The Civil War was not a struggle between classes, but a sectional fight having its roots in political, economic, and social elements so confusing that people still do not agree on its causes. "It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the "irrepressible conflict."." Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means. The two main causes of …showed first 75 words of 1210 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1210 total…in 1915 and in 1939. Despite some of the gains during reconstruction, they soon ended. Federal troops were withdrawn from the South in 1877, and whites again began voting. White Southern Democrats soon took control from black and white Republican office holders. By the end of 1877, all of the gains of Reconstruction had disappeared, and blacks were again relegated to second-class citizens. It would not be until the civil rights movement in the 1960s that this would change.