Reconstruction Dbq

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.

The fourteenth amendment was formed, when the Civil War had just came to a finish, which defeated the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln, who was president at the time, had declared the slaves freed at the end of the war; but there were still a lot of questions concerning the former Confederates and what the status of slaves in the country would become. Congress shaped the Reconstruction Amendments which included the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. The thirteenth amendment was ratified in December of 1865 and put an end to slavery in the United States. This new law stated that slaves were no longer the property of the people, but the new law did not answer questions about the new rights that they were now definite.

The 14th amendment was passed on June 13, 1866 by the 39th congress, and was ratified on July 9, 1868. This amendments great importance is that it brought equal protection to those born in America. The 14th applies to each state, no state could provide less but could provide more protection. This enfranchised African Americans who were enslaved after the Civil War.

It was a period of reform following the Civil War. After the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, the United States began to piece itself back together through new changes to their policies in the Reconstruction Era. The radical republicans wanted to punish the south for the damages caused by the war while the conservative republicans wanted to restore the nation as quickly as possible. Once Lincoln was assassinated, the ideas of the radical republicans took effect with the institution of the bayonet rule, which was the military occupation of the south, and the passage of the reconstruction amendments. The 14th and 15th amendments were passed in order to help ensure equality for the newly freed African Americans. US policy and society changed

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves and reigniting anger within the South and white supremacists. This, arguably, led to the serious debate over the whites’ allowance of African Americans to use their rights, and was more prominent in the South than North. While the American Civil War was occurring, this debate grew larger in size and more prominent in society and politics. Thus, the Reconstruction Era began, in which the U.S. government chose to protect African Americans and support them in using their rights. However, white hate groups did not want African Americans to have a voice in the matters of society, as they continued to see them as slaves and of lower class due to their skin tone.

There were high hopes for the Reconstruction era, after the civil war, in 1865. Throughout the twelve year Reconstruction era, newly freed African Americans had hopes of a better life with radical Republicans on their side. By the end of Reconstruction in 1877, the hope for African American equality had been lost. The goal of Reconstruction was to rebuild the south, reestablish the union, and remake southern society without slavery; however due to prejudice and a lack of care from the government, true equality for African Americans failed to happen during this era.

About 650,000 soldiers died during the Civil War; either by combat, accidents, diseases or starvation. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars America has faced. The Union beat the Confederates over slavery. The United States no longer has slavery and reconstruction follows the war. Reconstruction was different for everyone in the North and the South. “Reconstruction was widely viewed as a era of corruption and misgovernment…” There were many problems that faced the South, like, keeping former slaves from being used by white landowners and finding ways to provide to former slaves. However, Reconstruction was successful for African Americans, Southerners, and Northerners.

The Reconstruction Era was the period of repair after the Civil War. The Reconstruction Era enabled over four million enslaved Americans to win their freedom. Reconstruction was a significant chapter in the history of civil rights in the United States. Reconstruction began to rebuild the South after the Civil War. The Reconstruction Era lasted from 1865-1877, during this time the federal government proposed many plans to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. The Reconstruction Era made the United States a new nation. The Reconstruction Era

During Reconstruction, three amendments to the Constitution were made in an effort to establish equality for black Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment, adopted in 1865, abolishes slavery or involuntary servitude except in punishment for a crime. The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868, defines all people born in the United States as citizens, requires due process of law, and requires equal protection to all people. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, prevents the denial of a citizen’s vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The amendments that were used helped the black Americans from the whites. (Doc 1). These amendments were intended to guarantee freedom to former slaves and to establish and prevent discrimination in civil rights to former slaves and all citizens of the United States. The promise of these amendments was eroded by state laws and federal court decisions over the course of the 19th century.

Once Johnson was no longer in charge congress put into place the Civil Rights Act, an act that declared everyone who was born in the United states to be granted a citizen no matter their race or previous conditions. This meant all former slaves could become true legal citizens. Similarly, the 14th amendment made it so that each state was to give equal protection of the laws to everyone because it too declared all citizens were equal. This amendment also would not allow for confederate political leaders to hold positions and it would not forgive any debts of the confederacy. Following the civil rights act and the 14th amendment the 15th amendment and then another civil rights act were also put into effect. The 15th amendment aimed to give more federal protection to former slaves. Specifically, this amendment gave all male citizens, including former slaves the right to vote. Next, this other civil rights act granted equal rights to whites and African Americans in all public locations. This was helpful to former slaves, because it made them feel respected. Except, it was not strictly

The now free slaves rejoiced in what they could now do with the freedom to move, own land, worship, and to learn. Their new freedom soon became restricted with Black Codes restricting them and Jim Crow laws segregating them. During this time the 14th amendment came about staring that all people born in the United States are us citizens, as well as the 15th which stated that African American men were allowed to vote. The rebuilding of the South put them more in debt by $130 million. The Enforcement Act of 1870 banned the use of force and bribery. This lead to federal troops withdrawing in the South and ending slaves freedom. These causes and effects led to the failure of

On July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified to the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment was created to grant citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included the freeing of former slaves after the Civil War in 1865. It gave the former slaves their natural rights as citizens to the United States after the Dred Scott case, where they declared that black slaves were not people. Moreover, in Southern states the majority of them rejected this because they still wanted to keep their slaves, but later was required to be ratified by the three-fourths of the states. This is also known as the “Reconstruction Amendment,” meaning to forbid any states to deny any person of “life, liberty, or property without

Efforts from the congress after the rejection of President Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan involved enacting laws and amendments that enforced equal rights only to the now freed male slaves and gave them the right to vote and hold office. The government, confronted with formation of anti-equality groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and many others that opposed equality, soon enacted the Black Codes. The congress then passed the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills in hopes to settle the quarrels of slavery by declaring all born in the U.S as citizens but unfortunately, Johnson declined these bills. To retaliate, the Civil Rights Act

At the end of the Civil War, freed slaves had no rights. In an attempt to remedy the Civil War, amendments were passed in the years after the conflict.The 15th amendment established in March 30, 1870 introduced that no voting rights shall not be denied in the United States or by any state because of race, color or previous conditions of work. Yet most African Americans will never get to vote. The Jim Crow Laws in the South found a way around the 15th amendment to deny the right to vote to most freed slaves. This was done mostly by the use of literacy test, poll taxes and intimidation and terror. The amendment declined to protect freed slaves voting rights and helped restored white supremacy in the south. The voting rights act failed to protect

Before the civil war, almost four million blacks were denied freedom and they could not vote. When the Civil War was over, three constitutional amendments were passed. The 13th Amendment ended slavery, 14th Amendment gave the African Americans citizenship and the 15th Amendment gave African American males the right to vote. Throughout the years many white did not like the changes that were made, especially Ku Klux Klan, whose members attacked African Americans to maintain the white leadership. As a result of this, life in segregated USA was not