The twelve years after the Civil War, known as Reconstruction, proved to be a difficult time for America. Although new amendments were created that gave African Americans more rights in society, the Southern Democrats shackled the full potential of the Reconstruction era by restricting blacks’ freedom, voting rights, and economic independence. The Amendments were placed in the constitution to give rights and protection to African Americans after the Civil War. All three amendments implemented the essential changes that were desired in the United States: 13 gave blacks freedom, 14 gave blacks citizenship, and 15 gave black men voting rights (Doc A). Since the Civil War just ended and mostly republicans held position in the federal government, they created these amendments because …show more content…
The two images depict how southern whites found various techniques to ensure that blacks could not vote (Doc C). The democrats understood that African American voters would hinder their ability to regain control of Southern politics and would side with the northern republicans, so they created literacy test to deny suffrage and disenfranchise southern blacks. In addition, a petition from Freedmen on March 25, 1871 explicates how Blacks were being mistreated by the KKK (Doc D). Indeed, Freedmen wrote this petition to Congress because it mostly consists of Republicans, and they believed that republicans would be able to create a law that protects them from the KKK’s atrocious acts. Also, a cartoon that appeared in Harper’s weekly delineates the harsh conditions endured by Blacks in the South (Doc F). The purpose of the image is to shine light upon horrendous acts of white supremacy groups such as the KKK so that these acts of violence could be acknowledged and eliminated. Clearly, reconstruction had a lot more downs than up as Southerners acted to limit Blacks’
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African
The reconstruction was an era when African Americans tried to fit in and to rebuild the South. The reconstruction started in 1876. Some troops started to leave the South. The KKK was also starting to rebel against the government. The North took their focus of reconstruction and focused on scandals. This essay is trustworthy because I used primary sources. The South was the cause for the end of the reconstruction because the KKK was killing people, KKK was forcing people to vote democratic ticket, and South did nothing about the KKK.
Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War. During this period, the U.S faced many challenges such as how to reunite the North and the South and put the Civil War behind us. In addition, the nation needed to address the status of four million freed slaves by granting them citizenship, and protecting their citizenship rights. As years passed, many historians went back and forth of whether or not Congress was a success for the freedmen, or a total blowout. These pieces of evidence concludes that the Congress’ Reconstruction was unfortunately a failure for the freedmen rights.
The victory in the Civil War in 1865 gave 4 million slaves freedom, but the Reconstruction in the south introduced a problem. For a while it was a dream that reconstruction might come true. Reconstruction was the action of rebuilding in the south. Many were hopeful that the Reconstruction may happen. There was terrorist attacks and acts of prejudice going on but who or what killed reconstruction? Although the South was an important contributor The north caused reconstruction to end.
The American Civil War claimed the lives of over 700,000 people. The war was fought from 1861-1865. The results of the war were described as; a union victory, abolishment of slavery, territorial integrity preserved and the destruction and dissolution of the Confederate States. The twelve years that followed were called the Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877. The purpose of the Reconstruction Era was to restore National Unity, strengthen the government, and guarantee rights to freed slaves. The reality of reconstruction though was; violence (260,000 dead), newly freed slaves suffered the most, and Lincoln's hopes of trust and rededication to peace were lost when he was assassinated on April 15th, 1865. It is these realities of the Reconstruction Era and beyond that this paper will address and how those realities affected the newly freed slaves. Life in post-bellum America for African - Americans was violent and filled with fear because of white supremacy, lynching, and the brutal mutilations of blacks.
The Reconstruction era was necessary for rebuilding the south. It was a success in some aspects and failure in others. The main purpose of the reconstruction was almost fulfilled, but it didn't stay after the reconstruction. Its aftermath was terrible in some aspects especially for african americans.
The reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 - 1877, had some feats but largely was a failure at accomplishing its goals. It succeeded in readmitting the Southern states to the union, but failed in integrating them fully; the Nation still remained divided by political lines. It helped to rebuild a war ravaged South until the North lost interest in the South and it gave former slaves and people of color more rights and political representation than they ever had before, but the South passed various codes, tests, and laws to limit the black resurgence and keep the old power structure. By 1870 the reconstruction successfully readmitted all the southern states that seceded under Andrew Johnson's plan, however all the states restored their conservative governments within 9 years of readmission (reconstruction map) because of Andrew Johnson's leniency to the South. After the division of the South into military districts in 1867, the governments established were under control of the radical Republicans and gave blacks the power to vote and participate in the government.
