Tiffany Rivera Prior to 1860 there was great sectionalism in the United States between the northern and southern states. The Southern states and Northern states were always in competition for power. Various compromises were proposed by the opposing sides but eventually failed. The Civil War, election of President Lincoln and Reconstruction Era caused great change in the US. Constitutional developments such as the Emancipation Proclamation, three civil rights bills, and the Reconstruction Era impacted the lives on freedmen. Social developments such as the Freedmen's Bureau, the Black Codes, and the Ku Klux Klan were also revolutionary especially to the lives of the freedmen. One may say the election of President Lincoln was revolutionary. When the southern states realized their insignificance in terms of political power compared to the northern states, the southern states seceded from the union. South Carolina believed they had the constitutional right to secede from the Union because it was not stated in the Constitution it was illegal to do so and should be left to state power.
