On the balance, the United States was not a freer and fairer nation in 1860 than it had been in 1787. This is because in the time between those dates not only had regulation increased, the population of slaves in the American South had increased and Native Americans were being forced from their traditional lands by treaties and by force to reservations sometimes far from their homes.
In the time between freeing itself from Great Britain and 1860 the United States had become less free as new rules and laws were imposed by the state and federal governments. In fact, it was this lessening of freedom for the American South which gave rise to the Civil War, in some respects, as many landowners and others felt that their freedom was being infringed by the northern concept of ending slavery, which they counted on for their economic realities in agriculture.
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"Freedom in the United States in 1787 and 1860".
In 1787 the northern states had for the most part abolished slavery, but by 1860 not only was slavery still a part of life in the American South, there was also a much larger Black population, and their freedom was severely restricted by slavery.
American was not a free and fair place for the Native Americans who were subjected to the Indian Removal plan. Many Indian tribes were forced to walk what is known as the Trail of Tears, while others were subjected to settlers taking their land and killing the buffalo, their source of food, until they were forced to sign treaties which had them isolated on small tracts of lands known as reserves.
America was not a freer nation in 1860 for those Americans subjected to increased regulation, for the increased population of Blacks subjected to slavery or for the Native Americans who found themselves restricted to Indian reserves.
