Whenever an abnormal existence occurs in a community, there is no doubt that the population has to experience some modification either in economic or social life. The effects of the civil war include both positive and negative impacts, and it consists of both positive and negative effects. The American civil war of 1861-1865 was not selective, but it affected both the people who were at the forefront of the fight and those left at home (Neff, 2016). American civil war started in April when secessionist forces attacked the Fort Sumter in South Carolina immediately after Abraham Lincoln became the president of the United States. The Loyalties of the union in the North proclaimed to support the constitution but they received conflict from the people in the south who proclaimed to uphold slavery. The conflict existed between the union forces and 11 southern states that branched from the union and formed confederation states of America. The war is one of the deadliest wars and the most crucial event in the United States whose death is estimated to be between 600,000 and 800,000 people (Randall & Donald, 2016). The civil war originated from the fact that the Northern States wanted individuals, families, and groups to be left free to create their farms but the Southern States supported slavery, and they saw it be legal in the West. The civil war resulted in significant effects such as the Emancipation and proclamation, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the reconstruction of South America (Randall & Donald,2016). The civil war changed the lives of soldiers involved, and the effects also spread to the civilians of both sides. Women in society had to take care of the families and the duties that the husbands performed before going to the war. This paper explores the effects that the civil war had on slavery, economy, and politics and the way these changes affected families, men, and women in the battlefield.
Effects of the civil war on family dynamics
The start of the war exposed North America to more benefits and beneficial activities than those of the people in South America (Randall & Donald, 2016). In effect, the impacts that civil war caused the families in the North were significantly essential compared to those of the families in the South. In the case of family divides, some families became wealthy leading to the creation of family differentiation across the families in the region. In South America, some families especially those in the businesses that supplied war supplies increased their level of capital accumulation in society. There existed complaints that the materials provided to the army such as the number of uniforms, weapons, and materials for the war charged prices they would need for the family. According to Burke , letter writing in America, civil war letters the union leaders in the United States began to develop ways to isolate the mutinous Southern States and created a blockade of supplies to reach the Southern States which exposed advantages to the Northern States than the Southern States. As a result, the community realized that they had accumulated much money thus increasing the differences between the poor and wealthy families.
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People from middle-class families could also secure jobs in the business which increased their ability to collect income. Before the beginning of the war, women played an essential role in taking care of the children and the elderly in the family setting (Trachtenberg, 2018). Increased employment opportunities created a chance for middle-income families to own a small house and at least two servants. Women played a significant role in monitoring the lives of the people in the servants, but the emergence of civil war deprived men of their duties disturbing the duties that existed in the community. Men moved to the war living women to run the businesses on top of the home duties they had to perform. These duties led to division within the family structure. Women were required to perform more duties expected and this increased differentiation among those left at home and those in involved directly in the war.
Many of the people in North America states were immigrants, and they ended up living in a situation where people lived in one or two rooms. People in this region created a chance for people given the opportunity to work, but they had little income to cater for their needs (Acharya et al., 2016). Similar problems occurred in South America such as Virginia where men had to change from their duties to get involved in society making it difficult to cater to the needs of the family. Men stayed away from their family territories which increased division among family members. These challenges were not selective, but they affected families from both regions especially the whites and the blacks.
In both cases, the start of civil war pulled men away from the families for a period, and this appeared to change their culturally prescribed duties such as protecting and providing for their families. The soldiers who were directly involved in the war believed that engaging in the war was one of the ways through which they performed the duties of preventing their family from the possible threats. Involvement in the war became one of the successful methods of promoting security in their region which extended to the family levels. Though many people in families such as wives and daughters assumed the roles that men played in the society, it became challenging for a community to fulfill all the needs of the family and it became essential for such people to accomplish the work that men performed in the society (Neff, 2016). Despite the increased level of duties that those left behind dedicated to playing, it is undeniable that the separation caused significant challenges among the family of the whites. Family separation increased the tasks for women adding problems in accomplishing their workers. The 13th, 14th, and a 15th constitutional amendment that occurred after the end of the civil war increased women participation in political activities Mississippi ( McGreevy, 2018 ). In other cases, the soldiers were killed, and they never came back to interact with their family members. Men tried to keep in touch with their families through letters, but this came to be a challenge because not all messages reached the recipients and sometimes the respondents were delayed.
The political divisions experienced during the civil war also contributed to the increased level of separation among family members. This kind of segregation was witnessed in regions where people experienced a high concentration of unionist such as Virginia. For instance, there was a creation of opposing sides among different sets of people. According to a letter by Florence Burke, the American civil war affected American immigrant who were involved in the war. In his collection of letters, Burke states that it is several Irish soldiers died in the American civil war. People experienced differences in political ideologies and this created differences against husband and wife, son and father, daughter and mother. These effects were severe especially among people in the society where a majority of the people had political interests. Though these differences were severed in most regions in the family, it became significantly experienced by white people especially in a situation where people developed opposing ideas about the civil war. In addition to the separation of families, political differences further divided family members making it difficult to move in the same direction.
