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Explain and discuss how the definitions of freedom change for the nation, for the freedmen and for southern whites after the Civil War.

After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come. 


For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to...

After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come. 


For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to belong to without being ordered to attend religious services (or not to attend) by their masters; and choosing to educate themselves and their children. They also defined freedom as political rights, which were granted in the 14th and 15th Amendments, which granted citizenship to everyone born in the United States and the right to vote to men, respectively. In addition, freedmen sought freedom of movement and economic opportunities as extensions of their new freedom.


However, many southern whites felt that the freedmen's sense of freedom came into direct conflict with their own sense of freedom, which they believed relied on slave labor. They instituted laws to roll back the gains that freedmen had made and to tie African-Americans to sharecropping plots. Southern whites also believed that federal laws infringed on their freedoms, which were protected by states' rights. The white southerners' ideas of freedom and the freedmen's ideas of freedom came into conflict well into the 20th century during the era of Jim Crow laws in the south.  

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