The growth and resulting conflicts of these three eras, Reconstruction, The Settlement of the West, and the Gilded Age, are primarily positive. During Reconstruction alone, laws such as the Reconstruction Act and the 13-15th amendments (the Equal Rights amendments), which banned and reduced the results of racial discrimination. Slaves like Henry McNeal Turner had wanted to be considered people, and they were getting their moment in the sun. African Americans were no longer considered slaves and treated like useless objects. They were being accepted in the united states. Societies like the Freedmen's Bureau were established to solve the everyday problems of newly freed slaves, such as food, clothing, money, and an education. This was a huge
Finally, with the ratification the fifteenth amendment in 1870s, it secured the vote for the African Americans, and it forbid states from denying any citizens from the right to vote based on race, color, or “previous condition of servitude.” These three amendments were significant changes during the Reconstruction period because all people, not just white, can fully enjoy being an American citizen without worrying over their race or
From the title, “West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War” we are met with the deals of conceptive reconstruction during the time after the Civil War. A time in which the country formed ideals of citizenship and the role of the government. The title is devoted to the theme of Heather Cox Richardson’s illustration of Western influence on this period of reconstruction post-Civil War. This view of post-war reconstruction is formatted in a timeline to include many of the political debates of the late nineteenth century. She shows an effective examination of how the post-war reconstruction, has produced a modern day construction that sits behind concepts of individualism, the middle class, and governmental influence.
A major aspect of this is because after the Freedmen’s Bureau lost its funding and was no longer as strong and powerful as it was earlier, and white supremacist groups such as the KKK and segregation laws gained power. Another system that emerged was the sharecropping system, which had clauses in which, “[The freed slave] agrees to work faithfully and dilligently with-out any unnecessary loss of time, to do all manner of work on Said farm as may be directed by [landowner], And to be respectful in manners and deportment to [landowner].” The sharecropping system was essentially slavery without the term, the African Americans would work on the farms and the landowners would provide them shelter and food. Post Reconstruction, the lack of political, economic, and social prowess for the former slaves (because of a lack of proper integration of these slaves into society) caused for them to fall back into the same kind of oppression that they had faced during the time of
The Reconstruction Era was a developmental time in the advancement of the American Nation. While the founding fathers original institution for the country was ahead in its time, it was flawed and began to show in the Reconstruction period. Before the Civil War had began a group of Radical Republicans formed another political party who were intent on fighting for the political, social and basic human rights of African Americans. They stood against the socially controversially gains of the capitalist society that was devoted to glorifying those based on the whiteness of their skin. After the Civil War ended the United States had to reintegrate a formally slave population back into the country which proved to be excessively difficult.
After the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era began, in which America attempted to reform the southern states. It’s purpose was to rebuild the South and to unite the nation. Reconstruction introduced many different changes that were both beneficial and harmful for the United States.. Laws were passed that granted African Americans legal rights, however there were also many occasions where they were being persecuted. Some people had good intentions during Reconstruction, but overall, it was a failure.
The reconstruction during the early 1860’s and 1870’s caused different reactions throughout the United States. The first two articles seem to have a positive viewpoint of the reconstruction and the actions being taken to allow African Americans to vote and become literate and more educated. The third article, The Ordeal of Reconstruction, expresses extremely negative points throughout the article and is almost satisfied with the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. The final article Unfinished Revolution’s article is broken down into sections and informs the audience of the events which she detonates as formal and neutral. It is critical to be informed over this period due to the impacts it had on the country in later years.
From Selma to Stonewall, the civil rights and LGBTQ movement forever changed American culture by challenging the entrenched systems of injustice and inspiring generations to demand freedom and equality for all. Following the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era began with the aim to rebuild the country by bringing former confederate states back, and counteracting the political, social, and economic legacies of slavery. However, reconstruction efforts were undermined due to white supremacy groups like the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings of African Americans, segregation, disenfranchisement, and share cropping leading to lack of economic freedom. This violation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment which was supposed to guarantee newly freed slaves
The reconstruction was a period during US history, which took place after the Civil War when the South restructured into the Union from 1865 to 1877. The end of reconstruction was a justification that freed all African Americans from slavery. Although they had set this decision and law, African Americans still suffered from social, economic and political barriers, which caused major tension between blacks and whites. The civil rights act of 1875, racial discrimination was banned from public facilities, such as schools or public transportations. The fourteenth amendment protected people against violations of their civil rights b states, not by the actions of the individuals.
America faced a lot of change and transformation during the 19th, also known as the Gilded Age. America was heavily influenced socially, economically, politically, and culturally by westward expansion and industrialization. Many people expanded west of the Mississippi River because of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Westward Expansion: Encounters at a Cultural Crossroads). The United States brought the state of Louisiana from France for $15 million (Milestones: 1801-1829). Industrialization ties into westward expansion in a way.
In 1895, the Union’s win during the civil war brought freedom to about four million slaves in the United States. Almost immediately after the ending of the civil war, the south went into what is known as the “Reconstruction period.” This lasted from 1865-1877. In 1867, the rise of the Radical Republicans began. During what was known as the radical reconstruction, the now free African-Americans were starting to get a voice in the government.
What were ways people faced discrimination, how did they deal with it? The Reconstruction Acts of 1867, gave former male slaves the right to vote and hold public office. The Congress also passed two more amendments to the Constitution: The Reconstruction Amendments; the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth. The Thirteenth Amendment was admitted before Reconstruction and abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment gave U.S. citizenship to all people born in the U.S and the Fifteenth Amendment gave black people the right to vote.
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).
Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.
The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.
This essay will examine the reasons why historians have called “The Gilded Age” to the era between 1877 and 1900, in which poverty, massive immigration, racism and corruption were the base metal of a nation that was gilded with industrialization and sudden wealth in order to make it look perfect with a shine finish. During the XIX century, United States suffered an important economic growth that took place after the civil war and the reconstruction era. The end of the war had a very decisive influence in the industrial development of the nation, giving a strong boost to it, causing a strong demand for many goods and a vertical rise in prices. The progress of American industry has had its repercussions to this day.