The Civil War of 1861 to 1865 was a period in which the United States struggled intensely over what type of nation it would become. The war initially arose out of differences between the North and the South, or between the slave states and (mostly) the non-slave states. These two camps fought over the right to maintain the institution of slavery. The North wanted to abolish slavery while the South believed it needed slaves to operate its plantations and ensure the success of its cotton-based economy. After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction period, the abolition of slavery was followed by new reform movements aimed at overcoming racial inequality and rebuilding and modernizing the South's devastated economy. Great changes have happened everywhere. The sum of these changes, at the constitutional and social levels, has given rise to a very different nation. Despite countermovements that sought to return America to a state that existed before the Civil War, by 1877 the nation had experienced constitutional and social revolutions. From the period before the Civil War until the end of Reconstruction, America experienced many constitutional revolutions. changes that changed both the shape of American democracy and the role of its government. The greatest constitutional conflicts involved states' rights versus the power of the federal government. When the South seceded from the Union in 1860, the United States government responded by invading the country to quell the rebellion. South Carolina had seceded from the union because it felt the federal government posed too great a threat to its state prerogatives. Soon after, all the Southern states followed. The South Carolina Declaration of Causes for Secession, December 24, 1860, referred to the restricted power...... middle of paper...... and the southern resistance of the KKK. The racial divide between whites and blacks has brought about significant changes in America and amounts to a revolution. The period 1860-1877 was a period that represented great constitutional and social changes in America. The results of the reconstruction were extremely significant. The North got what it wanted, no slaves. Southern states eventually had to accept the 13th and 14th Amendments, and this advancement gave black people in America many of the rights that white people had. The Freedmen's Bureau was also established and this institution helped freed blacks find housing. The power of the federal government increased and blacks gained civil rights. There was, however, tension between blacks and whites given the racial divide. Overall, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, America was firmly on the path to the modern nation we know today..