Reconstruction after the civil war remains to be amongst the most controversial and turbulent in the history of the United States. It saw the first test into America’s interracial democracy. Just after the Civil war, the country was faced with many challenges. These challenges included the initial discrimination against the slaves and how they would be accommodated to form a united nation, the violation of citizens’ rights and how the federal government would play a role in protecting these rights and the system that would be put in place to replace the system of slavery.
Commonly known as the fourteenth amendment, the constitution of the United States was changed on the 9th, July 1868. This amendment defined citizenship of the United States as a person either naturalized or born in the United States. This amendment accommodated all the slaves that had just been freed. Additionally, it forbade the state the ability to deny any citizen property, life or liberty without duly following the legal process. The states’ role was directly mentioned by this amendment directly. Therefore, it expanded civil rights protection to all the American citizens citing more litigation than any amendment.
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The opportunity that presented itself during the reconstruction was the construction of the huge intercontinental railroads. Two companies namely; the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were responsible for the construction. The Union Pacific was largely dominated by the Irish citizens while the Chinese dominated the central Pacific. The completion of this project marked the beginning of the transformation of the West. These railroads greatly helped in opening up the unpopulated regions to massive settlement and exploration by different nationals and races which would otherwise not be feasible. It also assisted in opening up transportation networks for freight and cross country passengers.
It made transportation cheap and safe. As a result, there was a great improvement of the economy. The railroads also had the negative impact most especially on the American people as they lost their native land to the new settlers who came in large numbers thus forcing the Native Americans to move to reservations. It also increased the number of immigrants who came to settle in America. The railroads also had a negative impact on the environment as there were massive killings of buffalos for sports. There was also the destruction of natural resources to pave the way for this construction. The Native Americans lost their cultures. The immigrants came from Russia, Mexico, China and the African continent. They settled along the banks of the railroads and mostly engaged in trade.