The effects of the war on families experienced by black families were significantly different from those experienced by the white families. The end of the war resulted in some level of racism between the black and white families in several regions such as Mississippi and Carolinas. At the beginning of the war in the year 1861 compelled similar family separation between men and women. However, at the end of the war, most black families had an opportunity of coming together and reunite their families. During the war, the enslaved black men were sold in the nearby plantations and others were taken to neighboring states through the slave trade. A time came when freedom for the enslaved men occurred, and most of such people went back to reunite with family members. This time brought several divisions among the people; people have different perceptions about slavery. Though Abraham Lincoln recognized slavery as an evil activity in the society, as a lawyer he knew that slavery was constitutionally acceptable (Reid, 2014). After his election as a president, he said that he did not have any reason to interfere with states where slavery existed, and the cabinet saw that there was no need for calling a meeting because the army was almost defeated. Though the enslaved population of South America was not directly involved in the action, they supported the actions of southerners in fighting for the need to free the captured population. Many of the enslaved people moved to the army unions in the year 1863 through the emancipation proclamation (Reid, 2014). Though the families initially experienced significant differences among the families, many families made an effort to follow their men in the new states. As a result, they secured a chance for shifting from one state to the other where they interacted with their family members in the new state.
The effects of the civil war on the roles of women
The civil war impacted the parts of women in society in both the community and at the family level. The occurrence of the war created new responsibilities for men in society as they had to provide security for their families and the country as well. At the same time, they had family responsibilities such as the provision of food and management of businesses. The war resulted in an increased level of deaths among the men especially in the Gettysburg which appeared to be the bloodiest of all states leading to approximately 50,000 casualties followed by the Chickamauga, and the Spotsylvania. These deaths significantly affected those people in the front who were men thus increasing an opportunity for women to fill the gaps left in the society. Civil war compelled men to work as servicemen creating an opportunity for women to fill the positions left behind by the family. These new roles created women to be idealized as symbols for the home front. This openness exposed women to problems of under attack, and they became suspicions to the moral decay associated with the increased level of freedom. Though the duties that they were prescribed to women during the war were taken after the war, it is evident that women had learned adequate skills for earning income and they could operate independently.
The reconstruction acts of 1867-1868 focused on creating an opportunity for vulnerable groups such as women and black people. These changes changed the roles prescribed to women increasing their participation in economics and politics. During the war, most of the women from both the Northern and Southern States involved in the civil war were divided. Some women championed the war while others in society remained worried about the war while others played a significant role in defending the war. They provided support to the men by giving food and supplying the war equipment. The effects of the civil war occurred in the year 1868 during the constitutional amendments. Were women increased the opportunity for women to question their right to serve in the military. The central idea of the movement was to ensure that women have to be given the right to serve. In effect, several countries started recruiting female soldiers with an objective of increasing the number of women involved in the forefront of the war. In situations where some of the women tried to support the war, they were imprisonment even in North America where people allowed freedom of speech.
Before the start of the civil war, women did not have an opportunity for taking active roles in politics and also war. However, the challenges experienced by people in the society experienced difficulties that forced women to fight for their rights. They conducted several campaigns and negotiations designed to fight the war, and they took ways for reducing the levels of divisions that existed in the society, and they encouraged most of the feminine in the community to fight for their rights in life. The changes witnessed in America resulted in an increased level of women participation in the entire country. Through the increased concern of the people to improve their rate of involvement in political affairs, women gained a chance to take active roles in participating in the legislative institution. By the year 1917, women played an active role in the voting process in America.
The outbreak of the civil war in the year 1861 created increased participation of both men and women who increasingly participated in the war who volunteered to fight in the war (Vinovskis, 1989). In the northern society, women organized in support union where they were required to serve the troops with everything that they needed in the forces. This role encouraged people to take more active roles in the war which increased their chances of securing active roles in the military. The federal government agreed to create hygiene positions where people used to develop adequate skills to participate indirectly in the war thus increasing an opportunity for women to engage in the war by providing Medicare to the soldiers. The execution of people in the civil war resulted in the mobilization of the entire nation. This effect of the labor war increased the opportunity for women to secure a chance in the labor market because they were only the people who could fill the gap. Women occupied these positions, and it became interesting that people could be in a place to hold this position temporary. When the war came to an end, women were removed from the posts, and their jobs given to the returning soldiers and the wages received by women were always lower than that obtained by men. Before the occurrence of the war, women in the United States were interested in changing their job positions to take active roles in society. Women were allocated to low paying jobs, and they increasingly became involved in occupying higher positions.
Women posters were increasingly used as propaganda in the war where they were used to seduce men to join the military. The feather campaign exercised during the war was designed to ensure that there was an establishment of people’s ability to create a chance for women to give feathers as a sign of cowardice. Posters for young women were increasingly used as activities that could increase the capacity of soldiers to fight for their stand about the different perceptions about slavery. Men who engaged in this fight and won the war became the most significant reasons behind the effort by the soldiers who longed to receive women as rewards for their effort. This information shows that women in the country were perceived to be original objectives. Women were also used s the targets of propaganda and people used to believe that all people in a society focused on achieving political purposes as the process through which people could make the set political goals.
