Summary Of Give Me Liberty By Eric Foner

During his presidency, Congress ratified the 13th-Amendment that abolished slavery in 1865. In addition, President Johnson made contributions to the black people by vetoing bills that increased protection offered by Freedman Bureau. His vetoes also nullified the Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights to black people. This brought up the Civil Rights Act of 1866, an act that granted citizenships and same rights that both black and white enjoyed. As a result, the Civil Rights Act set up the basis for the 14th amendments that was also later ratified in 1866.

African Americans held rights, but those benefits did not involve a position in the administration. Johnson declared, “White men alone must manage the South.” Johnson forgave virtually everyone who appealed, and ere officers were returned to power. Congress declined to seat these past Confederates.

AP US History Mr. Loveday Unit V (Reconstruction Era) Reading Assignment Your homework assignment for the holiday break is to read the entirety of Chapter 17 in the textbook and provide TYPED responses in your OWN ORIGINAL WORDING to the questions below (laid out in the order in which they appear in the text).

The Thirteenth Amendment took some time to pass. Johnson really didn’t want blacks to have rights. He did everything in his power to make sure African Americans didn’t have freedom. After slavery was abolished the black codes came up in the summer of 1865 in the South. These codes were basically promoting slavery once again but using a different name.

Johnson, a southern Democrat who supported the Union, had been chosen as a running mate by Lincoln in 1860 to try and appease both sides of the slavery debate. Johnson had been a tailor by trade prior to entering politics and had none of Lincoln’s skills as orator or negotiator. From the state of Tennessee, he had sympathy for the South and supported Lincoln’s plan of “restoration.” After Lincoln’s death, Johnson implemented his own plan, based loosely on the desires of Lincoln to shepherd the South back into the Union, but with several distinct changes. Johnson chose not to allow military nor civil leaders of the Confederacy to participate in the new government.

(Serwer) Johnson had made numbers of enemies mainly from whites in the South, but he stood for what he thought was right. He thought that everyone should be

Andrew Johnson had only been vice-president for 42 days when he became president. He seemed supportive of the penal measures against the Confederates in the past, believing that they were to blame for the Civil War. However, Johnson was even more lenient to the Confederates even pardoning leaders and members. He was constantly clashing with the Radicals in the Congress solely on the status of the freed slaves and whites in the South. Many former Confederates were in denial to accepting both social changes and political domination by former slaves.

Who Killed Reconstruction? “The blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” said a Boston newspaper in 1873 saying that the Africans-Americans were too dumb to be in Congress or any political office. Three years later, was the 100th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. With the irony of the election of 1876 had officially crushed the African-American dream. In 1877, the Reconstruction efforts finally ended, so people were wondering who killed Reconstruction.

After the Civil War the era of the Reconstruction began with the 13th Amendment which President Abraham Lincoln's announced as the Emancipation Proclamation in 1883. The 13th Amendment was a huge deal because it eliminated slavery and obligatory servitude. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865 his successor Andrew Johnson became the 17th president. He also was the first president to be impeached, but he was not removed from office he only served one term from 1808-1875. Despite the initiation of the reconstruction president Andrew Johnson was not a supporter of the Republican Party which most of them come from the northern states.

Johnson always had acute awareness of the nation’s minorities. Johnson had been a teacher at a segregated school for Mexican Americans and he remarked that they were “lashed by prejudice” (Trueman. NP.) However Johnson would become a congressman for the state of Texas which was democratic, and he was forced to vote against what he stood for, and instead participated in preventing any and all civil rights laws from being passed. However Johnson did not forget his principles. As vice president under Kennedy the pair pursued civil rights aggressively, changing the issue from a legal issue into one of utmost moral importance.

One of the main goals of Reconstruction was to require that the South give African-Americans equal rights. With slavery abolished, the Federal Government decided that it was now time to give African-Americans the rights given to the rest of American citizens. This was in the mid 1800s. Needless to say, these plans were not put in place, or at least not properly enforced, for many more years. It took a well-organized uprising by African-Americans about 100 years later to finally make some progress.

As Commander in Chief, Abraham Lincoln made numerous decisions that impacted the outcome of the war. He used a broad interpretation of his Oath of Office to justify nearly any action he took. Many of these actions overstepped the bounds of the Constitution, but all were made with the greater good of the country in mind. Despite having the best intentions, Lincoln did make mistakes throughout his presidency, such as how he handled the military.

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.

While Johnson was the senator from Texas, he tried did everything possible to stop federal civil rights laws. He only supported one law on voting rights but the law had no effect because it had been so weakened. Johnson seemed to not support the civil rights because he was just representing what the people from Texas wanted. When Johnson was asked why it took so long for him to act on a situation he felt strongly about, Johnson replied by saying that he was free at last and thanking God for finally being free. This shows that Johnson felt trapped as the senator from Texas, meaning he was not afraid to lose the support of Texas or of the South

Frederickson argues African Americans simply did not have the time or preparation to oppose racist forces. Using paramilitary forces, southern redeemers easily made threats to reconstruction forces as seen through the emergence of the violent Ku Klux Klan during the election of 1866. The opportunity for African Americans to gain a stance in society was short lived by the racist efforts of democrats in the south and impartial ideals from