In a way, the Civil War really began as soon as America came into existence.
Back in 1776, the American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain, led by personal beliefs about freedom and progress. They also struggled with a deep conflict over slavery. As the nation grew, the strains present at its creation began to pull America apart.
This conflict can be seen within the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The Declaration of Independence stated that, “All men are created equal.” Different Americans found different meanings in that phrase. The Constitution held other sources of simmering conflict. To help ensure its adoption, protections for slavery were written into its text.
By 1850, the United States enslaved more people than any other country in the world. This investment in human property was more valuable than the nation’s railroads, banks and factories combined.
Eighty-seven years after the forming of our nation, the conflicts that predated its founding erupted into war. But while the Civil War was the greatest disaster ever to befall our country, it was also the period of our greatest achievement, since it defined — once and for all — who we are as a nation, and what beliefs we hold to be “self-evident.”
Today, the work of the Declaration of Independence remains unfinished. We have made great progress, with religious rights, women’s rights and racial equality formally recognized as amendments to our Constitution. But every day in America, issues still arise that demand we revisit America’s core values, as outlined by Thomas Jefferson. The job of each of us remains: to ensure each person’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
