When Congress passed Amendments XIII, XIV, and XV the plan was to legalize privileges granted to all parties in the reconstruction process, and to make known consequences if not followed. Unfortunately these precepts were not strictly enforced and the white south reverted to previous behaviors. Conveniently Mississippi devised their own plan to control the lives of the black populace. The Mississippi plan spells out the intentions of the white south to curb the influence of the black population. This plan was also accepted by South Carolina and Louisiana. One step the white south deemed important was to control the black vote. Violence, literary tests, property tests, primary elections, purges, former prisoners, and poll taxes were widely used to stop their vote. By legitimate pressures on black sharecroppers they were able to partially accomplish this goal. Their retaliations on the black populace were tremendous. Some Democrats even instigated riots at Republican rallies in order to reduce quantity of black residents. …show more content…
For this reason the white south continued their oppression of all blacks as the “inferior race.” They were very comfortable with the Mississippi Plan of 1875. Wars have been fought (and presently are) due to infringement on individual rights and privileges. Learned professors and politicians more versed than I have yet to glean a plan to prevent these atrocities. I must do my duty to support my government in political and civil rights as described in the US
In regards to Yazoo city Ames testified that, “In that county there was no protection to republicans, and they abstained from voting.” Consequently, the Democrats gained significant control in the south, and because of increased reports of White Line activity, Congress passed the “Civil Rights Act,”-the last one till 1957-which guaranteed African Americas the right to use public accommodations. But would The Civil Rights Act be enforced? White violence continued to be relentless in the south even after the passage of the Civil Rights act.
This week I was going to bring Abraham Lincoln 's plan for reconstruction to the table. It is said that Lincoln started to plan for reconstruction post war. The plan was to address three key areas for concern. First the proclamation allowed full pardon and restoration of any property to anyone who was considered a rebellion or a member of the confederate army with exception of the highest officials and leaders (which is interesting). It also allowed for a state government to be formed once ten percent of the population took an oath of allegiance to the United States, and it encouraged the southern states to deal with slaves in such a way that it would not compromise their freedom.
To do this, they sent troops into the South, which they were not very pleased with. During Reconstruction, freed slaves still did not have the same opportunities that white people did. The Civil rights laws were made to protect former slaves and make sure everyone is equal, but still, the South cannot agree and continues to make life nearly just as bad as it had been before the war. In the document written by a former slave, he expresses how poorly they have been treated. When Lincoln was president, Reconstruction ran alot smoother.
There were even paramilitary organizations; Brinkley says, “the Red Shirts and White Leagues armed themselves to ‘police’ elections and worked to force all white males to join the democratic party” (368). On the other hand, these organizations worked to keep white men on their side and against the newly freed slave population. As a consequence of the aggressive actions taken, the former slaves’ rights were not properly protected during the Reconstruction
Who killed Reconstruction: The North or South? Following the civil war, the south killed the reconstruction of the United States. (Reconstruction was putting the country back together after the Civil War) There are many reasons why, the south slowed down the reconstruction of the United States, the main reason was freedmen were not seen as equals to the white.
Despite these efforts, the white Southerners resisted strongly by trying to control the black population in the South. They were able to maintain economic dominance on the freed slaves by the sharecropping system. As times went by, Northerners become exhausted from the Southern resistance and they had their own growing concerns such as economic Panic of 1873; they had increasingly become disinterested in the freed black populations in the South. The South was also able to regain political control back in the region through violence and intimidation. As a result, they were able to regain some political power in the congress.
The effects of black discrimination have haunted the nation for centuries. Despite cover-all acts and amendments, there have always been ways around anti-discrimination laws. Even following Union victory, some southerners withheld slaves until troops were at their doorsteps. The Black Codes, laws that outlined the rights of African Americans, are perfect examples. These Codes, were lists of societal restrictions meant to keep whites on top.
Although many attempts were made to prioritize freedom and equality for all, these values were undermined by racist Southerners who wouldn’t accept equality. In the end, Reconstruction had failed and former slaves endured another hardship akin to slavery. However, Reconstruction still could have prospered. There are multiple events that, if they had occurred, Reconstruction would not have failed. For example, had the government continued to fund the Freedmen’s Bureau, then the South would have legislated their discriminatory laws much later, if not at all.
slaves wherever they were, this new change brought great difficulty to the Southern black population. The Purpose of the Reconstruction Era was to create a society where blacks and whites could co-exist with slavery. Blacks did not know how to be free and whites did not know how to have freed slaves around them. The south saw the Reconstruction Plan as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it. After the war, many teachers from the south and north worked to educate the newly emancipated population.
But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.
One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
After the Union won the major battles that is when Lincoln had put the ten percent plan on the table, this plan was when ten percent of the state’s eligible voters pledge oath to US then they could join the Union. To begin with, there are a few reasons why one would say that reconstruction in the south was a failure. One of these reasons being that, even after the civil war in the South’s government passed laws to limit the rights of the free African Americans. In document C we can see this is evident where it states “No negro or freedmen shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission of his employers. Whoever breaks this law will go to jail and work for two days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.”
’s point across, and it worked, after the war. Almost everything changed after the war, no more king, taxes, or tyranny. The cause was the war, but there was no effect on slavery or segregation. Going back to the Declaration, that was the main focus of the people, all of their
President Abraham Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction was referred to as the Ten Percent Plan. It offered the rebels a full pardon and also restoration of their full rights as citizens if they pledged to accept the abolition of slavery and swore allegiance to the United States. When the number of loyal citizens equaled ten percent of the votes cast during the election of 1860, then they could form a new state government and constitution. Lincoln required new constitutions to band slavery, exclude high ranking Confederate officials to take part in the new state government, and held the right of congress to decide whether any members sent to congress would be allowed to serve. Congress felt the plan was not harsh enough, so congress passed the Wade-Davis
In retrospect, the history of the antebellum America is quite fascinating. During this period, the young republic faced several challenges. One of the most serious ones was the slavery issue. Reading the related materials, people might understand that the Founding Fathers had actually pondered about the solution to the issue; however, they did not pursue it because they foresaw possible turmoil in American politics. Unfortunately, the issue kept simmering until it reached the boiling point which resulted in the disastrous Civil War.