The second was the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868), which gave African Americans their citizenship and this entitled them to all of the rights of a citizen. Finally, the third was the 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870), which gave African Americans suffrage (the right to vote). Each of these three helped give African Americans their civil rights by law, but there was still extreme discrimination (particularly by certain groups that expressed discrimination, often by violent
The Reconstruction Era in the United States was a time from 1865-1877 when the government made the attempt to revitalize the South after the Civil War. This movement was begun by President Abraham Lincoln and continued after his assassination by his successor, Andrew Johnson. The focus of this era was on an economic, political, and social level in the South. Numerous bills and acts were passed throughout the years to assist in strengthening and enforcing rules that would essentially turn back the clock for the South. Although, at the time, this was thought to be an excellent way to reform the nation, many disagree and believe it was a failure until World War II and after President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
William Smith Smith AP U.S. History – 7 3 January 2015 Essential Questions 1. The most prominent reason why Reconstruction was considered a failure was the status of African Americans after reconstruction was already over. The agreements following the Civil War were made in order to make African Americans equal in the eyes of the law and the opportunities they were able to pursue. But after the war the southern states were widely ignored as they passed laws to segregate the races and prevent blacks from voting. They remained very low on social tiers as well, and very little people in the south changed the way they treat black people.
The reconstruction period in American history can be described as the period in time after the American Civil War when southern states were reorganized back in the union. During this time freedom for citizens even those who were enslaved could bring up a very controversial debate. Some may say that those citizens had the right to freedom, while others may even disagree with that. In this paper many topics will be discussed, from the reconstruction period itself, to whether or not freedom can be defined differently by freed people. The topic of who actually had the power to control how freedom will be discussed as well. In this paper certain documents will be analyzed and even compared to other documents.
Reconstruction was a period between 1865-1877 that took place after the states separated. During the reconstruction there were times it was successful and many times it failed. The main goal was to reconstruct the nation and turn it into one nation. Reconstruction had a huge impact on the south’s government, society and economy.
After the war Republicans had considerable power and the Democratic party was in shambles, which led to them having their own objectives and visions of Reconstruction. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 468) Congressional Republicans feared losing their power and attempted to set the tone of Reconstruction by passing a civil rights bill in 1866, refused to seat members from the former Confederacy, and investigated conditions in the South, which led to the passage of the Reconstruction acts that divided the South into five districts. (Nash, et al., 2007., pp. 472-473, 476) Republicans also moved against President Johnson as they reduced the expanded power of the executive branch and eventually impeached him. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 476) Democrats also had a vested interest in Reconstruction as after the war the party was in shambles and had to grapple for the power to push their interests over the Congressional Republicans. This power contest led to unsavory tactics in the South such as the Mississippi Plan, which was devised as an intimidation tactic to force people to vote Democratic. (Nash,
These amendments were ratified to help and support equal Rights between the African-American citizens and the White citizens. The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution officially got rid of, and continues to enforce the end of slavery to this day. The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution declared that all people born in the United States are American citizens, which includes African Americans. The Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race or color. Together, these three very important amendments help keep rights "equal" for every citizen. Many slave owners and small cities where segregation was valued tried to find loopholes for these amendments. One included using the saying, as touched upon above, "Separate but Equal" declared fair in a previous court case brought to the Supreme Court. This saying meant that every race or color got their own rights, but still had to be segregated. This would include the white children at a public school drinking out of a clean, sanitized water fountain and African-American children drinking out of a gross, unkept water fountain flooded with germs and diseases. See, but since everyone had water, it was considered fair and equal. Changes were made both politically and socially including Supreme Court cases overruling previous ones (Brown vs. Board) and protests wanting equal rights without loopholes. These amendments caused a huge impact on the reform of the Civil Rights
The Civil War was a massive milestone in American History. This war started in 1861 and lasted four years. It was between the Union and the Confederacy over their differences and problems they created. The consequences the nation faced due to the demolition of the Civil War, was terrifying. Then the Reconstruction era was born to restore, reinstate, and unite the United States as one. During the Reconstruction of 1865 through 1867, African American lives were impacted economically because they were given few rights and their resources were limited, socially because they wanted to be given an ordinary lifestyle, and politically because they weren’t allowed to be joined or linked with the government.