The During The Civil War

The reconstruction era brought political changes. For example, the 13th Amendment freed all slaves in the United States (doc. A). African-Americans gained their citizenship with the 14th amendment (doc. F). All African-Americans could vote after the 15th amendment was

African Americans during the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction experienced two fundamental developments that attributed to a continuity and change within the country and those were the constitutional and social developments. There was only one major constitutional continuity, but many great constitutional changes. On the other hand, social continuity was scarce in the African American society while there was only one important social change. After the Civil War, life for the African American changed drastically constitutionally, but socially however, life was no different and even in some ways harder socially. The main constitutional continuity was the Civil Rights Bill which helped fuel in a great extent the continued hate from Southerners

During reconstruction the United States was divided on social issues, presidential campaigns were won and loss on these issues during this period. The struggle for development of African Americans and how they initiated change in political, economic, educational, and social conditions to shape their future and that of the United States. (Dixon, 2000) The South’s attempts to recover from the Civil war included determining what to do with newly freed slaves and finding labor to replace them. The task of elevating the Negro from slave to citizen was the most enormous one which had ever confronted the country. Local governments implemented mechanisms of discrimination to combat citizenship

The Souths need for slavery was difficult for the North’s industrialized civilization to understand which created a huge sociopolitical disagreement and division between the states as new issues arose and became harder to ignore. From the Early Abolitionist movement to the 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling the tensions were heightened, as the Souths constitutional right to the protection to their “property” was threatened and the moral question of the “property of men”. On November 6, 1860 the tensions reached its peak after Abraham Lincoln the Republican Party nominee, who relied heavily on the anti-expansion of slavery platform during the campaign, was elected the 16th president of the United States, which threatened the Southern way

Slavery and states’ rights were the most pressing issues in the 1860 presidential election. Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the presidency on the basis of his promise to halt the spread of slavery (Hillstrom). However, not all African Americans lived in slavery. African Americans that lived in freed states had to deal with strict laws that limited their conduct and behavior. Children who lived in northern states were able to receive their education, convicts could serve their sentences, and people could have been buried in cemeteries but on major thing is that they all had to be segregated. African Americans that lived in the southern states lived their life in feared of violence and racism. Many endured mobs lynching, whipped and branded with hot iron. When the Reconstruction period started many Americans believed that everyone should have the same constitutional rights and experience the privileges of citizenship. Which resulted from the south to experience the Jim Crow. Jim Crow laws were a set of ideas, social norms, life ways, role-play symbols, sanctions, and devastations created after the Civil War by white politician’s intent on maintaining a system of oppressive control over African American life and economics (Mzama & Asante). Equal rights laws that had been passed during Reconstruction continued to be replaced with discriminatory Jim Crow laws across the South. Although Northerners and Republican lawmakers showed little interest in protecting the rights

In the 1850s economic and social developments were being made in both the South and North resulting in both sides not truly understanding one another. The primary example of this dealt with the predicament of slavery. The North’s massive transition to industrialization with the assistance of power operated machines, such as steam engines and trains resulted in a large economic and social transformation. On the other hand, the South still possessed an agrarian mindset with the use of slavery to mass produce crops. Due to this alternate economic development the slavery is not necessary in the North and many people begin to support abolitionism. Even though the North does want slavery to come to an end, they do not take into consideration blacks possessing the same rights as other Caucasians, primary because their economic development is not based on slavery.

During the 1800’s the issue of slavery had taken a hold of American society. Northerners grew ever more concerned about it, and the South ever more worried of, and arrogant towards, the North. Abraham Lincoln had addressed the issue, noting that some may

Between 1840 and 1860, the issue of slavery was in the spotlight of American politics. With the nation’s westward expansion, whether slavery should be allowed in new territories provoked a series of fierce debates between the northern free states and the southern slave states. Witnessed by the Wilmot Proviso of 1846, the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the sectional tension was continually intensified.

One of the heartbreaking truths about World War 1 was that millions of innocent men needlessly died because civilian and military leaders were slow in changing their war strategies and effectively employing new technologies. Thus, the war typified a fight between an inefficient nineteenth century warfare which witnessed lot of casualties on both sides, and a twentieth century technology-driven battle in which many decisive technologies were tested. As for America, the trend of industrialism and mass production of machineries and war equipments had begun fifty years prior to the onset of the war during the American Civil War. With President Woodrow Wilson deciding to take part in the war in April 2017 towards making the world a safe place

The North did not particularly care about the injustices or cruelties associated with the institution of slavery in the states it was already established in. They did greatly care about it spreading to new western states though, as it would in turn strengthen the South’s overall power. If allowed to expand, slavery would threaten the livelihood of the average white American. The South in turn feared that Abraham Lincoln, a member of the National Union party, getting elected meant that no new state would be allowed to become slave states. As a result, the South’s power in congress would slip, which would allow abolitionists to come in and abolish slavery completely. Even with a whole war that had slavery at its core, the real issue of slavery was its effects on White Americans not the

