The Black Codes: A Short Analysis

Congress comes in to play in December 1865. The Congress was made up mostly of Republicans and they refused to let past Confederates to take their seats in Congress at this time. This marked the beginning of Radical Reconstruction or sometimes known as Congressional Reconstruction. The president and the congress did not agree on many issues. Congress overrode President Johnson on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Fourteenth Amendment spelled out rights of both black and white citizens as equal. It prolonged Federal powers for the enforcement of civil rights. States that approved the Fourteenth Amendment were considered reconstructed, and Tennessee did so. President Johnson advised other southern states to oppose doing this. Congress passed many laws to limit President Johnson’s powers. They passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which set new

During the period 1865 to 1941, there were as many as 18 presidents in office and in one way or another, they would’ve had to deal with the ongoing issue of black civil rights, whether that be improving them or reversing them. 1865 was the year of the end of the civil war, which has been a war over the question of whether slavery should be allowed. The South was defending the right to keep slavery within their confederate states, and the north was opposed to any extension of slavery. This was a key point in the fight for African American civil rights. 1865 was also known for the introduction of the 13th

The newly passed laws became known as “Black Codes” and socially, they directly impacted the lives of all freedmen and indirectly benefited the white race. These laws restricted the rights of free African-American men and women (Doc A). In Opelousas, Louisiana, some of these restrictions were the denied right to keep or own a house in the town, the denied right to enter the town without special permission, the denied right to hold public meetings, the denied right to carry firearms or any kind of weapon, and a requirement that every negro must be in service of some white person (Doc A). The elite members in the South did everything they could to prevent blacks from gaining civic power, and the reasoning for supporting these codes ranged from fearing black political influence to the comfort of knowing farmers still had a stable and reliable work force. Even in the post civil war North, people believed blacks were unfit to be government officials (Doc E). Pro-freedman presses ran racist letters arguing blacks were not fit for the proper exercise of political duties, and their generation needed a period of probation and instruction in order to learn the ways in which society ran (Doc E). Many northerners felt blacks were incompetent to hold important jobs; therefore, the government was in no way aiding the reconstruction efforts to provide equality to all people in America.

After Lincoln was assassinated, vise president Andrew Johnson stepped into office with a goal to change some of the things he believed in. In the article Andrew Johnson it states, “Next they passed measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to pass legislation over his veto--the first time that

When Johnson let the South back into the Union he helped to make all the people who had died for the right to equality for all worthless. President Johnson was from the south originally. He had been a poor white living in Kentucky, and so had learned to hate the rich, white Plantation owners. But he always felt above the slaves which later influenced his decision to let the very people he had grown up hating back in to the Union. When congress passed the 13th Amendment banning slavery many of the people in the south feared what would happen to them. Johnson, who related to the poor white folk, knew that they needed someone who they could say "at least I'm better than you" about. The only way he saw to do that was by letting the South have their lands and rights back so that they could do something about their former slaves. So the pardons started rolling out of the Round Office like a printing press. The Radical Republicans weren't happy about it but at that point they couldn't stop him. The south began to return to the way it was.

With all the issues the ex-Confederate states were giving the United States government, Lincoln devised the 10% Plan that was later carried out by Johnson, while Radical Republicans created the Civil Rights Act that later helped develop the 14th Amendment. Lincoln’s 10% Plan was to be lenient with the states from the Confederacy who had seceded from the Union. The Plan said that only 10% of the voting population had to take an oath of loyalty to the Union and rewrite state constitutions accepting emancipation. Congress, disliking Lincoln’s plan, wrote the Wade-Davis Bill which stated NO pardons to be given to those ex-Confederate states and that instead of only 10% taking the oath of loyalty, 50% had to. Lincoln’s response was to pocket veto the bill. When Lincoln was assassinated Andrew Johnson became President. Now Johnson was a very troubled man, poor and from Tennessee, he grew up despising the wealthy southern plantation owners and because of this, he set out for

On December 8, 1863 President Lincoln set out to enact his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction Act. This Act was designed re-establish a legitimate republican government. In his act provisions such as pardons and amnesty for those who participated in the war against the union. Also included was the president's 10% plan where U.S. citizens took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the Union and pledged to abide by emancipation. In addition, several proclamations of provisions in regard to slavery. President Lincoln felt it was his responsibility based on the constitutional obligation of the federal government to reinstate government throughout all states under one umbrella of law. Unfortunately, President Lincoln on April 14

