The firing on Fort Sumter, 150 years ago today, is a watershed moment in American history. The United States that existed before the Civil War and the country that existed after were two very different places.
What started as a war about states' rights grew to be a battle over slavery. The war freed the slaves and acknowledged for the first time that black men had the same rights as white men. (Although it would be another century before they could enjoy those rights.) Brother fought brother, at times literally. Cities and farms were destroyed. For the first time in the nation's history, a president was assassinated.
What started as a war about states' rights grew to be a battle over slavery. The war freed the slaves and acknowledged for the first time that black men had the same rights as white men. (Although it would be another century before they could enjoy those rights.) Brother fought brother, at times literally. Cities and farms were destroyed. For the first time in the nation's history, a president was assassinated.
It's difficult to say how different the nation would be now if the war never began or if Lincoln had not been assassinated or if the Confederacy had won the war. But one thing is for certain - it would not be the nation we recognize.
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