Civil War Reconstruction

Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.

The main action taken that affected the South after Reconstruction was the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws legalized racial segregation in everything from education to public facilities to religion. Due to this law, Black Americans struggled for racial equality. Abraham Lincoln’s Death: Abraham Lincoln’s death marked an extending time period of racism, segregation, discrimination, and fight for equal rights under the constitution. Without Lincoln there to guide the United States through reconstruction, the United States took action on the issue at hand.

Blacks fell subject to discrimination and harassment again. Voting deterrents were at new high, with violence keeping blacks at home and fearful to go near the polls. Jim Crow laws were welcomed to the south and it seemed when African American to a step forward in American history, they were placed two step back. Eventually blacks were extinguished from state legislature in every southern state and positive colored influence came to a

The problems that came after this were caused by the Vietnam War. Because all of the US resources needed to go into funding the war, African Americans were left out to dry once again by the government. This is shown when Martin Luther King Jr. says, “The promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam” (Painter 305). In the drafting of the war, more black people were drafted which caused problems because now Blacks were dying in larger numbers than whites and that was yet another inequality that enraged African Americans. This time period was one of success and defeat in the eyes of the African American people.

  Although slavery had been outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, it continued in many southern states. In an effort to get around laws passed by Congress, southern states created black codes, which were discriminatory state laws which aimed to keep white supremacy in place. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans, their primary purpose was to fulfill an important economic need in the postwar South. To maintain agricultural production, the South had relied on slaves to work the land. Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their ties to the land.

Though seven states passed the black codes they tended to vary between states, like how in South Carolina it was required for blacks who wished to enter nonagricultural employment to get a special license or in Mississippi the codes tried to block their ability to buy and sell farmland. Many parts of these codes didn’t take effect because of the union suspending the enforcement of racially discriminatory provisions of the new laws (Boyer et al, p.473). The black codes revealed many white southern intentions and many northerners denounced what they were doing and called it southern defiance. Even many congressmen were upset about the black codes and in December of 1865 they refused to seat the delegates from ex-Confederate states, this actually established the first joint committee (the house and the senate). The Radical Republicans (just a faction of the Republican Party that also supported blacks freedoms in most cases) were very out raged at the treatment of the newly freed slaves and they tried to dismantle the black codes and also tried to lock the ex-

To make it even worse the Reconstruction Era brought in many groups of racist supremacists who did not support the freedom of blacks nor did they want a nation full of mixed races only whites in the country. One of these groups being the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK aroused in the south in 1877. This group would go out and terrorize any blacks who took part in voting for the United States. Eventually, things would slowly move down making racism and discrimination go away with the civil rights movement in place. African Americans had a tough life for many centuries and eventually they received their freedom.

The controversial measure put forth by the group required an oath from all former Confederate states prior to regaining Union entry. Lincoln’s measure called more a more lenient process, requiring only 10 percent of the states to take the path (Holt, 1995). The bill outlined by Lincoln also pardoned most southerners in the Confederate led rebellion against the federal government of the United States. It was touted to be designed as a peace plan intended to help shorten the time of war. In the policy, Lincoln did insist that slavery be abolished by the new state governments established through the reconstruction effort.

Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).

Peter Schroeder Dr. Christopher Marshall Modern United States History 2/2/17 Writing Assignment 1: The African-American Experience with Reconstruction Reconstruction among the south refers to the point in time which the United States was attempting to establish a relationship between the union and the rebels. The Union had won the civil war, so the next step was to begin to mend the broken relationship between the north and the south. Though historians cannot agree on when it began, there is merit in saying that it started before the end of the Civil War. After victory, had been solidified for the Union, attention of President Lincoln turned towards reconstruction.

But racial tensions across the country were incredibly high, and African-Americans continued to experience oppression even though they were no longer slaves.” This shows that while the Civil War truly split the country, the ending and aftermath of it did not end unfair treatment to blacks but the idea of slavery. On the same note, this provides a proper explanation of how, even though African-Americans were set free from slavery, they were still not truly set free as American citizens. In summary, slavery divided the country, but segregation did the same without the drawing of

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life.

Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans

The Civil War allowed the United States to make the changes necessary to unify the country. In addition, it began one of the most transitional periods in the United States’ history. This period, the Reconstruction, brought about many political, social, and economic changes, which were both beneficial and disagreeable. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Panic of 1873, and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan are just a few examples of heavily impacting events for the United States. During the Reconstruction period there were numerous political transformations in the country.