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Short And Long Term Effects Of Reconstruction

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Krish Mehta Dr. Noboa-Berman A History of American Democracy in Cases 2 February 2023 The Effects of Reconstruction on the Mindset of the South Reconstruction refers to the period from 1865 to 1877 in the United States, following the Civil War, when the country sought to rebuild itself and address the legal and political status of the newly freed Black population. The period was marked by the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendements to the US Constitution, laws, and acts which aimed to secure civil rights and protections for Black Americans. Although Reconstruction implemented multiple vital laws to help establish rights for African Americans, Reconstruction was unable to change the Southern majority’s opinions of discrimination, underlining …show more content…

One major example of direct discrimination towards African Americans as a result of the lack of state enforcement was from the cases of Virginia v. Rives and Ex Parte Virginia. Despite the intentions of the cases however, the lack of enforcement from the state government only led to unresolved problems and an increase in discrimination. In the Virginia v. Rives case, although the brothers were accused of the murder, they “were accused was against no U.S. law, but only against Virginia law, and so the federal courts had no jurisdiction.” Even though the brothers had committed a crime, the odds they were tried fairly by the state courtwere highly unlikely. State courts also prevented the intervention of the federal government when dealing with the judges in Virginia v. Rives. Rives attempted to order the arrest of the first group of judges, however, Deputy Marshal Luck declined, stating, “he would only notify them [law enforcement] when they were due.” This is a direct example of the lack of state enforcement delaying the arrest of judges, allowing little to no enforcement of laws to …show more content…

Reconstruction first introduced the 1866 Civil Rights Bill which encompassed the first national definition of a U.S. Citizen: “all persons born in the US and not subject to any foreign power.” The Civil Rights Bill focused on equalizing the rights of everyone in America and creating the opportunity for proper equality for all. Along with the Civil Rights Bill, Reconstruction introduced the 1867 Reconstruction Acts. These acts outlawed color restrictions on voting and delegation, allowing for the elimination of racial voting restrictions on the state level allowing 265 African Americans in the South to serve as delegates to State Constitution Conventions. However, despite all the measures to protect the rights of African Americans using a plethora of acts and laws, the acts and laws enacted were unable to change the opinions of white Southerners towards African Americans holding office and voting rights. After the implementation of the 1867 Reconstruction Acts, Republicans ended up losing control of the state of Louisiana as a result of white violence, depressing African American voter turnout. One major force backing the white violence was hate groups. Hate groups, such as the KKK, were

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