Through the Compromise of 1850, this would be exactly how slavery was determined for future states entering the union. Establishing the idea of popular sovereignty was the union’s first steps towards limiting slavery. Since the people would be deciding, with much of the area left to determine the future of slavery in was Northern territories, the Compromise of 1850 gave the North more control. Lincoln agreed with not only the Compromise of 1850, but also with the Fugitive Slave act. He would even continue to praise Clay for this act after Clay’s death in 1852. By implementing popular sovereignty, they were putting the future of slavery into the hands of the people, which many people felt was too large of an idea to place on the people. The concept of “voting with your feet” was a new to the union, but very widely used. People in the South were moving to the North to either vote for or against slavery. But now, as the Fugitive Slave laws were passed and strengthening, novels such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin were written to argue for anti-slavery through emotional appeal. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin introduced the idea of slavery being wrong as an emotional appeal to people reading. By doing so, it allowed the concept of slavery to be seen as morally wrong and supported the arguments of people who saw it as morally

The era of the Civil War lasted many years, but the United States government was ready for a massive change as soon as the war was finally over. Following the war, the era of Reconstruction had started, which lasted through four different presidencies. The presidents who served during that era were Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Each president had their own unique approach and understanding of what changes were needed during the Reconstruction, all with the intent to fully unify and reunite the nation. There were many successful examples under each president, along with many failures as well, however, the intent was the same throughout the years. The Reconstruction eventually led to the compromise with the states that had separated from the union, in which they finally joined back, however, more issues were to surface years later, in which the fight for civil rights developed and swept the nation by dividing the nation once more. After the Civil war, when the ideologies of the Reconstruction were put into place, there were still many issues about discrimination and hate towards the African-American communities. They were harassed, rejected, assaulted, exiled, and murdered due to the color of their skin. They were still treated like property, rather than human beings even though they had paperwork stating they were free from slave status, along with being given citizenship and granted suffrage. The movement that would continue

After the Civil War, the South was in ruins and America was on the road to Reconstruction. America was now faced with the challenges of overcoming Southern resentment, restoring the Union, and determining the meaning of black freedom. The process of reconstruction would be complicated and complex and would involve readmitting the Southern states that had seceded from the Union; physically reconstructing the South; and integrating the freedmen into America’s society. Various plans for Reconstruction were involved: Lincoln’s ten percent plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan, and the Congressional Reconstruction Plan. Although the blacks gained their freedom after the war, their lives did not change drastically. The Reconstruction Era had brought upon change to the southern states as freedmen were able to work for themselves and had the ability to have their own families, but that does not mean that they were equal to the whites. The Thirteenth Amendment that was passed under Lincoln’s presidency formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude but when his presidency was passed on to Andrew Johnson, the freedmen did not have as many rights. He did not pay any mind to the newly freed blacks in the South and in turn, the Southern states were able to pass the “black codes” which restricted the freedmen’s rights. This placed the blacks under a strict law and although they were not slaves anymore, they were living in fear. It wasn’t until the radical

“Finally Mr. Lincoln has liberated us from the death trap of our “white owners”.”, said a former slave. The Emancipation Proclamation legally freed all slaves in the Confederate states, even though it didn’t free a single slave, but not those in the borderline states. So, slavery was really not illegal until the ratification of the thirteenth amendment, which was put into effect on December 6, 1865, which was two years after the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation. But It wasn’t until the Fourteenth Amendment that African Americans had equal rights. Then, the Fifteenth Amendment granted them the right to vote. So, In this paper I will be talking about the Reconstruction Era which involved the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. I will be discussing how the Reconstruction Era Prompted these amendments, as well as what the amendments are and why they are important. Much of human history has changed since the revealing of these Amendments, and our nation’s landscape was changed forever. All of these amendments are very important to the Reconstruction Era, and they are a vital piece to the history of our nation.

As the bloody Civil War drew to a close, the United States, led by Abraham Lincoln, legislated a series of changes aimed to revolutionize and reform the country. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution, abolishing slavery and marking start of the Reconstruction Era. Emancipation was a major step towards equality for Freedmen where they finally felt empowered to defend their rights and new status. Congress continued to pass legislation after legislation to secure the rights of African Americans but lack of support of these Acts and Amendments caused them to fall short of their expected impacts due to the hesitance of a blundering President Johnson. Ultimately, despite the psychological changes in blacks’ mindsets and the equality and freedom of Freedmen under the law, the Reconstruction and Civil War failed to usher in a new birth of freedom.