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. More rights were wanted by the African Americans, which is a …show more content…
The KKK let a picture out to the world showing they didn’t want African Americans to vote and wished for them to have the littlest amount to vote. (Document C). The KKK didn’t like African Americans being able to vote because they believed they were not real people and that they didn’t deserve many rights. Freedman, African Americans, or mulattos that were not apart of the military service could not own or even keep a weapon and if caught with a weapon, they would get a fine and the weapon would be confiscated (Document D). The KKK benefited from those people not being able to have a weapon because it meant African American’s had less right, in which they counted for less of a real person. The Freedman's Bureau School Program allowed former slaves to get an education, after being emancipated (Document F). This program provided many things to African Americans including food, housing, medical aid, schooling, and even legal assistance. Northerners that packed up all their things and traveled to the South after the Civil War during Reconstruction were known as carpetbaggers (Document G). In the cartoon, Carl Schurz was the carpetbagger. The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to African Americans, although some people thought they didn’t deserve the privileges they received (Document I). This case was the first United States court case interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The military districts made African Americans have very few rights. The government divided the South into five military districts (Document B). Each district was placed under military leadership and also new elections were held with voting only allowed by Congress approved
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century. Post Civil War (After the Civil War – The period after the Civil War) - President Abraham Lincoln and Congress were determined to rebuild the nation. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union by readmitting the southern states that had seceded, as well as provide African Americans with more rights. Period of Conflict -
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.
In 1873, the Court weakened its position for reconstruction. A special slaughterhouse was allowed a monopoly in Louisiana, and the other slaughterhouses sued. Obviously this was a violation of the 14th. Unfortunately for the other slaughterhouses, the chief Justice said that the 14th was made specifically for blacks, not for whites (of course, he did not say exactly that, but that was the intent).
After the Civil War conditions were really bad because a lot of homes and personal properties were destroyed. Because of the War the Union lost 370,000 troop members and the Confederacy lost 260,000. Total 375,000 troop members were injured. Many civilians in the South died because of access to food was infrequent. I believe Reconstruction was necessary because after four long years of war they should move on from it and reunite as one.
As a result of this, racist organizations were founded to wreaked havoc on former slaves. Secret societies in the southern united states, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia used violence against the blacks. Their goal was often to keep blacks out of politics. Our textbook states, “In other states, where blacks were a majority or where the populations of the two races were almost equal, whites used outright intimidation and violence to undermine the Reconstruction regimes” (Brinkley 368). The people involved in such organizations were using violence to take away the fifteenth amendment right from the former slaves.
The Civil War ended slavery and three Constitutional Amendments altered African American rights. The 13th Amendment abolished/discontinued slavery in all territories and states. The 14th Amendment gave equal protection to all males regardless of race and prohibited states from depriving them of this right. The 15th Amendment allowed for African Americans males to vote. With these amendments being ratified, it became a requirement for southern states to be readmitted into the Union.
Prior to the Reconstruction Era, the Union and the Confederate states had just engaged in a war concerning slavery and the unity of the United States, which is also known as the Civil War. The damage from the war was economically, socially and politically devastating to the United States of America as a whole. The newly liberated African Americans were harassed, tormented and even killed in the communities they had developed after the Civil War. Literacy tests were implemented as a way to prevented the miseducated African American male from suffrage. Lastly, early Jim Crow laws originated during this time period.
In the end, the reconstruction helped African Americans get the freedom and equality that they wanted
The Bureau could not provide African Americans with land, but it did contribute to education. Formerly enslaved African Americans were educated with the help of Northern charities. This was a positive outcome during
During the late 1800s, because the South had been decimated by the end of the Civil War, .the Reconstruction Period was initiated to aid the South’s recovery. Although the Civil War did abolish slavery and unify the North and the South, the war not resolve racial prejudice, the South’s damage, and the African Americans’ economic instability. The Reconstruction Period was initiated in order to prevent economic instability and the structural ruin, because since slavery was abolished, and the South was completely dependent on slaves, therefore slaves could not work for the South to maintain the economy, and slaves also could not fix up the damages done to the structures done to the South during the war. By starting the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing
The Reconstruction period, one of the most controversial periods in American history, During the Reconstruction majority of the blacks were defenseless given the new state constitutions were incorporated by different challenges such as prejudiced literacy tests and poll taxes. At the end of the Civil War, the South beaten and there land destroyed, the destruction was tremendous, and the old social and economic order that was established on slavery depleted completely. The Confederate states had to be reformed to their positions in the Union. The free slaves in the south had to be well-defined.
The 14th amendment is split into five sections. Section one is the most important of them all and it states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (The Constitution 2014). However it was put to test in the south early on.
Reconstruction was the political, social, and economic progress for blacks. Blacks people made up majority of the Southern voters. There were 265 African Americans that were elected into public office. Out of all of them, 100 of them were born slaves, 16 of them served in the US Congress, and more than 600 of them served in state legislatures. Reconstruction also established a public school system to allow everyone to have some sort of education.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans