The land of the free wasn’t always the free.slavery has been in the U.S. since 1619 in Jamestown, virginia. Political, economic, and social factors impacted the lives of slaves and freed blacks during the time of the reconstruction by limiting their rights, working without profit, and working in harsh condition. Political factors impacted the lives of freed and enslaved blacks. “Consequently, the special rights and immunities guaranteed to citizens do not apply to them. And not being “citizens” within the meaning of the constitution, they are not entitled to sue in that character in a court of the united states…” (Doc.C). From document C, it states that any African American (free or enslaved) that tries to sue in a court of law to become a citizen will be denied. In document D, the picture depicts an abolitionist trying to protect the rights of the slaves while freedman are …show more content…
In The Civil War, slaves were forced to work with no pay and no education, because all of the money went to the plantation owner.. Because slaves weren’t allowed to have an education, when they were released from slavery they didn’t have an education to fall back on. They couldn’t get another job besides what they learned how to do on the plantation. Along with the slaves not having an education they had to work without getting paid for their efforts, because they weren’t getting paid the slaves were not able to pay for a shelter and food when they were freed. “The next day proved a day greater sorrow than I had yet experienced: for my sister and I were then separated, while we lay clasped in each other’s arms.” (Doc.A). During the civil war, slave owners would split up families and sell them to other slave owners without a care that they were ripping apart a family they just cared about the money. Economic factors impacted the lives of the freed and enslaved blacks during the civil
They all had their slaves to work and die for them. They don't even pay the slaves. They only feed them and gave them place to live in. The slaves was living a miserable life. The civil war as the book describes in the second part was a life changing event that happen to the slaves.
Short Paper After the Civil War, the South lost and slave owners were forced to emancipate slaves. However, the white southerners tried to remain the antebellum order as much as they could. Therefore, many slave owners wanted their former slaves to come back by paying wages.
African Americans weren’t actually free during Reconstruction because they were initially not accorded the full rights of citizenship under the constitution, they were forced into submission by violence and intimidation, and were abridged the rights they had later gained by Black Codes. Despite the fact that African Americans were liberated from slavery, during the early years of Reconstruction, they were not equal citizens under the law. Even though blacks had fought loyally for the union, they were initially denied the right to vote (Doc a). The President of the United States, President Johnson, regarded black suffrage as something to radical that would “change the entire structure and character of the State governments,” (Doc b).
Reconstruction was when the federal government was setting the rules that would let the rebellious Southerners back into the union. The goal of Reconstruction was to restore the union so the South would not secede again. In order for Lincoln to do that, he 'd have to make a few new and changes to the laws so that the South would want to come back serenely. One of the biggest things he and Congress created was the 13th amendment which would completely abolish slavery and that was the beginning of restoration. But were African Americans really free?
Document 3 explains Georgia’s plea for slavery. Georgia wanted slaves to do free labor to help the states’ economy. This shows that some states only saw slaves as people doing free work to benefit their needs. This violates the human right of the right to desirable work, the slaves could not choose where they wanted to work. The chart on Document 7 shows that the master played a crucial role in breaking families.
In document 1, colored men were waiting for a long time to escape slavery. It was that time in 1865 where slavery was completely abolished but their rights were still hanging on the balance. The colored men were desired for change and freedom after
After the Civil War, the entire United States, especially the southern states that had supported the Confederacy, were in poor condition. The country needed to rebuild itself and therefore entered a period of Reconstruction. One of the primary aspects of the Reconstruction Era was extending rights to the millions of slaves emancipated by the thirteenth amendment that were in desperate need of help. To accomplish these intentions, Congress proposed the fourteenth and fifteenth constitutional amendments aimed at giving former slaves more rights and a fair chance at being successful. These amendments were then ratified by the states, officially putting them into effect.
