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The Civil War in Memory: 1877 to 2013

The Civil War in Memory: 1877 to 2013

How did men and women in the North experience the decade that followed the war?

Men and women in the Northern states generally considered the issues of Union, disunion, slavery, and emancipation to be finished. There was now one federal union, indivisible, and slavery had been eradicated. That seemed sufficient to the great majority of people in the North. They were, therefore, surprised and disturbed to learn of the appearance of the Ku Klux Klan and the battle for white supremacy. The issues of the 1860s had been very intense for most people in the North, but they wanted to let go of them and tend to other ones.