Reconstruction Dbq Essay

Before the American Civil War, we struggled with the concept of slavery based on our economic and moral differences. People who lived in the North believed that slavery should be abolished since they did not grow crops that needed an abundance of slaves. Moreover, they thought that slaves should be treated like all human beings based on the constitution. On the other side, Americans who lived in the South thought slavery should not be abolished as their crops demanded twice as much work than the ones in the North; therefore, they needed much more workers working in their field and that’s where slaves came into view. They also thought that Africans were inferior because of their skin color and origin. These different points of view caused America

During the time period of 1860 through 1877, there were horrid events that occurred. The North and the South states had an ongoing feud. They were feuding over the problems of slavery, and whether or not it should be a continued tradition. In 1861 through 1865 a massive event took place, the Civil War, where Abraham Lincoln was the face and figure of that time. This was without a doubt Americans fighting against fellow Americans. During these times this war was a family going head to head. That would finalize the fate of millions of slaves. After the Civil War there was reconstruction, even then there was still the popular opinion that slavery would still be there in some shape or form. Some people argue that constitutionally and socially

African Americans are now free but they didn’t have anything of their own so anything they needed they had work for it, so they all needed jobs. In the South, they were acquainted with one system of labor. They were presented with another system of labor, called Wage Labor, but they wouldn’t appreciate it. The South had been so use to the system of slave labor, because they could get what their essentials without paying them to get it….Wage labor would result in a destructive outcome to the South (2). After the Civil War, the South was in an economic collapse, they couldn’t afford to pay both freedmen and regular white employees. This became an economic problem. As African Americans plead for work, the South question. Southerners felt that if they were working they wouldn’t be considered free anymore, if freedmen worked, they have gained no freedom; but without work they’re not able to provide (3). Those freedmen needed jobs so they could afford this new

Slavery in the United States was the main form of labor in the late 1700’s. While being thought of as a normal way of life, many whites took in colored people as slaves for field work, house work, and much more. Their mistreatment and injustices began to raise red flags in the ethics of the society. From 1776 to 1852, opposition to slavery was quickly spreading as many forces caused the prolonged debate of slavery to come into question. The increase in the black population, the facts and rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence, and the harsh mistreatment of slaves were all factors in the continuous growth of the idea of abolition until eventual reconstruction after the Civil War in 1867. The slaves at this time fought hard for the

Debt/poverty forced freed blacks to sign labor contracts regarding exploitive sharecropping that deprived them of hope for improvement in life

The American Reconstruction was a failure right from the beginning, when Andrew Johnson was elected states were given a choice as to who they let vote. This was a terrible idea as no southern states granted blacks the vote. This unravelled all the work President Lincoln had done previously by outlawing slavery to help start to give blacks equal rights. The new legislatures passed ‘black codes’ from 1865-66, which basically made slavery legal again but didn’t call it slavery.

Slavery was one of the most notorious institution that happened in the United States. Being prevalent in 1619 through 1865, during this time the Northern and Southern states were living two different lifestyles prior to the war. The Northern states’ objective was to expand industrialization further south, however the Southern states’ completely disagreed and wanted to remain rural and continue white supremacy. Owning slaves was a way of life for the Southern elites, they wanted to maintain black subordination. In 1865-1877 there was a period called Reconstruction that took place after the Civil War. The main purpose for Reconstruction was to “rebuild” the United States after the physical and economic devastation caused by the war. Due to the

For one, many African Americans were still not free during this time. In a map infographic titled “The Abolition of Slavery 1777-1865” it details (by state) the dates in which slavery was abolished. Abolition began in the North as early as 1777. By 1787, the Northwest Ordinance passed which outlawed slavery in the northern states. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed and it ended all slavery in America by 1865. (Document K) Despite the eventual abolition of slavery in America, it cannot be justified that the revolution had any causation in the matter. This is due to the timeline in which the revolution ended compared to when slavery was abolished. The revolution ended in 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed and the dates reveal the fact that it took nearly a century after the revolution to end for slavery to end as well. The majority of slave abolition that took place after the revolution cannot be directly attributed to it. Free Africans in the north also suffered as a result of the reality of African American peoples during this post-revolutionary era. An example that encapsulates the African American struggle is a speech given by a young valedictorian at a New York African free school. In this speech, the young black man describes how he will not be able to work for white employers, despite his academic excellence. He expresses that

