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North and South. In the year 1870 there were 7,2 million people in the USA. For 1,2 million of these people the words of the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal” were far from true. They were black and they were slaves. North and South. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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In the year 1870 there were 7,2 million people in the USA.
For 1,2 million of these people the words of the
Declaration of Independence “that all men are created
equal” were far from true. They were black and they were
slaves.
North and South
In the North of the
United States farms
were smaller and the
climate was cooler
than in the South.
Northern Farmers did
not need slaves to
work for them. Some
o opposed slavery for
moral and religious
reasons also.
By the 1820s
southern and
northern politicians
were arguing fiercely.
North and South
On march 4, 1861,
Abraham Lincoln
took the oath of
office as President
of the United
States. In His
inaugural address
he appealed to the
Southern states to
stay in the Union
and warned that he
would not allow
them to break up
the United States.
The Southern
States Took no
notice on the
appeal and on April
12 the American
Civil War began.
Abraham Lincoln 16th
President of the United States
The Civil War gave
the final answers to
two questions. It put
an end to slavery. In
1865 this was
abolished
everywhere in the
US by the 13th
Amendment to the
Constitution. And it
decided finally that
the United States
was one nation,
whose parts could
not be separated.
The Civil War
But white southerners were
determined to resist any
changes that threatened their
power to control the life of the
south. They were especially
horrified at the idea of giving
equal rights to their former
black slaves.
In July 1866, despite opposition
from the President, Congress
passed a Civil Rights Act. And
then it introduced the 14th
amendment to the Constitution.
The 14th amendment gave
blacks full rights, including the
right to vote.
The 14th Amendment
All the former Confederate states
except Tennessee refused to
accept the 14th Amendment. The
largest and the most feared
terrorist group was a secret
society called the Ku Klux Klan.
They rode by night through the
countryside, beating and killing
any blacks who tried to improve
their position. Their sign was a
burning wooden cross, which they
placed outside the homes of their
intended victims
The Ku Klux Klan
Reconstruction
But reconstruction had not been for nothing. The 14th Amendment was especially important. It was the foundation of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and made it possible for Martin Luther King to cry out eventually on behalf of all black Americans: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Famous People in America Nowadays
In 2008, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama defeated Republican Sen. John McCain becoming the first African-American elected to the office of President of the United States, and making Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha the first African American First Family of the United States. Ninety-five percent of African American voters voted for Obama.
Michael Jordan
Condoleezza Rice
Barack Obama
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