South Africa and Post Civil War America

The Civil War in America occured between 1861 and 1865. Though it was not a long war, it was one of the bloodiest America has seen yet. It turned North and South against each other for economic and social reasons. Not only did the conflict arise because of the disagreement on slavery, but states rights and state soveriegnity also were being argued over. The Constitution was also came into play, when dealing with slavery and immigration rights. Currently, in South Africa, a similar war is going on that has lasted for over 40 years and it is called Apertheid. Both of these conflicts have many things in common, including colonization, land ownership, and faulty constitutions.
During the civil war, there was the obvious black and white separation. After, however, more immigrants started moving into the US, looking for jobs. Italians, Irish, Polish, and Chinese all came over and tried to work in the industrial areas of the North. This created tension with the just freed slaves, who were trying to get the same jobs as these immigrants. Nonetheless, all Caucasians still treated them harshly, got paid more, and did not have such hard labor or dangerous jobs. During the Apertheid, there was tension between the Africans and the whites, Africans and the Indians, and the Africans and the "coloreds", meaning anyone who is mixed. All of these different races were legally separated from the whites, and sent to live in townships out of the city. Their homes, good education, and voting rights were all stripped away from them, and they were deemed inferior to the Whites. In revolt, the other races would rob, rape, or commit other crimes against the Caucasians, which caused them to built high fences around their yards to protect themselves. Both America and South America had a lot of racial tension, and both still have it today, although it has calmed down.
Though it was never in the United States Constitution, the prominent land owners in America were white. There was no rule against other ethnicities owning land, but most of them couldn't afford it anyways. Most immigrants came over to America with barely any money looking for work, not for land. Since almost all of them were discriminated against and had horrible wages, it would take years to save up to buy land. During Apertheid, it was a law that only Caucasians could own land. All other races were legally not allowed to. Both countries had white land ownership.
Another thing both countries had in common were faulty Constitutions. The US's Constitution had blurred lines on Africans. It did not state whether blacks were property or people, so America came up with the 3/5 clause, stating that they were 3/5 person and 3/5 property. Obviously, it didn't work. There was also the "fugitive slave clause", which stated that any slave that ran away to a free state was returned to their master, which contradicted some states that said once you walked into their borders you were a free human. The Constitution since then has been changed. In South Africa, the Constitution banned all Coloreds and Blacks from voting or participating at all in the government. Later, the country threw out their Constiution and came up with a whole new one in 1996.
So although these two countries are on complete different continents, they both endured the same problems. Even with different economic standings, the two have many things in common when it comes to how their government has changed over time. Both countries faced racial tension, the same land ownership, and bad constitutions.