Late 1800s Dbq

During Reconstruction, African Americans’ freedoms were very restricted. There were strict regulations on voting, relationships, employment, firearms, and other freedoms that white people had. African American faced disenfranchisement for years after being freed and becoming citizens. In What a Black Man Wants by Frederick Douglass, Douglass angrily demands the freedom to vote that every American deserved. He assesses the black man’s contribution to society and wonders why this contribution has not led to more rights. Those who were supposed to be fighting for the rights of freed slaves were not speaking up. Even the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was not fighting for the rights of the freed slaves. Because of the restrictions on voting, African Americans did not have the same power over their own lives that white people had. Disenfranchisement is just one way white people limited freedoms of freed slaves.

The emancipation proclamation was what seemed like the beginning of freedom for African Americans. African Americans fought hard and valiantly in the American Civil war and with the Unions win freedom and peace for blacks seemed to be assured. As most people would quote," Freedom isn 't free." It almost always has a cost. Africans Americans since the origin of this country have literally laid down their lives for the cost of freedom and opportunity in the US. One of the most coveted freedom 's both past and present is the right to suffrage. My paper discusses the many factors leading to and the trials and tribulations involving black 's right to vote. In this paper, I will discuss the constitutional amendments as well as the landmark supreme court cases that affected both the lives and voting rights of African Americans during the time period of 1865 through 1900.

African Americans were definitely rejected equal opportunities by adding poll tax when you register to vote. Poll Tax is the tax that you have to pay to vote. Since African Americans were receiving teensy payments, it was difficult to obtain a normal living standard life and vote at the same time.

During the time period between 1825-1840, ideals such as equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness defined democratic ideals. The reforms during this period of time were based on the craving to make America a utopian society. In addition, the 2nd Great Awakening expanded much of the democratic ideals by increasing church membership, especially in women also it inspired social reforms such as prisons, slavery, alcohol, education, women rights, and mental ill. Furthermore, it increased religious diversity. So the Reform Movements in the period of 1825-1850 did much to expand democratic ideals on abolition of slavery, women's rights movement, and American Temperance.

In order to limit the voting rights of African Americans, there were poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses were created. The poll taxes was an annual taxes, for those who wanted to vote.

A quote from Document 8 says “ In May 1872, because of pressure from the libral Republican, Congress passed a general amnesty act which restored the right of officeholding [and voting] to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified.” Previously most black men had been disqualified from voting because of the lack of education, but all of that went away in an attempt to restore equality. White men were firious and would not stand to see this happent. Document four says “Let there be White Leagues formed in every town, village and hamlet of the south...they will not stand idly by and see us borne down by northern radicals and half-barbarous negroes.” White people formed grooups such as the KKK to torture the black people and prevent them from effecting white

Document C tells the struggles of the newly freed men who fought for their freedom, only to be denied the right to vote for their representatives. It is only right that the men that were trusted with bayonets, during the war, be allowed to vote for their representatives. After years of fighting for the right to vote, African Americans were granted the right to, through the 15th amendment to the United State’s constitution in 1870. Document G (The First Vote) depicts a group of African American men using their 15th amendment right, and voting on some sort of political office. After receiving the right to vote, the newly freed African Americans still were not treated the same as White Americans, and soon after the Reconstruction Era voting, for African Americans, would be merely impossible

After the civil war and the period of reconstruction during the 20th century, many economic, social and political conditions changed for African Americans. This new freedom and opportunities given to them were not dramatically a big change. Even though the civil war had ended African Americans still faced discrimination and didn’t get as promised. One social change that came out of the civil war and reconstruction was segregation between the two races it was the process of separating the black people from the white. As shown in document 6, we see the public drinking fountain in North Carolina are kept separate from the white.

