The people of America were in their happiest times. They lived better than their fathers on beautiful rural landscapes with farms worth more than the out put of factories. This might have been the end of America's golden age. The problems were arising.
Slavery was not the only problem they knew. There were unsolved problems everywhere, one of them being that the North and South had created two very different societies. Still, slavery was a major issue that complicated things between the North and South. Without the issue the Civil War could most likely have been avoided, but since slavery existed, the problem became unavoidable.
Slaves were used prominently to pick cotton, which was in great demand at the time. Eli Whitney, however, invented the cotton gin that increased the demand for slaves where cotton was grown. This was in the South. Their consciences grew uneasy about the issue of slavery, but it seemed absolutely essential so they did not do anything about it. Slavery in the North had faded out because it did not pay. People in the North started to demand the abolition of slavery.
The Civil War began in 1891, starting with the Battle of Bull Run on July 21. The Confederate army was led by Robert. E. Lee, and the Union was led by Ulysses S. Grant. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed during the war on Jan 1, 1863. This freed slaves in the Confederate-held territory. Although Confederate states were no longer slave states, the war did not end until Robert E. Lee surrendered his army on April 9, 1965. The Union would now be able to apply more pressure than ever to the South.
It was a new life for the freed slaves. They still didn't have all the rights they would eventually have, but their new way of life was most definitely improved in many ways. The Civil War had a significant influence on the abolition of slavery, but was not the only reason. Without black leaders such as Rosa Parks, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, and others, their dream of freedom would not have been made a reality.
