preview

Reconstruction Dbq

Good Essays

The Civil War was one of the most difficult and trying times during American history. The war ended with the the Union and Confederate states torn apart over one major issue: slavery. With the end of the Civil War came the end of slavery in the United States. Although the former black slaves were now free, they had no land and very few rights, and most did not even have family. Though out reconstruction, blacks were able to gain rights, but were continuously repressed by the white Southerners. The only way to truly enfranchise the former slaves was by effectively disenfranchising their former masters. The reign the masters had over their former slaves disabled the slaves from trying to fulfill their lives as equal American citizens. In …show more content…

Once convicted, the blacks were put on farms to work. Blacks would also have to pay a penalty if they were jumping contracts and moving from plantation to plantation; they could not leave the plantation. The whites were basically creating a “legal” system of slavery, which undermined the blacks newly acquired rights as a free citizen. Andrew Johnson would soon prove to be the oppressor in the fight for black equality during the time of reconstruction in the United States. First, the distribution of land was being brought about by a reconstruction-made institution, known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, clothing, education, and land to the blacks. By June 1865, the Bureau had settled nearly 10,000 black families on their own land, which was abandoned plantations. Just as the blacks were coming into and accepting their new freedom, the Southern white plantation owners were returning and demanding the return of their land. Andrew Johnson would support their demands and the government would eventually return all of the land. Just by this instance, it was proved that the whites in the South had tremendous control over the blacks and the government seemed to be supporting them. The North actually feared the potential power of the

Get Access