a growing economy like the North. With the help of ³New South² enthusiasts, the southern industries increasingly expanded. This increase in industrialism traveled fast and did not stop. With the development of railroads, mass production, and new governmental policies, it was self evident that the future of the United States was headed towards new technology.

It is quite imaginable that the United States would be in a totally different state of flux if the past had not been as such. If the outcome of the Civil War had been different I could very well say that it might have taken more time to progress to the governmental system we have today. There is a likely chance that we might have not adopted that system at all! We can all conceive various parallels of outcomes, but we can only definitely contribute the actual effects of the Civil War to the present day situation of the United States. Therefore it is very logical to say that the Civil war did in fact give birth to the Modern United States.

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