Reconstruction Argumentative Essay

Before slaves were freed, they could not marry anyone. After the Civil War, the Black Codes in Mississippi improved the lives of African Americans by allowing marriage. Even though, the state allowed marriage, there was heavy restriction to the code. For example, in Section 3, the document states, “that is shall not be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or mulatto to intermarry with any white person… and any person who shall so intermarry shall be guilty of felony.” This shows that although slaves are freed, the state did not treat them as ordinary people.

President Johnson was a supporter of state rights so he was not going to say or do anything. To him, the power to decide what to do with the newly free African-American was in the hands of the states. But when the Congress had a majority of Republicans after the election, it decided to overrule the southern states and with that, the period called Radical Reconstruction began. First, there was the Civil Rights Act in 1866, passed despite Johnson 's veto. There was no doubt anymore that freedmen were citizens and were to be treated as such. "

When reconstruction ended, we all could say we were united under one nation. This ensured that blacks would always be free from going back to the life of a slave; although, many people were so against reconstruction it caused a lot of hate in the south towards the blacks. The black people were given rights that were much like the rights that white people had. The southern states had new constitutions and recognized the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments’ after reconstruction ended in 1877. Education was provided to the blacks, not just the whites.

Although Lincoln concentrated on his plans for Reconstruction, he didn 't apply much diligence towards the Southern properties that were lost due to technical tax evasion. Abraham Lincoln 's plan proposed land be given to Emancipation accepting "rebels", but Confederate officers and people highly involved in their government, would be closed out from this proposition. Lincoln also granted that if ten percent of the state 's majority (of those who could vote), they 'd be allowed to make a new government. This last proposition caused the North anxiety for it could allow the South to receive unneeded power, causing the original split between the regions once again.

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.

Confederate people out of power all together. The southern white government had a range of ways they controlled how the newly freed slaves lived their lives and what freedoms they could have and which ones the government didn’t want them to have but over time these barriers were

The North covets to abolish slavery for African-Americans in the South. However, abolitionists helped slaves escape to the North. Abolitionist such as William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Gerrit Smith and Charles Lenox Remond were against practice of slavery. Document four explains how abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle

The Emancipation Proclamation was set in place in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. This proclamation states that all African American slaves are free and no longer have to work for any other person unwillingly. Because this was created the South was no longer able

Ferguson or Brown v. Board of Education reached the Supreme Court, reconstruction after the Civil War ended and the ratified 14th and 15th Amendment, were needed to address the rights former slaves have. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1870, “forbid the state and federal government from denying the right to vote based on race” (Cornell). The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, “stated the right to vote couldn’t be denied based on color, race or past servitude” (Cornell). Even with the new Amendments, African Americans were treated different than other Americans. When Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) cases reached the Supreme Court, the rights of the African American population took a step back.

Life for African Americans some what changed for the better, temporarily. Slavery was Abolished in the south, but that didn 't really mean that the blacks were equal or really free. Constitutional additions specifically the 13th amendment which stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” the 14th amendment which stated, “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”, and the 15th amendment which stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (United States Constitution). But blacks encountered crippling complications. During the reconstruction Blacks encountered severe white incrimination and several instances of out right violence “a Freedman living on the plantation of James W. Wade in Fort Bend Co. was arrested, chained and whipped by the wades and others” (Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Texas).

After Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States, the South became very concerned that the end of life as they knew it was near, (Shultz, n.d.). President Lincoln was opposed to slavery and he was against the spread of it in the West. The southerners assumed that if the all the western territories remained free, the Republicans would accomplish their abolition efforts. Secession began with the states in the deep south, (Shultz, n.d.). South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union and several others began to follow.

Although Johnson opposed slavery, he did not support equal rights for African-Americans. " White men alone must manage the South," he stated. President Johnson 's plan was mostly successful because all former Confederate states except Texas had set up new governments because of his plan by the end of 1865. These newly reformed states were now ready to rejoin the

At first, it was used during Civil war battles and was a memorial to fallen soldiers who had died fighting for their independence. If this was how it was received now, no one would have a problem with it, but as time went on, the perception of the flag started to change. In the 1940s, a Dixiecrat party was formed and they used the flag as a symbol to support segregation. Confederate heritage organizations tried to protect the flag from misuse by having several Southern states pass laws to penalize “desecration” of the flag, but this did not help. Confederate heritage groups lost control of the flag and its real

However the war also change for the better. It gave induvial that are black the equal opportunity to vote and etc. This would have never happened if the fight for freedom didn’t take place. Now I am going to talk a little about the 13th Amendment of the U.S Constitution and tell why it was important. The Thirteenth Amendment history staff states (“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicticted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”)history.

The purpose was to help the South become a part of the Union again. Federal troops occupied much of the South during the Reconstruction to insure that laws were followed and another war did not occur. Abraham Lincoln was first in charge of Reconstruction when the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865. He had a plan that any southerner who took an oath to the Union would be given a pardon and that if 10% of the voters in a state supported the Union, the state could then be readmitted. His plan also stated that any state that was readmitted must make slavery illegal as part of their constitution.