American History

Running head: AMERICAN HISTORY
AMERICAN HISTORY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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AMERICAN HISTORY
Response to question 1:
The American Civil War took place between the years 1861 and 1865 where the African
American citizens were forced to become slaves. The fight was primarily between the North and
South Confederacy. The war ended with the official abolition of slavery in 1865 (Loc.gov,
2019). It resulted in the freedom of more than four million African American slaves. However,
the plight of these black citizens did not change much even after the end of the Civil War. The
end of the war started the era where the black citizens began to demand land rights, political and
civil rights.
The war ended to give way to the Reconstruction era when several amendments to the
constitution were made (Loc.gov, 2019). The first was the 13th Amendment that led to the
abolishment of slavery including involuntary servitude. The 14th Amendment was adopted in
1868 and included the rights of citizenship and equal laws for the black people. The 15th
amendment prohibited the federal government and the states from denying the citizens the right
to vote based on their color, race or previous servitude condition. Although these amendments
were introduced for the benefit of the African American citizens, these did not completely
guarantee the right to vote, right to own land or property and the right to have equal protection.
Response to question 2:
The term “reconstruction” in the American history has means an entirely different thing
that its actual meaning. For the Americans, reconstruction referred to the era post the Civil War
until 1877. The reconstruction included the transformation of the ex-confederate states, which
were 11 in total on instructions from the Congress (Shi & Tindall, 2016). Reconstruction led to
the three major amendments in the US Constitution that included the 13th, 14th and 15th

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AMERICAN HISTORY
amendments. These amendments attempted to make sure that the country was formed as a united
nation with the inclusion of all irrespective of skin color or race.
The introduction of Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation based on race and skin color
in the Southern US states demonstrated that although the North wanted to end slavery, the South
did not enforce it (Roback, 1984). The laws prevented the African American citizens from voting
and exercising other rights that was guaranteed to them by the three amendments. Furthermore,
the southerners also introduced the concept of white primary where the whites were only given
the right to vote in elections held in the Southern US (Hine, Lawson & Pitre, 2003). The
reconstruction period ended with the end of Ulysses S. Grant administration in 1877 after it
involved in numerous scandals and was considered an ineffective administration (Loc.gov,
2019).
Response to question 3:
The western part of the United States was naturally populated with the people belonging
to the Native American tribes. The settling of the colonials began in the 17th century and
continued until the 19th century when the white colonial settlers populated the entire west. As the
former US President Theodore Roosevelt stated, the Americans made a “great leap westward”
where they defeated the native tribes in the early 19th century and then the India Removal Act
1830 further cemented their position in the west (Mitchell, 2017). The Louisiana Purchase of
1803 greatly aided the westward expansion prior to the act.
The west was mostly a dry region with little chances of agriculture and hence, the
easterners had to adapt to the new weather, which they did with the help of advancements in
transportations, improvement in farm equipments and communication. Apart from farming,