Post Civil War And Reconstruction Essay

Reconstruction transformed African Americans lives and improved their lives while it was happening. The thirteenth amendment made it so that all African Americans were freed, but they didn’t always benefit from that. However, most southern states passed “Black Codes” that restricted the rights of African Americans. Though African Americans were granted rights, under the fourteenth amendment their rights were often violated. During Reconstruction, African Americans were better off than they had been before and better off than they would be in the years following Reconstruction. For the first time, African Americans were free, slavery was a thing of the past, and many African Americans hoped for a bright future.

The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.

Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help.

The Reconstruction Era started after the War ended which was in 1865. For all Americans, Reconstruction was a time of fundamental changes. As for the freed slaves it was unsuccessfully achieved socially, economically, and politically.

Although reconstruction brought essential changes for African American slaves it ultimately failed its purpose of unifying the nation. However, in order to comprehend why reconstruction failed it is important to understand the two phases it underwent. In addition, it is also crucial to look at the different plans that were propose in order to reunify the nation and if they were successful or not.

The Reconstruction Era was the time where they tried to fix all the issues from the American Civil War. They were dealing with the issue of the Southern states wanting to rejoin the Union, the leaders, and of course what rights the freed slaves had. The northerners wanted to punish those in the South, and the southerners wanted to just keep their way of life the same. The northerners were angry because the Southern states were allowed back into the Union by Lincoln trying to bring them all back together quickly, which the Radicals were against. Then came letting the freed slaves vote and have rights. The southerners did not like this, and with the Jim Crow laws they were able to keep their “way of life” for many years to come.

After Reconstruction, African Americans faced many social, political, and economic issues. The years following the Reconstruction continued to create tension between African Americans and whites. In the south African Americans were still not given the same rights as whites. With this tension, came social, political, and economic issues. During this time, African Americans faced social adversity. A social problem that arose was due Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws legalized racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for African Americans. These laws were legalized in the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which stated that “separate but equal” was constitutional. This

The freedom in the new society led to more improvements and beliefs on how to make the changed society better. During the period of Reconstruction, three new amendments passed that had to do with the freedom and rights of freed African Americans. The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery once and for all. Passed in 1866, the 14th Amendment gave everyone who was born in America full citizenship. Lastly, the 15th Amendment said that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of your race, the color of your skin, or of previous conditions of enslavement.

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

The Reconstruction period was a brutal time period for America in order to fix the things destroyed during the Civil War, but it was overall worth it. There were many good things about Reconstruction, but also bad. I personally believe that there were more good things than bad. One negatives is that the slaves weren’t really free meaning they didn’t have completely equal rights, but this was the start of the Civil Rights movement that shaped our country.

The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life. Reconstruction was a program used to help the south rebuild and join

Reconstruction was an attempt reconcile the country and bring it back together, however it was not the success Abraham had hoped it to be when initiated before being assassinated. The failure had many effects on African American communities in both the north on the south both negative and positive. Socially black slaves were freed but not really accepted into society. Black codes were utilized which placed pressure on African Americans about things like when to meet with friends and where they should live. Discrimination against black flourished as the Ku Klux Klan a group of people who wore robes and mask went around pretending to be the ghost of Confederate soldiers.

The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.

Following the ending of the Civil War in 1865, America was in an era known as the Reconstruction. The Reconstruction lasted until 1877. Citizens were attempting to rebuild our nation following one of the deadliest war in American History. In this time, the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution were ratified. Although slaves were freed, African Americans still faced intense racial prejudice and discrimination.

Nevertheless, the protracted journey for the African-Americans to achieve equality was far from over. At the end of the Civil War, the Southern states passed “Black Codes” in 1865, restricting the lives of freed slaves and forcing them to work in low wage jobs. It was undoubtedly a slow process but was further hindered by the actions of such groups as the KKK who were involved in lynching