The year is 1865, the Civil War has concluded, slaves are now declared “free”, Lincoln is killed, and our nation continues to disband itself further and further. What was the nation’s response towards the situation? To create a program in which the U.S. would rebuild society and manage to eliminate conflicts within the government, the wealth of the nation, the relations between groups, and land. Reconstruction’s purpose was to bring the North and the South back, as one nation, but all that was accomplished were disputes, both opinionated or political, therefore; Reconstruction was unsuccess. Part of the reason behind the failure called the Reconstruction is Johnson’s focus on healing the nation rather than the justice. Another part was due

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, who was the president of the United States then declared the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to the slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the federal government. However, after the proclamation, though free, they lived in desperate rural poverty. Majority of the slaves was released from their previous plantation penniless. They were helpless and could not support their family and themselves. An excerpt from an interview with Toby Jones, one of the slaves who prevailed through poverty, stated, “All we had to eat was what we could beg, and sometimes we went three days without a bite to eat.” Numerous freed slaves had to experience a loss of shelter, food, and money. This resulted in multiple of deaths during the Reconstruction period due to starvation from the lack of money to buy food with. Warren McKinney, another slave who lived in poverty, states, “Some folks say they ought to done more for the colored folks when they left, but they say they was broke, Freeing all the slaves left ‘em broke. That reconstruction was a mighty hard pull. We started working for Mr. Emerson. We liked it fine, I been here fifty-six years now. Living was not so hard. If a fellow could get a little bread and a place to stay, he was all right.” McKinney was freed and ached after like any

After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became president on April 15, 1865. The end of Civil War had given freedom to many slaves. However, the progression of reforming the South during the Reconstruction period brought completely new challenges. On May 29, 1865, Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction which was a huge disappointment for the Radical Republicans. When it came to Johnson, it was clear for Radical Republicans that he clearly favored for the former slaveholders rather than the former slaves. Therefore, Johnson’s announcement for Reconstruction was a huge disappointment for the Radical Republicans.

The Reconstruction period brought difficulties to the slaves who were freed from the Civil War. The “Freedmen”, as they were called, had no education, food or water. Even if they had been given freedom, they were still in horrible circumstances because of the “Southerners” who created the Black Codes

After the Civil War, there were “three and a half million men and women” (Brinkley, 352) freed from slavery. These individuals now faced Reconstruction, the reestablishment of the south after their secession from the Union. There were many different ideas on the proper way to proceed with reconstruction. To African Americans, the goals of reconstruction was freedom, to some that meant political equality others economic success, or social equivalence.

Slavery, as many people know, was the cause of an ongoing dispute during the early-mid 1800s that caused several things like states seceding, rebellions, and even the Civil War. Slavery had a huge effect on politics and several debates, decisions, acts, and compromises had to be formed in order to keep the people in check. In the North and West, most people were anti-slavery while most people in the South were pro-slavery. These two regions were way more different than they were similar not only in the issue of slavery, but also in their economies which helped further the sectional disputes. Slavery and the impacts it had greatly shaped our country and made people choose between slavery with all of the money it offered, and freeing the

The years following the Civil war brought about an enormous change to the very threads of our country. Nearly 5 days after the civil war ended, President Lincoln had been assassinated and our country was thrown into a great deal of turmoil, especially because our new president was the racist southerner, Andrew Johnson. We needed to rebuild our country from the death and destruction that had happened during the Civil War and the matter of the rights for the newly freed slaves would become a Pressing Issue in our country. Overall, the age of reconstruction was successful in bringing rights to African Americans in our country through the 14th and 15th amendments but was also a failure because of the continued hate and oppression that they would