Question

What constitutional issues and/or questions unanswered in the U.S. Constitution as of 1860 tore the nation apart in 1861?

Answer 1

Well Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the union in 1860 and the S. thought they needed their own president and their own constitution. They created one hardly indistinct from the one they were leaving behind.   Before Reconstruction started, Radical Republicans (abolitionists before and during the Civil War) pushed Constitutional amendments through Congress to guarantee the rights of emancipated slaves. These “Radicals” were responsible for the Emancipation proclamation and thus wanted to ensure the freedmen’s rights, constitutionally. The 13th Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th Amendment of 1868 defined citizenship (explicitly male), and the 15th Amendment of 1870 guaranteed black voting rights. But, the situation was complex and southern whites did not take well to these amendments.