American History Since 1865
HIS204
February 28, 2013
Abstract Throughout history, the American people have seen many changes. Change happens all around the world as we have had to adapt to it. Some great times in history range from the creation of the constitution, the signing of the declaration of independence, and to the changes in the today’s modern history. Where we have impacted such a change from African American people being slaves to the president of this great and challenged country we live in today. We are proud of all our accomplishments. We are saddened by our losses though the wars we fought. People have paid the price to keep America free. Technology played a big part in American change. We couldn’t have made it through hardship without them. Let us continue to discuss other events in history that has made this country what it is today.
American changes We begin our history in 1791 when The US Constitution was amended creating the first ten amendments and they are called the Bill of Rights. The first amendment being freedom of speech, second amendment is the right to bare arms; the third amendment is the quartering of soldiers; the fourth amendment is search and arrest; the fifth amendment being the rights in criminal cases; the sixth amendment is the right to a fair trial; the seventh amendment being the rights in civil cases; the eighth amendment covers bails, fines and punishment; the ninth amendment are the constitutional rights retained by the people; and finally the tenth amendment being the states’ rights. In 1795 to 1992 amendments have continued to grow and change in the Constitution to twenty-seven amendments. In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation is what freed the slaves. This was not an immediate action but after the war was ended it was a win for slavery’s end. This was a great impact but yet with many racial challenges that we still have not overcome at this day in age. The official written law was in the thirteenth amendment of the US Constitution in 1865 that ended slavery. We as the people of the united states start the 1865 with a reconstruction phase after being in a war for four years. The Civil War was a dark period for our nation. It is known as the most devastating war in history (Bowles, 2011). The Civil War had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, and, after four years of bloody combat (mostly in the South), the Confederacy was defeated, slavery was abolished, and the difficult reconstruction process of restoring unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began. During the Civil War, preventing diplomatic recognition of the confederacy was a series of diplomatic victories that ensured that the Confederacy would fail to achieve diplomatic recognition by even a signal foreign government. The Confederate states were incapable of winning enough victories to convince European governments that they could sustain independence. The Great Depression and A New Deal were two crucial movements in the American’s economic, political, and social history that reshaped our nation. The Great Depression was from 1929-1939, which was caused by the stock market crash. As stock prices dropped with no hope of recovery, panic struck. Banks were forces to close because they also invested in the stock market. Due to all the losses, businesses also reduced employees and closed their doors. Farmers were also affected by the depression because of droughts and dust storms. The New Deal programs eased the hardships of the Great Depression. A New Deal was from 1933-1936. Programs were created by President Roosevelt to helping farmers, known as Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). Another