The Four Year Long Civil War - 1418 Words

The result of the four-year long Civil War, was a nation in need of much repair. The split of the union dividing North and South was centered around their opposing views on slavery. These tensions placed black slaves in the middle as an object the was in a tug of war between the two sides. In the end, slavery was abolished and the rights of freed slaves were thus added to the Constitution in the fourteenth amendment that prohibited their exclusion from the unalienable rights of a United States citizen, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (doc 13). Despite the new addition to this law, the†¦show more content†¦This except from a black soldier, James Gooding, in his protest against equal pay describe the nature of unfairness put upon blacks who risked their lives for the Union just as any other white soldier. Gooding asked in his argume nt that their service will be fairly appreciated by paying them as American Soldiers, not as menial hirelings (doc 5). Gooding said that they are American Soldiers and deserve the respect and equal pay and that it would be different if they were asking for a higher pay rate in a meaningless and skinless job, but this is one of great importance. Blacks were viewed as objects to automatically be at the Union s service when they are in need and not worthy of pay. Due to this inequality formed before and during the Civil War when the voting rights granted to freed slaves in the fifteenth amendment were protested by many in the South. The fifteenth amendment stating that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (doc 13) was ignored by many who disagreed. In South Carolina they directly protested this law and fought for blacks to be excluded from gov ernment positions because they did not want