Period 5 : 1848-1877
This period in American History can be characterized as a turning point in history since it saw the change in the way life was being handled. The major events that occurred during this period was the Civil war which presented the fight for slavery that changed into the fight for state rights and other underlying problems. Another major even that occurred during this time period was the "reconstruction", such reconstruction didn't actually fix all the problems that were left after the civil war and even created newer problems. Such problems included the maltreatment of FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS from acts of incarceration for minor crimes such as loitering, but at the same time another group was not included into this whole idea of recreating which were the women of society. For many years women have been put to the side and treated as items for procreation and salves of the patriarch society. It can be said that the problems that were being related to the African Americans could go hand in hand with the problems that women were having since during that time they still weren't allowed to vote. Even further on the people who were treated the worst were African American women who literally were a demonstration in the whole analogy that women and African Americans coincide with each other. Another important moment that happened during this time period was the Fugitive slave act of 1852 which stated "provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners." The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad, which then brings us to the topic of the underground railroad which as many already know helped bring fugitive slaves toward the North in search for freedom. It was also argued during this time that even though if a slave would escape toward the free northern states, the slave itself would still not be freed since the salves master had never ordered for the salve to be officially announced as free. There was a major controversy with the Fugitive Slave act because it persecuted not only fugitive slaves but slaves that were actually free and there was no way to prove that a slave was free or even to acknowledge that what was being done was unconstitutional. Another major economic event that occurred during this period was the Panic of 1857 which was " An economic crash that arose due to the inflation caused by in California gold. The demands of the Crimean War over-stimulated grain growth and land speculation, and when the collapse came over five thousand businesses failed. Northern farmers were hard-hit by the panic, while the South basically went untouched. Also the panic created a clamor of higher tariff rates." The KKK had arose from the freedom of the salves, they were accepted in the community because they did what other people feared to do to the African Americans.