Reconstruction Dbq Essay

Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.

Alicia Jeffery When the United States erupted into civil war in 1861, the status of African Americans in this country was that of both a free and enslaved people. African Americans were left uncertain about their future, their freedom and their status in American society once the war came to an end in 1865. The Northern states fought to preserve the union, but the Southern states, furious about that 1860 election of President Lincoln, succeeded from the Union with the intent to preserve the institution of slavery (Jeffery 1).

The rights and freedoms of Americans have been evolving since the decision was made to break free from England. Even though African Americans were granted freedom at the end of the Civil War they were not granted equality and they were denied many of the basic rights of enjoyed by white Americans. Things reached a boiling point during the 1950’s and 1960’s when powerful activists challenged the United States federal government to uphold their rights as American citizens. As a result, the federal government was forced to intercede with state governments on their behalf in order to restore their rights as guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments.

From 1877 to 1950 there was a system that separated blacks from whites in every way possible. It ranged from blacks not being able to use the same bathroom to blacks not be able to use the same books. This system was known as the Jim Crows laws, named after a show called “Jump Jim Crow”. This show was about a white minstrel who would disguise herself as black to imitate African Americans. With this show growing it gave a lot of white people bad impressions of blacks (Blackpast 1).

Throughout history, race has been an ongoing theme. Race was used to define a person as well as the rights that they held. People of races other than white were given little to none respect and were not treated as human beings but instead property. It was a constant battle between races, therefore forming a them versus us society. Through history there were many people who were treated based off their race, there were many different government made laws and documents that defined and laid out the rights of those certain races.

Conclusion During the first half of the 19th century, the North and South both experienced important economic, demographic, political, and cultural changes. With development of cotton agriculture, Southerners became increasingly tied to the system of labor that provided their economic security slavery. Meanwhile, during the same years, the North moved toward free labor and an increasingly diverse economy (industrialization, urbanization, western settlement).

For hundreds of years African Americans have faced racial discrimination in the United States. Over and over again contracts were made that gave them hope of equality such as the Emancipation Proclamation, the 14th and 15th amendment, and the end of the separate but equal law. However, they were continuously refused the basic rights that they were promised and were still forcefully separated from whites. Racist police and white supremacists evoked fear in African American men and women who attempted to participate in the rights they were entitled to. Then, in the 1950s and 60s there was a spark of interminable protesting of the clear racial injustices that the African American people faced, this time was known as the Civil Rights Movement.

Youseph Anwar AFPRL Midterm Essay Compare and contrast the various laws and codes which were put into place in the American south during the Post Reconstruction era with the perceived treatment of people of African descent in the United States by the American criminal justice system, court decisions and legislation related to voting, and law enforcement officers today, as seen in the news media and social media. In the American South during the Post Reconstruction era, many laws and codes were put into place in order to limit and keep African Americans from progressing in society. Legislation such as The Black Codes, Jim Crow laws and US Supreme Court cases such as Plessy v Ferguson sought to limit the newly freed African Americans in order to maintain control of the South. To this day there is still institutional racism and injustice in the case of black people and there is still room for improvement in the position of black people in society.

The Reconstruction Era of American history was plagued by many problems. One of the most important problems being the recently released from slavery Freedmen. Freedmen were in a tricky situation in which they had just been released from their owner and had nowhere to go, but the Federal Government made many successful attempts to help them out. The Government helped alleviate all the problems Freedmen had from their finances to basic needs and rights, and in doing so, made the period of reconstruction more helpful than harmful for Freedmen. The events of reconstruction were helpful to freedmen as they were not only freed from slavery, they were given rights directly from the federal government.

The American Civil War ended in 1865, with defeat of the Southern States. Slavery as the root of the conflict between the North and the South was abolished in 1865 with passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. (Ransom, 1989) Despite the presidential efforts to deliver justice to blacks by passing the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments, racial discrimination in the U.S. continued for several decades. Blacks struggled during Reconstruction period that brings different form of servitude known as the Sharecropping.

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.

Throughout the entire time period, whites continued to be opposed to Reconstruction for their own personal reasonings, and they kept resisting any attempt by the federal government to give equality to all African Americans. Once Reconstruction came to an end, there was then a time period of segregation towards blacks, leading to Jim Crow laws and a loss of focus toward African American civil rights. Since there were two world wars in a 50 year time period, the focus towards these civil rights was majorly sidetracked. In today’s society there is still believed to be problems with white supremacy and prejudice towards blacks. There will always be people who won’t ever believe in equality, but the rights that are reserved today are a major step

Prior to The Civil War, African Americans did not have any rights what so ever but after the war, they gained “citizenship, the right to vote, and other rights”(146). The Separate but Equal doctrine was found unconstitutional during the Civil Rights Act of 1960. This idea of society violates the 14th amendment because the 14th amendment was set in place for equal protection. Many of the key provisions that the government made during the Civil Rights Movement of 1964 helped all of the minorities become equal. The provisions included forbidding the discrimination in the workplace public domains, and gave the government authorization to investigate and bring lawsuits to schools that did not desegregate, The Civil Rights that the Americans are blessed to have are protected by the court system being that everyone has the right to a due process.

Following the Reconstruction era, there was a huge gap between the freedoms of black and white people. Many black were barred from voting because of poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. Schools were segregated and unequal. Blacks could not fully partake in the American Dream. Racism was a powder keg ready to explode.

Former slaves in the south were given the chance to a new life. Some African Americans decided to stay with their former owners, while other African Americans took advantage of this opportunity in search of owning land, which was not an easy task due to white supremacists and restrictions such as the “black codes”. This code was established by President Johnson’s reconstruction plan and passed by Southern states in 1865- 1866, which required African Americans to have a curfew and compelled them to work in a labor economy based on the debt or very low wages. The “black codes” challenged African American’s freedom when they were recently granted it.3 Not so long after, around 1877, another set of laws known as the “Jim Crow” laws directly undermined the African Americans status by restricting them from voting to segregating them from whites in school and water fountains.4 These laws were a continuation of oppression on African Americans.