He quickly issued freedom from being punished to any fighters who would take a promise of loyalty. This resulted in many former Confederates being elected to office in Southern states and putting in to place black codes which basically maintained slavery. Later he expanded his pardons to include Confederate leaders of the highest rank. When Congress met again, members expressed extreme anger at the president's mercy orders and his lack of protecting black people’s voting rights. (Oxford University Press,

Following the assignation of President Lincoln Andrew Johnson made it his ultimate goal to keep the Reconstruction up and stick to the agenda, but with some of his own twists. Andrew Johnson was a southern democrat who deeply believed in the Confederate, but he did not believe in blacks being equal to whites. President Johnson made it very clear that the African American race was inferior to the white population, especially in the south. One of the reasons why he had such a hard time in office his because his beliefs collided with the radical republicans in congress. One significant contribution to America was the 10% Plan that Lincoln and Johnson tried to implement. The 10% Plan basically stated that whenever 10% of a southern state population had loyalty with the Union, and adapted a “constitution” that abolished slavery, they would be allowed to be back in the Union. When Johnson brought this to the Republican dominated congress, his plan quickly got shut down because the new amendment wouldn’t be granting blacks the rights to be equal to the white man. After denying Johnson on his 10% Plan, Congress tried to make another plan known as the Radical Reconstruction, and Johnson was completely against it; therefore at that time the relationship between President Johnson and Congress sated to deteriorate. Before Lincoln’s assignation he had brought a plan to his Cabinet that

At the time of his death, July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant was considered one of the popular person in the United States. His funeral procession in New York City stretched for seven miles with both surviving Union and Confederate Generals in attendance, while 1.5 million people lined the route. Historians have produced a plethora of studies and written material describing and analyzing the Ulysses S. Grant administration. Predominantly their primary focus deals with the negative aspects occurring in his administration, detailing the many scandals, fraudulent activities, political corruption, and describing him as inept, weak, or a naive executive. Although modern polls does not mark his presidency as the worst president, he often makes

Through the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution, the republicans tried to protect and establish black freedoms. At the same time southern state legislators were passing laws to restrict free blacks’ freedoms. Through the use of black codes and vagrancy laws, the south attempted to keep blacks in a state of slavery. These laws were worded in a way such that blacks rights would be so restricted that it would remain impossible for them to gain any real freedom.

Johnson’s Plan had nothing to say about the rights of blacks after the war. Most Northern Democrats favored Johnson’s Plan. However Southerners were not so impressed. Many of the southern states accepted Johnson’s plan but some of them attacked the black rights issue. Some states would not ratify the thirteenth amendment. None of the southern states would allow blacks to vote. In late 1865 the southern states revised their slave codes into what became know as the black codes. This basically stripped blacks of every right and justice that was due to them. Since Johnson’s plan did not address the rights and liberties of blacks, the southern states took it into their own hands to create their own laws regarding blacks. When Congress met again they began to fight for the rights of blacks. They responded to the black codes by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. President Johnson vetoed the bill but Congress overruled his veto with a 2/3 majority vote. Congress’ view of President Johnson began to deteriorate.

Furthermore, even so the “Thirteen’s Amendment “was to be ratified ,which signified and end of slavery, Johnson as a southerner democrat himself had no intentions to give African Americans total freedom. It is easy to see that Johnson’s approval of the “Black Code” was actually still some sort of renamed

During this period President Johnson continued his pardons and the 10% plan continued to readmit states to the union. Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia were a few of the 10% states readmitted. In opposition to Johnson's readmission policies and his Reconstruction plan, Radicals began to refuse to allow Democrats to sit in Congress. Congress also passes the Tenure of Office Act inhibiting the power of the President.

Before Jackson’s presidency, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 in an effort to create a balance between the slave states and free states. This was significant because many southerners wanted to expand slavery while northerners wanted to abolish slavery. While northerners argued that Congress should be allowed to prohibit slavery, southerners insisted on “popular sovereignty”, the idea that states should be able to determine whether or not slavery should be allowed in their state(history.com). As a result, during Jackson’s presidency, more white men began to work and as the number of states entering the union increased, laws excluding African American men from voting increased under Jackson’s reign. This shows how racial segregation increases under Jackson’s reign. African Americans were given no civils rights and equality. Because of this, there was an Abolitionist Crusade in which William Lloyd Garrison forms an Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s. The majority of the Anti-Slavery Society is made up from democrats who protested the denial of political and civil rights to slaves. Freed and runaway slaves such as Frederick Douglass gave many speeches and wrote Narrative of the