The American Civil War ended with the confederacy surrendering. “More than 258,000 Confederate soldiers died and thousands came home wounded”(Brinkley). After the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the rebellious states in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, he announced a reconstruction plan. Lincoln was assassinated on the night of April 14th, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. Soon after Lincoln’s death in 1865 his successor, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, was the new president and had his own reconstruction plan. In April 1866, the 14th amendment was signed giving citizenship to everyone born and naturalized in the United States, especially African-Americans. The Presidential reconstruction period is when Johnson became president. …show more content…
When he became president, he readmitted the southern states. Freedmen’s Bureau had to return all the land taken by freed slaves to the original owners. The Freedmen’s Bureau was known to food, cloth, educate, and so on for ex-slaves. Black codes were launched and set out for the African-American Community. It was to seize blacks, fine them for being homeless, and hire them out to pay off the debt. Former slaves rose up and fought against this and asked for a legislation to protect them. April 1866, congress passed its First Civil Rights Act. Which granted African-Americans to be full fledged citizens and gave them some legal rights as well. Johnson vetoed this bill, and congress passed it. Congress also passed the 14th amendment, abolish slavery, and the 15th amendment freed slaves to U.S. with right to vote. With this being said, the freeing of slaves did nothing towards protecting human rights socially or economically. The Radical Reconstruction period they believed blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunity as whites (ushistory.org). In 1866, congress introduced a bill to extend Freedmen’s Bureau and began the Civil Rights Bill. Johnson denied that claim saying it was to large for the government. He also vetoed the Civil Rights Bill as well. Republicans and Radicals joined forces and overturned Johnson’s veto. The Republicans later on introduced the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The Reconstruction Act divided the south. It divided the south into 5 different military districts in order to protect black property and citizens. The southern states rewrote the constitution and ratifications for two years. President Johnson stood in the way of things with congress so that called for impeachment. In 1868, Johnson became the first president to be impeached. Impeachment is the process in which any federal official accused of misconduct. It goes to the house then to the senate for trail. Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, was charged with enforcing (ushistory.org). They charged him with violation of Tenure Of Office Act. Since there was not a vice president at the time Wade, a radical businessman, was next in line. In May 1868, 35 senators voted and they were 1 short of the ⅔ majority vote. Johnson was found for not guilty and served the rest of his term. The African-Americans born into slavery could now vote and own land.
In the south, it was booming for blacks. The blacks now could eat on the trains, and even in restaurants with whites. The improving of black lives were great in the schools, and public relief projects. Blacks were finally making political office and even becoming sheriffs and judges. Economically, blacks had lots of disadvantages. All they knew was to work on the plantations. Sharecropping was at an all time high. Whites and Black were both working for food basically. They would work on the plantations in exchange for food or maybe even shelter. The sharecroppers had bad debt along with working for food. They had to borrow money they couldn’t pay back, or the debt exceed the profit of harvest. The taxes and corruption were high in the United States. The “Carpetbaggers” from the North would make matters worse by political powers. Reconstruction gave slaves the freedom of a white man, but set a blockade on the path to equal …show more content…
success. The Ku Klux Klan were a supremacy group aimed to control African-Americans through violence and intimidation.
Lynching, Brawls, Massacres, and so on happend with this group of violent people. These people wanted white supremacy and nothing else. It wasn’t just a certain group of people either. There were poor whites, ministers, confederate soldiers, and military personnel, along with lots more. These men were hooded, burned crosses, and murdered those who stood in the way of there American Dream. Blacks tried to find a new world to settle much like the old one. Work on plantations increased, lost of taxes like poll taxes increased, violence, and literacy test were given to the African-Americans to keep them from voting. During the reconstruction period, with all the bills passed to get African-Americans to vote and abolish slavery, they failed to dictate new restrictions on laws regarding prejudice actions or display of racism/hate. This meaning they could have passed bills along with the amendments to secure African-Americans culture rather than not doing anything at all. With them not passing anything, it weighed significantly on the black community and well as the history. History could have been changed if they passed laws regarding to the 14th and 15th amendments having to do with
racism. Slavery ended when the Civil war did. Reconstruction failed for freed slaves because it granted them freedom but, they still had no freedom. They had to give back land given to them because they were freed slaves. It didn’t give blacks the same social standards as a white man. It’s not until the First Civil Rights Bill was a slave actually a citizen, which means freed officially. Which all these were a positive movement toward racial equality, there enforcement was extremely difficult. It gave slaves the freedom, but it was not easy. Slavery just ended and the fight for equality just started from here on out.
With the civil war coming to an end, the congressman of Illinois presented a fresh, new concept. This modern idea stated that the United States of America was a new nation and “for the first time, it had been wholly free.” Many of the white men from this time period were against the change and pursued their old way of life, which prevented the newly made amendments from going into full effect. Freedom in the south during the reconstruction era of America was very controversial. There were many different conceptions of what freedom was. It was thought to be land, others thought it had to do with money, and some even though it was not having a master/not being a slave. The definition of freedom swayed back and forth depending on whose point of
The seed sown by the wealthy Southern plantation owner of racial disparity had germinated to later become the profoundly discriminatory society. The suppression and unjust behavior of white southern plantation owner towards black slaves had led the civil war, which transition the new era of uncertainty. The work of post-civil war does not end with the abolishment of slavery, but it only starts. The task of rebuilding the south, readmission of the confederate army to union, and providing assistance for the free people of post war, was later known as reconstruction. The work of reconstruction had not only failed to rebuild the nation as the united. But it also failed profoundly of what was the urgent needs of the post war; provide assistance
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
Reconstruction could be considered one of the largest projects ever undertaken. The mess that was the south, left in the ruins of a bloody war, called for drastic measures. The inquisition that begs to be asked is whether or not this venture was a success. Unfortunately the answer isn't as simple as "yes" or "no". Although many promises were broken, the much-debated goals of Reconstruction are still present in the minds of today's leaders as we continue to rebuild our country.
