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Reconstruction Dbq Essay

946 Words4 Pages

he Reconstruction Era was the process of reunifying the country and reconstructing the South after the ruins the Civil War had left it in. This era was substantial in history because it encouraged to protect the rights of former slaves and African Americans as citizens of America. However, it was ineffective in settling the nation’s social, monetary, physical, and political dilemmas. The inadequacy of political focus, decline to bring about long-term racial integration, and authorizing the passing of black codes, voter qualifications, and other anti-progressive legislation to repeal the rights that blacks had gained, emphasizes the disappointment of what the focus of the Reconstruction Era was all about but the infrastructure it had established …show more content…

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. Although this was not efficient during the Reconstruction Era, this contributed to women being granted their rights in 1920, just a few years …show more content…

They manipulated the laws against slavery for their benefit and their benefit only. They continued to believe that African Americans were much lesser than they were. Document 8 states, “the Southland laws are all on the side of the white, and they do just as they like to the negro, whether in the right or not.” This supports the claim that Southern politicians continued to believe in the inferiority of African Americans following the abolishment of slavery. Document 10 also states, “for over 50 years, the states of the American Soutj enforced a policy of separate accommodations for blacks and whites on buses and trains, and in hotels, theaters, and schools. On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy vs. Ferguson law case that separate-but-equal facilities on trains were constitutional.” It is deplorable that such laws were created by Southern Republics to ensure that African Americans would maintain to be treated inferior to them. This includes making segregation a law. Blacks and whites could no longer dine together, sit on the bus together, get an education together,

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