Andrew Johnson Argumentative Essay

After the Civil War, Andrew Johnson became Lincoln’s successor as a President. Even though he had always been a supporter of the Union, and Lincoln’s right hand in many ways, he was also extremely racist. So, the emancipation that Abraham Lincoln had fought for, wasn’t that important to Johnson when he took presidency, mainly because he never believed the black people could have any role in the Reconstruction. As a matter of fact, when President Johnson started to issue the proclamations that set the beginning of the Presidential Reconstruction, he restored some political and property rights for whites, but completely excluded African-Americans. Additionally, even though he made it a requirement for southern governments to abolish slavery,

he allowed them to manage their local affairs. As a consequence, laws called Black Codes were passed in order to face the Reconstruction with the issue of the Negro Status. After the abolition of slavery, slaves were finally able to move away from the plantation, look for their family members, travel, and much more. They set up their own churches, groups and schools.

White southerners weren’t fond of the fact that the 13th Amendment had abolished slavery because, with slaves’ freedom, came an enormous shortage in labor on the plantations. The newly acquired independence of the African-Americans was cause of alarmism for white southerners. On top of that, those that previously were a responsibility of the slave owner, were now a responsibility of the southern governments. Southerners had to try their best at keeping blacks and mulattos were they belonged. African-Americans couldn’t be placed at the same level as whites, economically, politically and socially. Such codes, were basically a revival of slavery, just with a different name. While certain rights were granted to blacks, such as ownership of property (even though some states barred them from it), legal marriage, and some access to courts, many other rights were still denied to them. The intent was to reaffirm the position of inferiority of the black people. The first state to pass the laws was Mississippi. It accounted for also having the harshest. The purpose was to regain control over the black population, continuing to have supply of free or cheap labor through them, and restoring whites’

supremacy. For example, the Apprentice Law made it possible for judges, even without the consent of the parents, to assign minors to work as apprentices. The fact that in these laws the names master and mistress still showed up, is an eye opening proof that slavery had just been replaced by something equally diminishing for the African-American population. Masters and mistresses were required to provide food, clothing and medical attention in exchange of the labor, but they were also allowed to use corporal punishment if needed. In addition, freed people who didn’t find work on a plantation were arrested and, if unable to pay the fines inflicted to them, they were given to white landowners for labor. If black people ran away, they were to be returned to their masters. Those who helped the freed slaves faced being fine by the law as well. The vagrancy law and convict-labor law were meant to intimidate freedmen into being apprentices or contract laborers. Since President Johnson had given to southern governments the freedom to manage themselves, their intention was to restore slavery through the black codes. Slavery wasn’t meant to die in the opinion of the southerners, so why not just give it a different name and continue to pursue the benefits that came form it.