Constitutional And Social Developments

There are many ways that constitutional and social developments caused a revolution. The first one is the secession of 1860, which was a constitutional development. Some other constitutional developments that caused conflict were the Emancipation Proclamation, three civil rights bills, and the reconstruction. Some social developments that caused conflict were the Freedmen's Bureau, the Black Codes, and the Ku Klux Klan. One of the social developments was the Freedmen's Bureau.

The Freedmen's Bureau was supposed to give Homesteads to the freed slaves but none of the promises by the government were kept, as stated in Document E. Forty acres and a mule was to be given to the freed slaves to start their new life as being free.

The freedmen were getting very angry. In document I the picture shows that this is "worse than slavery" because of the Ku Klux Klan and the White League made it hard for them and the freedmen had no rights, these terrorist activities in the South against blacks. The Whites did not want to reconstruct, they liked the black as slaves and when they had no rights. Blacks were used as helpless victims.

One of the constitutional developments that caused a revolution had to do with the South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession. On December 24, 1860, an amendment, the 10th Amendment, was added which declared that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people, which is stated in Document A.

South Carolina was the first to secede and then others followed and this angered the U.S. because they still considered that to be their land.

In Document B Senator John Sherman stated that the policy of this country should be to make everything national. He thought that if we were dependent on the United States we shall have a more generous nationality. Sherman stated, "It has been that principle of state rights, that bad sentiment that has elevated state authority above national authority, that has been the main instrument by which our government is sought to be overthrown." This means that because we gave the states too much power and rights in government that this is the reason of our government being overthrown. Another development that caused a revolution was the Reconstruction Act. This act put too many restrictions on the south. One way was that