Chapter 142: The price of freedom.

Instead the struggle that follows lasts almost four years to the day, ending with the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Step by step freedom comes to those enslaved.

On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation releases all residing in the eleven rebel states. Lincoln acts in the face of Cabinet protests saying it redefines the war’s mission from restoring the Union to ending slavery.

The 13^th Amendment to the Constitution abolishes slavery when Lincoln signs the bill on February 1, 1865.

Citizenship is granted to African-Americans in the 14^th Amendment as of July 9, 1868.

However the war comes at a high price to the nation. Total casualties reach 1.5 million with some 750,000 soldiers dying in combat. Entire towns and cities lie in ruins. Financial costs run to $6 Billion and the federal debt rises to $2.6 Billion, despite the imposition of the first direct taxes on citizens. The bonds of trust between the North and South are broken and attempts at Reconstruction fail for almost two decades.

Still the “better angels of our nature” prevail in the end to wash away America’s original sin.

States That Have Seceded by the Time Lincoln Arrives in DC