How Did Slave Rights Change In The South During The Reconstruction Era?

The Union won!This is great for the north, however what is next for the Confederate army. With slaves becoming freedmen and the south destroyed after total war, a lot was to be done after the civil war. A solution to this was Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period in american history from 1865 to 1877 lasting twelve years (Foner). Reconstruction after the war caused many social, political, and economic changes to the newly formed union.

“…the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery” (W.E.B. Dubois). Reconstruction was an era, from 1863 to 1877, used to rebuilt the damage done in the South by the Civil War. Many people resisted in the South, so it was difficult to carry out the new ideas of Reconstruction. Rebuilding the United States was not an easy task, only lasted 12 years ending in 1877. The Compromise of 1877 settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election, which was pulled federal troops out of state in the South, and ended the Reconstruction Era. The United State come up with three Amendment to help the African Americans there are the 13th Amendment: ended slavery, 14th Amendment: gave blacks Americans citizenship and civil rights and the last one was the 15th Amendment: right to vote. Was the North or South to be blamed for ending the period of rebuilding in the United State after the Civil War? Reconstruction is the process of rebuilding or reorganizing

Civil War. Even though the war lost many lives from both sides, it ended with the North

The Reconstruction Period I think is a problem for the African Americans back then. They were treated unfairly during this period, when it was to being them a new started and hope of change. Don’t get me wrong there were some people who were for them to e happy, but not many. So, let start at the being; where it all happened. In January of 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued a special field order Number 15, which temporary granted each freed family 40 acres of land off the region of Georgia in the islands and coastal area. Also the Union Army donated mules to them after the war was over. In the summer of 1865 when President Andrew Johnson was in office, his first act of Reconstruction was to give back all the federal control land back to its previous owner. When the land was giving back to the owners, freed men and women could sign a labor contracts with the planters or they could leave the land they occupied this was called Freedman’s Bureau. Soon after when the land was giving back, the former Confederate state stated “Black Codes”. Black Codes would deny African Americans to legal have equality and political rights. Also it would require then to sign yearly labor contracts with the planters. When this happen, Congress made the Reconstruction Act in the 1867, when the 14th (June 13, 1866) and the 15th (February 26, 1869, ratified on February 3, 1870) Amendments. These two amendments granted African Americans the right to vote, and equality before the law and

Reconstruction was a time of great change for the now-unified United States. It started in 1865, coinciding with the Union win of the Civil War. Reconstruction is defined as ‘the process by which the states that had seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War.” This means that the Northern states were given the task of trying to decide what to do with the states that left the Union before the war. Deciding what to do with these states sparked lots of debate. So much debate that it split the northern population into different groups. Radical Republicans fought for the rights of freedmen and believed that South should pay for the damage they caused. The Radicals were not interested in taking the South back with open arms. One of the Radicals’ proposed laws was to take large chunks of ex-confederate land and sharing it with freed slaves and non-wealthy whites. With that being said, the majority of the Northern population were Moderate in their stance on Reconstructing. Moderates were not for the distributing of land to African-Americans in the South because they believed that blacks would get complacent and not want to contribute to the economy in their various states. They thought that blacks would eventually become socially equal to whites given time. Moderates assumed that going strongly against what the Southern Majority wants would hinder the Reconstruction of the U.S. The Confederate ideals were

Shortly after the Civil War ended in 1867, President Abraham Lincoln’s new objective was to unify the union and the confederate states into what was formerly known as the United States of America. This time period is known as the Reconstruction Era, starting with the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in 1865 and ending with the implementation of the Compromise of 1877. The Reconstruction Era was a time period full of political, economic, and social changes, some being temporary and some lasting to modern time. Many modern ideas about freedom and political equality come from the positive results of reconstruction. Reconstruction however did not successfully solve the problem of social inequality between African Americans and White Southerners, but the goal of reconstruction was not to promote social equality, it was to unify the union, which was accomplished. So, the Reconstruction Era was not a failure, if anything, it was successful because it granted rights to African Americans that they never had before, it started programs such as the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves and poor whites with education, and it met the goal of unification.