Free blacks from the south were facing many situations from the whites from the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were to prevent free blacks and other non-whites from being able to vote and have a voice within the government. Laws and statements were established such as the Grandfather Clause, which would prevent anyone whose grandfather could not vote from voting. Since the majority of blacks grandfathers did not vote and was not even free, free blacks in the south were denied the right to vote. Free blacks were now being denied any privilege that non slaves (whites) already had. Their "freedom" was only from slavery, now they realized that they were still a slave to the world. Also during this time blacks were being discriminated against and the lynchings of blacks were occurring. Blacks were becoming endangered and feared for their lives.
...ights of blacks due to the inequitable laws such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping, and the fact that the Economic Depression of 1873 and the common acts of corruption distressed the economy. The southern states were reunified with the northern states through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction programs, even though Congress did not fully support them and created their own plan. Reconstruction was meant to truly give blacks the rights they deserved, but the southerners’ continuous acts of discrimination including the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping eventually denied them of those rights. Lastly, the negative effects of the corruption and the Panic of 1873 lead to economic failure during Reconstruction. These issues relate to our society because people do still face discrimination and corruption in our economy still exists today.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
Reconstruction gave potential hope and opportunity for the black population even though it failed to bring economic gains to blacks. it instead established social gains as more and blacks migrated to the south, the federal freedman bureau made education more widely available for blacks.
Blacks in the north were separated from their white counterparts in everyway. Legislators were always creating laws to keep the races divided. Many states tried to impose laws that would segregate schools. The whites did not want black kids going to the same school because if blacks and whites mingled there could be inter marriage. Even the trains were segregated. Negroes had to sit on a certain part of the streetcars and whites on another. Blacks were not allowed to go to certain cities because people thought that they brought down the property value. Imagine people thought just the presence of blacks could bring down property value down.
The Emancipation Proclamation did little to clarify the status or citizenship of the freed slaves; it opened the possibility of military service for blacks. In 1863, the need for men convinced the administration to recruit northern and southern blacks for the Union army. Lincoln came so see black soldier as “the great available and yet unavailed for force for restoring the Union”. African American people helped that military service would secure equal rights for their people. One the black soldier had fought for the Union, wrote Frederick Douglass, “there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” Lincoln exhibited a remarkable ability to alter his attitudes according to circumstance. He became so sincerely admire black soldiers during the Civil War. June 1864, Lincoln called on the party to “put into the platform as the keystone, the amendment of the Constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery forever.” The party promptly called for the Thirteenth Amendment. The proposed amendment passed in early 1865 and was sent to the states for ratification. Finally, the war to save the Union had also become the war to free
The Reconstruction-era was an extremely rough period for the African-Americans as well as many white settlers. The African-Americans endured numerous hardships and losses as a result of the white settlers' frustrations. Although the African-Americans' losses were great during this time, the progress made throughout that period is amazing. Many of them were sent off with nothing, to live on their own and a number of them managed to meet success. Their largest success came when the Reconstruction-era ended. African-Americans fought and struggled for their freedom, rights, and equality, for years, and although it took them a long time, they accomplished what they set out to do.
Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.
Despite all of Reconstruction’s promises and successes, the era included many failures, too. One such failure was the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and other racially prejudiced groups in the South that promoted violence towards African Americans. Another failure involved the corruption seen during Reconstruction by both the North and South. The carpetbaggers who were Northerners helped spread corruption in the Reconstruction Era by moving from their home state in the North securing a political office or position in the South to carry out the plans of the Radical Republicans. In the South, many local governments disenfranchised or created poll taxes for African American voters enabling them to vote.
African American history plays a huge role in history today. From decades of research we can see the process that this culture went through and how they were depressed and deculturalized. In school, we take the time to learn about African American History but, we fail to see the aspects that African Americans had to overcome to be where they are today. We also fail to view life in their shoes and fundamentally understand the hardships and processes that they went through. African Americans were treated so terribly and poor in the last century and, they still are today. As a subordinate race to the American White race, African Americans were not treated equal, fair, human, or right under any circumstances. Being in the subordinate position African Americans are controlled by the higher white group in everything that they do.
Prior to the Civil War, attempts made by Congress to compromise and relieve tensions such as the Compromise of 1850 helped address the issue of slavery in newly acquired lands by America during the Spanish-American War. Sadly though, this compromise was accompanied by the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced escaped slaves to return back to their owners in the South. This definitely caused a rift in the sectional tensions between the South and North, especially because the Fugitive Slave Law was never really enforced. Government was trying its best to address slavery, but it surely didn’t fix anything. Abolitionists living in the North made strong efforts to end slavery. During the Civil War, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation helped free slaves in the states who were rebelling against the Union. Which, ultimately helped shift the objective of the Civil War to freeing slaves. The hatred of slaves grew even greater following Lincoln’s decision, but this didn’t matter in the end. In the South, the significance of cotton gin and tobacco forced southerners to rely on the peculiar institution of slavery. Slavery was so embedded into southern society that it almost seemed impossible for Americans to change it. Looking forward into 1877, with the help of the Emancipation Proclamation and the introduction of the 13th through 15th Amendments finally helped African Americans gain the rights they truly deserved. Although many may have objected to these acts of Congress, the majority of Americans began to truly accept blacks into society. Lastly, the Civil Rights Act was one of the last acts of Congress that truly helped define the rights of African Americans, for it laid out the foundation of accepting the fact that America would forever be a segregated and free nation by promoting good treatment of blacks. All of these examples provide strong evidence as to the difficult times African Americans