Blacks were treated as lower than whites and were stripped of the rights others had, which included voting. “…Blacks bent on remaining in America would naturally seek the right to vote and, equally as a matter of course…blacks contended that denying them equal franchise [suffrage] with whites contravened [contradicted] the principles of the Declaration of Independence.” (Doc. 2) African Americans had no civil rights, especially as slaves. In 1840, a rally in support of the Liberty Party took place in New York and they stood up for what was right. They told the statement of how all humans should have equal rights (including blacks) and those would deny the right would be going against the Declaration of Independence. During 1861- 1865, one of the bloodiest clashes in America took place, the Civil War. This was a battle between the North and the South. With the North’s victory, three amendments took almost immediate effect, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. These resulted in the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and Black suffrage (Doc. 3). If the South were to win, these amendments would most likely not exist and would result in the opposite direction. Without the North’s efforts to win the war, there would have probably still have been racial issues with slavery, unequal civil rights, and also no voting privileges for the African

Interestingly enough, despite the new era of thinking ushered in by the enlightenment movement that highlighted man’s natural rights there was inequality in abundance affecting the majority of women, african americans, and native americans. Native americans felt the impact of manifest much differently than others with the indian removal act of 1830. African Americans were negatively impacted as a result of manifest destiny meant the expansion of slavery itself. Eventually, the southern economy would become even more dependent on slave labor due to king cotton. Once the cotton gin was invented by Eli whitney the market had greater means to supply while the demand also simultaneously grew. This resulted in slavery etching itself even deeper into the fabric of the southern economy making the south extremely paranoid to the intentions of the north. They were so protective over keeping their right to have slaves it created a great feud between north and south that would eventually end in a civil war. But before this would occur things would get tougher on slaves when fear of revolts would inspire southern legislature to develop the slave codes. These codes further restricted the freedom of slaves which were already almost unexistent. They weren’t allowed to gather amongst themselves for any reason including religious worship out of fear that such congregating could result in schemes to revolt. Furthermore, to hinder their progression into society and deny them the competence to

Most responses toward the new idea of being slavery-free in America were negative. While organizations like the Freedmen’s Bureau emerged, so did organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was a white supremacist group that threatened and lynched black voters. They were a secret group that terrorized African American and tried to stop blacks from having civil rights. Also, Southern governments found gaps in the Reconstruction Amendments and were able to come up with obstacles used to prevent blacks from voting. States had literacy tests, poll taxes, and a grandfather clause. Literacy tests required the reading and understanding of a section of the state’s constitution. Before Reconstruction, most blacks were slaves and it was illegal for slaves to learn how to read and write. Poll taxes prevented blacks from voting because most were poor sharecroppers or tenant farmers. They had just left slavery and were out on their own trying to find jobs. The grandfather clause allowed those whose fathers and grandfathers who voted on January 1, 1867 to vote. Because the civil war just ended and blacks recently won their freedom, their fathers and grandfathers had never voted in an election. No black in the South has voted back

Life in Europe began to explode. With bigger and better technology, people were finally realizing how to get ahead in the world. Many thinkers and inventors flooded the cities, hoping to get their ideas out of their minds and into the world they live in. People began to realize things they would’ve never thought of without these technologies or the newcomers.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed saying that every man would have the right to vote regardless of their race. It was meant to give the right to vote to the African American citizens. Even after this was passed however, states in the South were still able to find ways to keep African Americans from voting. It was easy to still deny their right to vote because the amendment only says that laws cannot be made making race a requirement for voting. The most effective barriers created by the South to prevent African Americans from voting were grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and white-only primaries because they were legal and therefore did not directly keep a certain race from voting.

Poll taxes were also enacted throughout the entire United States. Literacy tests and poll taxes were created because of Jim Crow Laws to keep African Americans from being able to vote. However, the 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote in 1870. Literacy tests were administered to

Those who felt threatened by the massive amount of African-Americans who would now be participating in the government criticized this Amendment, which allowed all male citizens the right to vote regardless of race. Ex-Confederates, many of which were not allowed to vote after bitterly losing to the north, argued that African-Americans were not ready to vote because they were ignorant to the political system of the U.S. The political power of the south would be in the hands of the formerly oppressed, as opposed to their oppressors, who would be practically powerless. The debate on this topic would cause more tension in southern society, which was already undergoing a difficult period of adaptation. Another problem which arose in the south were laws which would further the oppression of the African-American population. Commonly called Black Codes, these laws also punished white persons who supported emancipation during the Civil War. These Black Codes were often unreasonable or unneeded to keep order within society. They were simply created as bitter retaliation by the ex-Confederates who were not pleased by the integration, which had just taken place. Black Codes were created and enforced on a State level which became superior to the Fourteenth Amendment. The laws would be psychologically damaging to the African-American population, who would be forced to feel