Result of the Civil War essays

Result of the Civil War essays One positive result of the Civil War was the emancipation of the slaves. Before the Civil War, the Union was divided on this issue. Abraham Lincoln desired to unify the Union and he realized that emancipation was absolutely necessary for two reasons. First, it would keep the country together. Second, it would allow all men and women to be free. In 1864, Congress called for the thirteenth amendment, which prohibited slavery. This measure had two benefits. It ended slavery and the war as well. Although it was not easy, the Confederate unity eventually dissolved. This was a critical moment in America's history because the Confederate states wanted desperately to break from the Union completely. It is interesting to consider where the United States would be now if the Confederate states were allowed to break from the Union. The country would definitely not be where it is now. In addition, the country would not be the "united" states. It is almost certain that fighting would have continued and many more lives would have been lost if the Confederate In addition, the prohibition of slavery was critical to America as well. It is essential that all Americans, regardless of their skin color be treated equally. Emancipation was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and from that, slaves not only came to experience freedom, but women did as well. America was founded on freedom and it only makes sense that freedom could be embraced by all of its citizens. Although the Civil War was painful and many lives were lost, we can look back at it and know that it was not in vain because the country is united and because all American citizens are born free. ...

A Brief History of Cameroon, Africa

A Brief History of Cameroon, Africa The earliest inhabitants of Cameroon were likely the Bakas- or pygmies. They still inhabit the forests of the south and east provinces. Bantu speakers originating in the Cameroonian highlands were among the first groups to move out before other invaders. During the late 1770s and early 1800s, the Fulani- a pastoral Islamic people of the western Sahel- conquered most of what is now northern Cameroon, subjugating or displacing its largely non-Muslim inhabitants. Arrival of the Europeans Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroons coast in the 1500s, malaria prevented significant European settlement and conquest of the interior until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant, quinine, became available. The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missions established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life. From German Colony to League of Nation Mandates Beginning in 1884, all of present-day Cameroon and parts of several of its neighbors became the German colony of Kamerun, with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaounde. After World War I, this colony was partitioned between Britain and France under a June 28, 1919, League of Nations mandate. France gained the larger geographical share, transferred outlying regions to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaounde. Britains territory- a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad, with an equal population- was ruled from Lagos. Struggle for Independence In 1955, the outlawed Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), based largely among the Bamileke and Bassa ethnic groups, began an armed struggle for independence in French Cameroon. This rebellion continued, with diminishing intensity, even after independence. Estimates of death from this conflict vary from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. French Cameroon achieved independence in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. The following year the largely Muslim northern two-thirds of British Cameroon voted to join Nigeria; the largely Christian southern third voted to join with the Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The formerly French and British regions each maintained substantial autonomy. A One Party State Ahmadou Ahidjo, a French-educated Fulani, was chosen President of the federation in 1961. Ahidjo, relying on a pervasive internal security apparatus, outlawed all political parties but his own in 1966. He successfully suppressed the UPC rebellion, capturing the last important rebel leader in 1970. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state. The Road to Multi-Party Democracy Ahidjo resigned as President in 1982 and was constitutionally succeeded by his Prime Minister, Paul Biya, a career official from the Bulu-Beti ethnic group. Ahidjo later regretted his choice of successors, but his supporters failed to overthrow Biya in a 1984 coup. Biya won single-candidate elections in 1984 and 1988 and flawed multiparty elections in 1992 and 1997. His Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) party holds a sizeable majority in the legislature following 2002 elections- 149 deputies out of a total of 180. Source Public Domain material, US Department of State Background Notes.