The South was utterly devastated by the end of the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of fathers, brothers, and sons were dead by 1865. The southern economy was absent due to the outlawing of slave labor; and there was little to no political structure to keep people in order and lead the communities. The South was completely unable to function as a normal society should be able to. In an attempt to make the south able to function, The North adopted a policy of reconstruction. It established a military occupation of the South and attempted to improve the economy and political system to make it a contributing and functioning region of the United States. As a result, between 1860 and 1877, the United States, most notably the South, went through a process of mixed revolution and continuation of old ideals. During the period, constitutional amendments led to a radical revolution in the rights afforded to blacks; however, racist organizations in the South perpetuated the discrimination of blacks in society and politics. Additionally, government aid was not very successful and did little to counteract social inequality. In 1860, blacks were enslaved in the south. By 1877, blacks were legally allowed to vote and have all the rights afforded to any white man. The first major change to blacks’ rights was made by the thirteenth amendment. It abolished slavery in the United States; however it left blacks in a limbo between slaves and citizens. Some government officials, such as Gideon Welles, disagreed with the federal government dealing with civil rights. Contrary to their wishes, the next change came from the fourteenth amendment, which established blacks as full citizens. This was much to the delight of blacks who fought for the Un... ... middle of paper ... ...change for much of the United States. Slavery was abolished by the thirteenth amendment and blacks were afforded full rights by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which was a revolutionary change compared to just a few years before. Although blacks were legally equal citizens, they were not treated as such. Racist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and White League, oppressed blacks through blatant violence and intimidation. Although blacks were politically equal, they were socially inferior. The Freedmen’s Bureau was not as successful as it could have been and was of little us to most blacks. It only perpetuated the place of blacks in society as working for the white man. Although the constitutional changes to black’s rights were very revolutionary, there was very little revolution in American society with blacks remaining as lesser than any white man.
We saw the Thirteenth Amendment occur to abolish slavery. We also saw the Civil Rights Acts which gave full citizenship, as well as the prohibiting the denial of due process, etc. Having the civil rights laws enabled African Americans to new freedoms which they did not used to have. There was positive change occurring in the lives of African Americans. However, there was still a fight to suppress African Americans and maintain the racial hierarchy by poll taxes and lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Sadly, this is when Jim Crow laws appeared. During this time African Americans were losing their stride, there was an increase in prison populations and convict labor, and the convicts were
Groups of people soon received new rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It gave black Americans full citizenship and guaranteed them equal treatment. Also, it passed the Fourteenth Amendment to make sure that the Supreme Court couldn’t declare the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. The amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and the states in which they lived. Also, states were forbidden to deprive blacks of life, liberty, or property without due process. Additionally, blacks could not be discriminated by the law. If a state would deprive blacks of their rights as citizens, it’s number of congressional representatives would be reduced. The Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment affected both the North and the South.
The Civil war was possibly the greatest tragedy that this country had ever faced. Years of constant arguing, compromises and cynical ideas about slavery pushed this so called "United Nation" into an atrocious collision between the Northern abolitionists and the Southern proslavery farmers and plantation owners. The nation suffered enormous losses economically and went into a downward spiral. The reconstruction period began with many leaders stepping up to try and fix this crippled country, but it didn't turn out like everyone hoped. Slavery was still the largest issue and the reconstruction halted because of the disagreements the people faced. After many years of working, compromising and passing laws, the task proved itself to be impossible, as the country remained to be separated. The lack of unity was present because most of the amendments, laws and rules passed during reconstruction were created to protect and ensure the rights of African Americans. However the South continued to promote slavery and "putting blacks in their place" until the 1950's.
Though the issue of slavery was solved, racism continues and Southerners that stayed after the war passed Black Codes which subverted the ideas of freedom including the actions of state legislatures (Hakim 19). Black Codes were a set of laws that discriminated blacks and limited their freedom (Jordan 388). Such restrictions included: “No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish...No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset…” (Louisiana Black Codes 1865). A solution to this was the 14th Amendment. It meant now all people born in America were citizens and it “Prohibited states from revoking one’s life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This meant all states had to...
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African American people, instead, it actually hurt them because the laws were not enforced, and eventually lead to the organization of white supremacy terrorist groups.
During the span of thirty years from 1865 to 1895 blacks that lived within this time frame went through arguably the most profound series of events to occur in African American history. Southern blacks were faced with prejudice, bondage, slavery, and ultimately survival. Shortly after the thirteenth amendment was ratified, stating that: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves. Although Reconstruction failed in many aspects such as the upraise in white supremacy and racism, the reconstruction era was a time the United States took a lead in the direction of race equality.
Although the Civil War is celebrated as the time of emancipation, emancipation was not the primary issue at stake. This leads to wondering how the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th amendment actually affected the life of the average black. If emancipation was a side effect or an afterthought, what did it really mean? Truly, although blacks were legally freed after the war, they were in many ways still enslaved to the white man. But although the majority of whites in the South did desire and often succeed in keeping the “freedmen” under their control, some few truly did desire to see blacks succeed in the world. Also, the status of blacks during the war was intriguing; for the North, blacks from the South and Northern blacks were treated the same. And that same was inferior to the whites of the North.
During the time of 1860-1877 Constitutional developments resulted in a revolution for the Blacks. The South was annoyed at the Blacks because they gained their freedom against the will of many southern men. Later, however, Blacks gained more than just their freedom; they gained suffrage and even civil rights. The United States government even took the side of the Blacks when white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan arose and even tried to protect them. From this point on, Blacks were able to vote and have equal rights to white men, and just from a few revolutionary changes.
After the emancipation of slaves in 1862, the status of African-Americans in post civil war America up until the beginning of the twentieth century did not go through a great deal of change. Much legislation was passed to help blacks in this period. The Civil Rights act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public facilities and various government amendments gave African-Americans even more guaranteed rights. Even with this government legislation, the newly dubbed 'freedmen' were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era.
Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in South. Martial law was also implemented in the South. Eventually, the North hoped to admit the territory in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed the African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote. Despite this, Reconstruction was unfortunately cut short in 1877. The North killed Recosntruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.
During the 1800 and 1900s there was at least three significant amendments that occurred during this occasion. Fluctuating the lives of all African American was a big deal. Becoming free from the slavery was the main commitment for all the African Americans. The 13th Amendment indicated the abolishment of slavery, 14th Amendment specified everyone born in the U.S. were born with expected rights and the 15th Amendment indicated that residents of the U.S. had the right to vote nonetheless of color or earlier slavery. A little background before the civil war amendments, there was slavery widespread during this time. The slave families were abused, their wives were raped, lastly their children were sold to any of the white families. They made one thing clear that slaves had no rights what so ever where they lived.
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
Amendment 13, passed January 31, 1865, ratified December 6 1865, brought freedom and citizenship to all slaves. Although the slaves were free, they weren’t equal to the whites, and didn’t have the rights that all of the other white American citizens did. Black Americans moved past slavery, but faced other challenges that held their population back. During the reconstruction era Black Americans faced difficulties socially, politically, and economically that White Americans didn’t.
The era of the Civil War brought a multitude of changes that would impact the lives of all Americans. After the conclusion of what would be the bloodiest war of the 19th century, several constitutional and social developments were brought into effect. Such constitutional developments included the Emancipation Proclamation and the Radical Reconstruction of Andrew Johnson. To a similar extent, the passage of the 15th Amendment guaranteed all African American males the right to vote, regardless of any previous condition of servitude. However, in spite of many positive constitutional developments that arose during this era, a combination of legal developments such as Black Codes and Poll taxes, combined with negative social developments such as the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacy resulted in an unstable