Answer: The Civil War freed the slaves and broke the planation system of forced labor. It also led to three constitutional amendments that tried to protect the rights of the freedmen. For a time, during Reconstruction, black men could vote, run for office, educate themselves and participate in the economy, . But when Reconstruction ended Jim Crow laws were passed that limited the right of black men. The dream of Frederick Douglass was that black men would be treated as equal to white men. This has become a reality for African Americans in the de jure sense but not in the de facto sense.