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Johnny Amaya

Ms. Montes

US History

15 March 2017

Equality?...

The United States is a strong believer of these 5 American ideals; Equality, Liberty,

Democracy, Opportunity, and Rights. Our 5 ideals became heavily tested during the Civil War.

People started fighting for what they believed in and that's what started this war. The North and

South had different perspectives on how the United States should be run. This war was focused

upon our president wanting to end slavery and treat everyone equally no matter what race they

were.

Our Civil War was focused on these five ideals with the most important one being

equality. Abraham Lincoln was mainly focused on giving slaves their freedom. He wanted them

to be treated equally and be a part of the difference he wanted to see in America. Not everyone

agreed with his thought, they believed everything was fine how it was. This brought our country

apart because they believed that their president was running the country incorrectly. On

December of 1860 the South decided to separate from the union. They made their own union that

later on in history would be known as the confederacy.

The confederates and the union civil war against each other officially started with the Battle

of Fort Sumter. This was the start that would be known to be one of the bloodiest war in the
nation’s history. If this war was the bloodiest war in American History, this is one reason how

the

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confederates went against our 5 American Ideals. They were so selfish in wanting everything to

be how they wanted the culture to be like in the United States. That right there shows that they

went against our democracy (one of the ideals), that they would even kill their own people over

control of the U.S. It's really interesting because these people were fighting in what they believed

was right, little did they know that this made our country look so unstable

This war came to last about 4 years (1861-1865). The last battle was fought at Palmito

Ranch, where Robert E. Lee surrendered his last confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant ending the

civil war. This war of hate, refusal, and selfishness was finally over. Now, this war was for

slaves to have equality, at least that was the point. It didn't really become “equality” it was more

of a negotiation because although now they are free, they were still put restrictions on their lives.

They weren't “equal” as they were promised. This would later cause controversy in the United

States but that still happens to this day.

The American ideals is what makes our country stand out from other countries. These 5

words define our country and in what we believe. I believe that at the time the American Ideals

were lost. This war brought us further apart. But to this point of right now those ideals have

brought us closer as a nation.