Women in the south threw themselves into the war with the same Zeal as those in Northern America. The wealth women increased their support to the soldiers who drew their attention to participate directly in the war. The civil war created an opportunity for women to participate in the front war. Before the beginning of the civil war, the society criticized the willingness and ability of women to create to join in the military which changed all over sudden because of the increased demand of enough military forces in the country and both South and North America increased their participation in the war (Josephy, 1991). The significant change of the roles of women extended from being perceived as those at home to getting involved in the forefront as nurses. The civil war became an initiative for increasing the ability of people to see the importance of women in the community and improve their ability to participate in the roles they need to play in the neighborhood. Multitasking among women after husbands moved to the forefront created a chance for enhancing their ability to discover their ability for improving their formal participants in the society. Though women occupied this position, it was expected that women would give men their roles even after the end of the war. However, they continued holding more formal jobs such as nurses, doctors, and corps. By the end of the war, more than 300,000 in the United States worked as soldiers in the military (Martineau, 2017).
Effects of civil war on the relationship between men and women
Civil war became the origin of the increased level of concern on the issue of gender roles among the members of society. Before the source of the problem of civil war, both men and women engaged in the civil war with an objective of reducing the level of inequality among the people in society (Bynum, 2016). This information indicates that the changes witnessed on the gender equality role resulted from the fact that people, especially women, changed their gender roles and they increasingly played essential positions among the people in the society. Before the introduction of the civil war, no single lady worked outside family settings, and they all worked in home prescribed chores. Subjecting women to this kind of work indicates that there were significant levels of inequality between men and women. In both South and North America, women changed their social roles and secured jobs. By the time men came back from the war, women had developed skills and accumulated wealth that raised their social status. In effect, the gap between men and women decreased, and there were some assumptions that there were some levels of equality. The American civil war was one of the deadliest wars in America because it resulted in the death of 600,000 to 800,000 in the country (Neff, 2016).
Successful operation in the war required the participation of civilians who could play an essential role in determining the rate at which all men were involved in the war and women fulfilled these positions (Rewinkel & Lutsep, 2018). They provided soldiers in the war with adequate skills required in the preparation and selling of firearms and uniforms used by those in the forefront. This issue created an opportunity for people to enter into new areas of public participation by joining the soldiers’ aid society established in the Southern and the North America States. In addition to providing the tools, soldiers increasingly became interested in providing sustaining ideology support for the war joining the patriotism events such as the parades and the society pageants. Before the civil war, women were perceived to be inferior, and they did not have adequate skills for participating in the civil war. However, through indirect involvement in the civil war and increased concern of the formation of groups that supports the equal rights of men and women to participate in the military.
Civil war led to the creation of economic, political, and civil war ended up creating a chance for coming up with an opportunity for women to experience improvement in their gender roles. After the end of the war, a majority of the people called for a need of establishing a way through which the society could go back to the prewar status quo (Rewinkel & Lutsep, 2018). However, many of the conflicts among the countries had created an opportunity for women to change their lives. They recognized that they have had been oppressed in the previous gender roles and it was the high time they could change and become more included formal appositions. The enlightenment they received created a chance for ensuring that there was an inclusion of women in several job positions and they participate in voting and vying for a political seat and reduction of the level of racism exercised by the people. The enlightenment received by women during the civil war gave an opportunity to form groups and organization that they used to fight for their rights. In effect, there has been an establishment of ways through which people could understand and participate in the establishment of women rights movement seeking to put pressure and motivate many people in the creation of ways through which people could increase the number of women in economic, political, and civic involvement of feminine. The suffrage movement increased the community’s ability to expand women participation in the civil duties. The interaction between women and the military indicates the manner in which people in society led to increased improvement in the relationship between men and women, especially in the military industry.
Conclusion
The exploration and analysis of the effects of civil war on the lives of people in the society provide significant insight into the positive and adverse effects on the civilians and the people in the community. The increased concern of people in the nation resulted in an increased level of divisions among families on both the South and the North. The rise of the civil war increased the movement of men to the military positions, and it became challenging for men, women, and children to interact. Though there existed a way for ensuring that people exchanged communication through sending letters, they were not efficient because some information was distorted and delayed responses thus continued separation among the people. The civil war also resulted in the creation of differences with families, especially in political ideologies. Though civil war led to significant adverse effects primarily through the increased deaths, the conflict created a path for women empowerment. Women played an essential role in supporting men to show their level of patriotism. Under such circumstances, they learned the ways through which they could improve their lives. As a result, people in the society developed a technique for ensuring that people in the community used this opportunity to change the level of inequality thus changing the relationship between men and women in both the South and the North. These changes were similar in both the blacks and the whites.
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