Following the Civil War, previous slaves were granted their freedom, after the North's victory. However, the dispute of equality was not settled between the two territories trickling new challenges into a time duration known as the Reconstruction period. Many in the South were unhappy with the results postwar, and created laws and customs to maintain “slavery” or inequality any way they could. Reconstruction succeeded in an extent by transforming how people of color were viewed in society and by law, from being slaves to freedmen and finally to equal members in society.

African Americans were not able to do much during the time of reconstruction. In fact, the Black Codes were assembled which were a set of laws that restricted the rights of African Americans. During this time period slavery had just ended but the rights for the blacks were still seldom. In Opelousas, Louisiana african americans were not able to carry any weapons nor rent or keep a house in town (Document 4), This really made the rights of african americans very limited as

Just imagine that you were born when slavery was allowed in the United States. Better yet, imagine yourself as an African American/ black and being born into slavery. What would you do? Would you try to escape to freedom or remain a slave and serve “your master” until you die or until slavery is totally abolished? Well that’s when the Reconstruction Era comes in. The Civil War was a major cause that led to the Reconstruction Era. This was due to the Union winning the war between them and the South. The end of this war was thought to give freedom, peace, and stop the suffering of slaves all over the country, but the South didn’t want to let go of slavery that easily. Reconstruction was when the South was rebuilding and also when the country

Although the purpose of Reconstruction was to help the country back on track and assist in getting rights for black Americans, it ended with the country in turmoil and all the rights given, stripped away again. The Civil War ended and there was much promise for freedom and equality. These hopes were dashed by the new laws restricting these black Americans from living how they please. The rights were given and taken, not given back for years. The voting laws passed in the south took away a constitutional right from citizens of America. The Jim Crow Laws segregated an entire society over the shade of the skin.

During the Civil War, the Confederacy and the Union battled to fight over the morality of slavery. In the end of the Civil War, the Union won and resulted in the abolishment of slavery in the United States of America. This caused the Reconstruction period between 1865 to 1877; where North began to incorporate freed slaves into society. With the North’s involvement in the South, the Southerners tried to refute the new civil rights of the slaves. In the new battle of reconstruction post Civil War, American citizens witnessed social, political, and intellectual changes.

During the reconstruction period, the south experienced tremendous changes. New leaders were elected and with new leaders being elected that caused a corruption within the government. They were concerned that with a new leader, there would be new laws that would interfere with the rights given to free slaves. In January of 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery among all states. After

The North may have won the war, but they did a horrible job in trying to win the peace. The south had their new form of slavery, which was contained in the "Black Codes"; laws passed throughout the South that laid heavy restrictions on what, who, and where African-Americans could be. President Johnson saw that the only way to get the freedmen as subordinates again was to let the south back in he started signing pardons so fast that they had to assign an office to help him keep up. Johnson didn't interfere with the south and they continued their plantations, with the plantation owners running the south, in essence becoming exactly what they were before the war. It was like it had never happened. When

Blacks still had limited rights. Blacks never really got respect when Lincoln was in or out the office. Abraham Lincoln also made it hard for African Americans by only giving voting rights to the literate. This is making it hard because there were hate groups such as the “Ku Klux Klan” were making it hard for blacks to hardly do anything. Jim Crow laws also made it even harder for blacks to live. The President and the north at the time knew exactly what was going on down in the South. There were no changes being made in the South at all. Basically the Union fought so the South could do the exact same thing they were doing before they joined back

The Reconstruction era was a hard time for African Americans. Dealing with harassment and rude comments from other people, and hoping that they will get the right to vote. During this time some laws were passed, a few of them were the 1st amendment, voting rights, and equal rights. These goals were partially achieved and were not one hundred percent successful.