Article about Civil War

The following is true and has been taken from a reliable source. This is some information that I collected that occured after the civil war, and the effects of the war:
The 'scene' after the war when the soldiers returned home was between sorrow and delightfulness. For example, one of the confederate soldiers came home and his dog did not recognize him until he talked to him. The soldiers came back for a cause defeated and in many cases many of their houses were destroyed. When the soldiers came back from were they noticed many changes. First of all, war had destroyed two thirds of the South's shipping industry and about nine thousand miles of railroads. It had destroyed machines, farmland, and many other important stuff. Not only was land and machines destroyed, but also the war had destroyed lives of young and, healthy men: fathers, brothers, and husbands. The survivors of this atrocious war were permanently scarred in mind or body. Children became orphans and married women became widows. Next, they saw that the black southerners were free. Finally, the postwar South was made up of three major groups of people. There were the Black Southerners, the Plantation owners, and the Poor White Southerners. The black southerners as slaves received food and shelter. Some after a a lifetime of forced labor, many found themselves without jobs, homes, and were hungry. Some freed slaves did not choose to work and stayed on the plantations of their masters. Others looked for new jobs in the cities and in the west.
African Americans celebrated their freedom. They were no longer treated as if they were the property of someone, the feeling they felt was overwhelming. During the war enslaved people simply walked out of the plantations. The others that were no longer slaves went looking for their close ones, that were taken from them by slavery. Black leaders new that physical freedom was only a start, that true freedom would come along with economic independence. The freed slaves urged the government to redistribute land. In 1865 general William Tecumseh Sherman set up a land distribution experiment in South Carolina. Soon the President Johnson forced the freedmen out and gave back the lands to the original owners. However, unofficial land distribution took place again. For example a freedman that stayed working at the plantation called Amos Morel bought land with his wages to buy more than 400 acres of land. He then sold pieces to other freemen, and later bought a land for his daughter. African Americans looked after each other to survive. Lots of black organizations arose throughout the South. Historians estimate that in 1860, nearly 90 percent of the black adults were illiterate. However sometimes young white women volunteered to teach them. Also, Charlotte Forten a wealthy black women helped a lot. To help black southerners adjust to freedom congress created the Freedman's bureau. At first the Bureau lacked strong support from the congress. However later on the bureau gave out clothing, medical supplies, and millions of meals to both black and white war refugee's. More than 250,000 African American students got their first formal education in bureau schools.
Andrew Johnson was the president. He got to be the president because first of all he was the vice-president. Also he supported the poor white people. Johnson was the only southern senator to remain in congress after secession. The republicans elected Johnson as Lincoln's running mate to attract democratic voters.

Effects of War

During every previous war in American history, presidents demanded sacrifices from the rich and the poor. As Robert Hormat explains in his 2007 book, The price of Liberty : Paying for America's War.

"During most of America's wars, parochial desires--such as tax breaks for favored groups or generous spending for influential constituencies--have been sacrificed to the greater good. The president and both parties in Congress have come together … to cut nonessential spending and increase taxes."

An example of this act happening was in World War 2, federal revenues tripled as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the number of people paying income taxes expanded tenfold, from 3% of the population in 1939 to 30% by 1943.

In 1950 and 1951 Congress increased taxes by close to 4% of GDP to pay for the Korean War, even though the high World War II tax rates were still largely in effect. In 1968, a 10% surtax was imposed to pay for the Vietnam War, which raised revenue by about 1% of GDP. And there was conscription during both wars, which can be viewed as a kind of tax that was largely paid by the poor and middle class. Young men from wealthy families largely escaped its effects through college deferments.

War really affected the people. Some people didn't even accept the idea of war, but they still had to pay taxes. They struggled to keep up with the taxes. Some young Americans didn't even get the chance to go to university because they didn't have enough money. The government kept raising taxes more and more with every war.

Ken's Burn Civil War Video

More than three million Americans fought in the civil war, and three percent of the population died from it. The war made some people rich and turned others poor. Lincoln rised up to be the best president. Harriet Tubman was an abolutionist. She wanted to stop slavery in Washington, and the Southerners asked for a more effective fugitive slave law. Harriet was the most famous underground railroad conductor. She escaped from Maryland in 1849. She risked her freedom by returning nineteen times to save other slaves, including her parents. She rescued about three hundred slaves. Slaves were not treated very poorly. They were whipped, had severe punishments, mutialted, and sometimes even killed.
The slaves did not rebel alot. However, there is this rebellion that was really marked in time. It was called the Nat Turner's Rebellion. He said it was his mission to kill the enemis with their own weapons. Turner led about thirty slaves on a murderous rampage through Virgina, they killed about sixty men, women, and children. However two months later Nat Turner was found and he was killed. (All the leaders of rebellions would get killed). Because of this rebellion slaves were not allowed to have a proper education.