Their World | Rilaya

9: Mr. Civil War

"The American Civil War!" Cory exclaims.

"No, Matthews," Maya pouts.

"What did I do this time?" Cory asks.

"You're wrong, we aren't fighting anymore," Maya argues.

Riley agrees, "yeah Dad, Maya's right. No war!"

"Let the man teach!"

"Thank you, Farkle," Cory smiles. "The American Civil!"

"Ugh," Maya rolls her eyes.

"So what started the war? Farkle?"

"The Southern states, otherwise known as the Confederacy, seceded from the northern states, or the Union."

"Why did they leave? Smackle?"

"The Confederacy left the Union due to their fear that the new president, Abraham Lincoln, would restrict their rights to own slaves."

"Good," Cory smiles.

"But the North and South are back together now," Maya says.

"Yes, but it took some time before they rejoined each other. Now Zay, can you name one Confederate state?"

"I got this. Texas."

"Indeed," Cory confirms, "Maya, how about a state from the Union?"

"I don't know."

"Where are you right now, Ms. Hart?"

"New York!" The blonde exclaims.

"Correct. Now Lucas, name one reason why this war was important."

"It was the first time America was ever divided. It went from being one united nation, to two separate ones."

Cory nods, "Riley, what did this war do for the United States in the end?"

"It abolished slavery," she exclaims.

"Well, yes and no" Matthews says.

"Actually, it wasn't for another three years after the war, when the 13th Amendment was established, that slavery was officially abolished," Smackle states.

"Three years, it took a whole three years until after the war ended to fix the main thing that caused it. Ending the war helped get us closer to abolishing slavery, but it took a good amount of time before we finally got there," Cory says.

"Nowadays, does anyone think that slavery is okay?" The teacher begins again.

The whole class shakes their heads.

"Yet, only a couple hundred years ago, owning slaves was thought of by many a right. So, what is the main lesson we can learn from this?"

The class is silent.

"Nobody? What you should take from this is that sometimes you need to fight for the right to become wrong...And no matter what their differences may be, if two parts of something are meant to be together they will become a whole once again."

The bell rings and the students get up from their desks and leave the classroom.

Cory finishes erasing the words, "Civil War" from his chalkboard before turning back to his almost empty class.