During the antebellum era, many enslaved Americans would undergo significant trauma and hardship as their family structures were subject to rapid and harsh separation due to slavery, however, the civil war differed from this as although this practice maintained its horrible grasp, slaves had the ability to potentially escape this once iron-gripped fate. It is undeniable that slavery caused the separation of many families, as “There were numerous occasions, by no means all involving sale, in which slaves were forcibly removed, either temporarily or permanently, from their loved ones” (Kolchin, pg. 125). Systems of selling or transporting slaves across plantation and state lines were commonplace, with “wrenching - and permanent - disruption of families” being a primary symptom of this common practice (Kolchin, pg. 125). Throughout this period, “about one first marriage in three was broken by forced separation and close to half of all children were separated from at least one parent.”, and though the Civil War did not eradicate this stain upon society, it did provide alleviation in some forms (Kolchin, pg. 126). As Union soldiers marched further south, “With their own eyes, soldiers saw slavery snap bonds between parents and children”, and many took deep within themselves a hatred of what tragedies they saw (Manning, pg. 49).
There are many different questions that came with reconstruction. How easily should the South be readmitted? Should blacks receive full rights? Who should control reconstruction? Should reconstruction be handled at a national level?
Factory production in the North meant the invention of free labor where workers were paid low wages but goods were produced quickly and effectively benefiting factory owners. While slave labor might have been free, production was slow and inefficient and, in conclusion, left southern plantation owners struggling to keep up with the new advancements. Southern farmers who relied heavily on slave labor refused to give in to the threatening abolition despite the positive effect free labor had on the North’s active economy. In the south, it was believed that a white man’s freedom came at the price of someone else’s slavery, and freedom to a southerner meant someone else doing the laborious jobs. Since slave trade had been abolished and less and less people owned slaves, the value of a slave had risen substantially.
When slavery was abolished, Jim Crow laws were put into effect to keep African Americans and Whites separated. During these times black slaves were to receive 4 acres of land and a mule from the slave owner to repay them for the incarceration as slaves. Due to the split labor market, blacks had a harder time retaining their jobs, and the jobs that were approved for blacks were low paying. Despite the these societal disadvantages against the African American people, some slaves like my great, great, great grandfather, Wesley A. Settles who built the first school in Edgefield, SC where he taught African American children how to read and write, were able to rise and prosper. With his rise and prosperity, he became a victim of racism.
In document 1, it expresses “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of a crime wherof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This section of the 13th amendment alone provides us a coherent view of how the South was greatly flawed. Despite the Constitution stating “all men are created equal,” racial discrimination continued to take a part of society in this era and limited, sometimes even violated, the rights of these former slaves and African Americans. The 15th Amendment also sets forth, “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.” Like Document 1, this segment of the Amendment supports how African Americans proceeded to be regarded and looked upon as indifferent to the whites, lessening their rights as citizens in the process.
Have you ever wondered how life was for the slaves in the South? Slaves in the South suffered through many consequences. For example, they suffered through many whippings with cow skin if they didn't obey their master, they also got separated from their family mostly the fathers, so, they can be sold to a very mean slave owner. Even if they were living a miserable life on the farms, they had their own culture and they managed to even get married in the farmland or where they worked. Not only did the slaves live on the farm.
Thus all slave owners were obligated to let their slaves go or provide a salary for working on the plantations. Because this meant no free labor, Southern states passed laws known as the Black Codes. Their intended purpose was to restrict the freedom of African Americans and scam to compel jobless former slaves to work for former slave owners for low wages or to pay off debt. Southerners used a system called “sharecropping” where African Americans were forced to sign yearly contracts and pay rent for a chunk of land that cost more than what they received from the products produced. This caused a large amount of African Americans to work for free in order to pay off these debts.
For example, slaves had limited supervision if they worked on the Savannah river as a boatman. If talented enough at these professions, some slave owners would allow their slaves to work jobs in exchange for money. This is how very few slaves became free. They paid their way off of the plantation and could even pay to free their family. Slaves used their quarters to create a little community between them.