How did the civil war impact society

The Civil War had a greater impact on American society and the polity than any other event in the country's history.

It was also the most traumatic experience endured by any generation of Americans. At least 620,000 soldiers lost their lives in the war, 2 percent of the American population in 1861. If the same percentage of Americans were to be killed in a war fought today, the number of American war dead would exceed 6 million.

Although Abraham Lincoln considered slavery as an abhorrent evil, as a lawyer and a politician he knew that the constitution protected slavery in the states where the citizens seemed to want it. Lincoln issued a preliminary warning that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state that did not end its rebellion against the Union by January 1, 1863. The proclamation came into effect on the historic day of January 1, 1863 legally freeing 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves

In the five years immediately following the Civil War the United States constitution adopted the 13th, 14th and the 15th Constitutional amendments between 1865 and 1870. These amendments were added more than 60 years after the 12th amendment of 1804 and primarily dealt with the issue of African Americans, people of color and slavery. The amendments are also called the Reconstruction Amendments as they were important in the reconstruction of Southern America after the Civil War.