During this period in United States history, it was the end of the Civil War. Now the nation's is going through Reconstruction, a process from 1865-1877. During this period, it was the nation's goal to rebuild after the war and provide equality for all. Reconstruction did not succeed in granting African Americans social equality, but Reconstruction did succeed in granting political and, economic equality for all African Americans. The first goal of Reconstruction is to grant all African Americans social equity. Unfortunately, the union did not succeed in this goal. This was first shown with the Black Codes. These were a set of laws that were passed in southern states to restrict African Americans of their freedoms. An example of the Black …show more content…
The first way they were able to do so was with the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. What this amendment did was it abolished slavery in the United States when it says,¨Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for a crime which the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction¨ (Document A). This is saying that no part of the United States or its territories will have slavery allowed. This is important because now instead of African Americans working for free they are now allowed to make a wage for themselves. Another way African Americans got economic equality is through the Freedmen's Bureau. This was an organization that helped newly freed slaves gain economic stability. This was shown when it gave an African American a fair job contract when it states, ¨that if this contract is violated by either party without legal cause, the party violating the same shall pay the other¨ (Document D). This is important because it gave African Americans a fair deal. After all, if either side breaks the contract the person that breaks it will have to pay the other person a fee. Now if African Americans are not being paid fairly there will be a punishment in place for not following the agreement that was formed. In conclusion, during Reconstruction economic equality was given to African
After the American Civil War ended in 1861, the government wanted to reconstruct the nation. Their goals for the reconstruction were to unify the nation, rebuild the economy, and abolish slavery. I believe it was possible to reconstruct successfully, however, there were some failures. the first intentions were unification. During Civil War, President Lincoln and congressional leaders were already thinking about how to reintegrate the south back into the union.
After the Union won the Civil War, the United States went into seven year period, known as Reconstruction. The goal of Reconstruction was to rejoin all the states into the Union and to help rebuild the South. While the goal of Reconstruction was rightful, the final result of the period didn’t do much to put America into a better place than where it was before the Civil War. During Reconstruction, the radical northern abolitionists was pushing to make America a country where everyone was equal, and granting every citizen, regardless of their ancestry. The Northerns tried to make everyone equal members of society and give each and every one of them a voice in their own government.
The African American community faced many hardships; some might say, even worse then those faced by the rest of America. They found it harder to get jobs, and were fired before the Caucasian workers. Additionally, most new deal reparations didn’t apply to African Americans, so they did not get the jobs administered by the state to the unemployed. In order to be able to cope, the African Americans made their own charities, and their leaders urged them to unite for civil rights. Along side them helping each other, the government also tried to improve the poverty in African American communities.
The goals of reconstruction were to rebuild America, and to have white and black men live alongside each other peacefully. Only days after the north won the Civil War, president Lincoln was shot and killed. The new president, Andrew Johnson, because he was a democrat, pitied the South and refused to punish them. While in presidency, his biggest opponents were the radical republicans, who wanted to punish the South, and wanted equal rights for freedmen. In the 1860's the 14th amendment which rules that states can't deny rights or privileges to any U.S. citizens, including black men.
The federal government was trying to achieve many diverse goals with Reconstruction; which can mostly be summed up by they were trying to make the nation whole. The main goals of reconstruction included the following: abolishing slavery for good, to establish blacks into society and help them build their lives as US citizens with full rights, extending suffrage, to define citizenship, protecting those citizens, as well as destroying the Confederacy, and having seceded states rejoin the Union. After the abolition of slavery, even more problems throughout the nation arose and previous problems remained. The federal government initiated the Reconstruction Era to help solve those problems.
This allowed African Americans to have more opportunities. But, racism was still very much alive, and many black workers came across racist people while working on their new
become an American citizen they had so many laws and things to stop African Americans to be equal to White citizens. First, there were these codes called black codes they allowed slaves to be freed but they stopped them from having rights they restricted freed slaves from voting, they could not go in jury duty and limited there right to testify against white people. They also were not allowed to own guns or any weapons and also could not work in many places so even though they were freed they were still held against their rights and they did not have much at all. Amendments were passed to allow people as in African American men to vote they banned or prohibited government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote based on race,color,or past servitude.
It stated, “that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious areas are, and henceforward should be free.” 1 This was an important document because it was the start of some freedom for the slaves in the south. However, this document was more useful for the slaves that lived in the South; it did not help the slaves who lived in the Border States or Union States. This document included only the states that had already seceded from the Union, those who were in ‘rebellion’. This document was powerful because it gave hope to slaves, a chance for a better life.
After the ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment, southern states instituted a series of laws known as Black Codes. Many Northerners saw these codes as the beginning to restore slavery. The Black Codes granted certain legal rights to black Americans. It granted black people the right to marry, own property, and testify in court, but it also prohibited black Americans to serve on juries, to own or carry weapons, and to serve in state militias. According to the Black Codes, black former slaves, also known as freedmen, were forced to sign labor contracts with their employers or white landowners.
Once the Civil War ended, many people suffered from weaknesses. The war caused many problems, therefore, causing the need for Reconstruction. Reconstruction was used to fix the majority of problems that the Civil War caused. During Reconstruction, which occurred from 1865 to 1877, many people’s lives were impacted, especially African Americans because many were having to deal with political, economic, and social issues. A political perspective was that African Americans should be given more rights, a social perspective was to allow African Americans to have a normal life, while an economic perspective was that African Americans shouldn’t be allowed to connect with the government.
America seemed to regain its power and was fighting for black rights, but the country was also making agreements, like the Compromise of 1877, which fed it even more power and caused blacks harm and terror. Reconstruction definitely did not accomplish enough in terms of change that could have been
They weren’t seen as being equal to whites and no one ever thought that they could be. In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens of the United States. (Dred Scott v. Sanford) There has been many obstacles that took away the rights guaranteed to African Americans by the Fourteenth
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.
With these skills they could open their own schools, churches, hospitals, and other recreational places that was banned to them by racial injustice. These skills and institutions that the African Americans created portrayed to the whites that “yes”, African Americans can become sufficient and become
So even though they were free, the white southerners still wanted control of the African Americans in the south. That lasted for a year after the civil war. After the black codes were abolished power hungry southerners resorted to bribery and torture to prevent radical republicans from getting in the government. .