Voice Of Freedom: Article Analysis

The Reconstruction Period was the time after the Civil War when The United States government was trying to reunite the North and South, as well as integrate the free slaves. When the troops left in 1877 everything started to go downhill. The United States government made laws to help integrate the freed slaves called Pig Laws and “Black Code”. These laws were definitely geared towards pleasing the Southern people because they were made by the Southern State Legislature. These laws did give free slaves some freedom, but still highly restricted them.

The movie “Freedom Writers” is based on a true story. Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell plays an inspirational teacher at Wilson High School. She is ready to take on the teaching world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day. Her class, varied with teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds, wants nothing more than to just get through the day. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, gang members, and much more are from poor neighborhoods, that all share a similar hatred for each other. On the first day of teaching she is very scared and unsure, but she knows she has to stop the racism in the class as well as their attitude towards life. Despite her students' persistent refusal to participate

Moreover, the document links the changing definition of freedom for whites as self-ownership. In contrast, the changing definition of freedom for blacks meant having full political rights, citizenship, and owning land. In Eric Foner’s Voices of Freedom, a former slave’s petition to the president, who took his lands away to give to the previous owners states, “[t]his is our home, we have made These lands what they are,” for he demands to the president himself that they deserve the right to own land. The treatment of black Southerners differed greatly from white Southerners due to the idea of white supremacy. Colby’s story matters because Reconstruction aimed to rebuild the South, although that did not occur for black Southerners, since black oppression continued on after this time

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.

There was a speech by Frederick Douglass in which he offered a critiques of Reconstruction policies as, as what he called, “Radically Defected” that freedom had been achieved, citizenship had been achieved, but the former slaves were not granted access to land and no real protection against violence, intimidation, etc. Douglass had given a very courageous speech at the Republican National Convention of 1876, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. Douglass challenged the delegates to think about what had and had not been done in Reconstruction. He said “You say you have emancipated us. You have; and I thank you for it. You say you have enfranchised us. You have; and I thank you for it. But what is your emancipation? What is your enfranchisement? What does it all amount to, if the black man, after having been made free by the letter of your law, is unable to exercise that freedom, and, after having been freed from the slaveholder’s lash, he is to be subject to the slaveholder’s shot gun? Oh! You freed us! You emancipated us! I thank you for it. But under what circumstances did you emancipate us? Under what circumstances have you obtained our freedom?” (Speech of Fredrick Douglass at the Republican National Convention of 1876,

With the era of American Reconstruction in America during the mid to late 1800’s came a sense of opportunity and hope for its people. America was on the move as nation, railroads being built faster than ever and the freedmen looking to find their niche in society. Although in the beginning the government provided support for these new citizens, efforts toward reconstruction faded as the years passed. Those efforts faded to a point where they were all but nonexistent, and with the unwritten Compromise of 1877, what feeble efforts that were left of reconstruction were now all but dead. Politically, reconstruction failed to provide equality by pulling Federal troops from the South, allowing former Confederate officials and slave owners

The Reconstruction of the United States was an experiment in interracial democracy. The Civil War victory by the North brought to a close the establishment of slavery but, in turn, opened Pandora's box. The questions and answers pertaining to economical, political, and social equality for freedmen had yet to be addressed on a practical level. The Southern states, still bitter from defeat and economic stresses, strongly rejected the societal transformations thrust upon them. The Northern states' focal point remained on the necessary political powers by which to enact constitutional amendments, therefore empowering the federal government with the capabilities to enforce the principles of equal rights. On paper, slavery was abolished, but in reality, African-Americans were once again enslaved on a ship without the security or knowledge of what the next port held for them. The Civil War had not truly ended. It was still active under the guise of Reconstruction, but now coats and flags of many colors existed, and battles were merely fought on alternate battlefields. A war of ideas lacking in substantial practicality resulted in repetitious battles being won and loss. The motivating forces that set Reconstruction into motion were for the most part the North's quest for unification among states', and the emancipation of slaves. However, the primary objective of Reconstruction was to grant political, economical, and social opportunities for the freedmen. The

The period from 1865 to 1877, commonly referred to as Reconstruction, saw a culmination of effects from the Civil War. During this time, America saw the freedom of slaves, blacks in office, and voting rights for all men regardless of color. However, Reconstruction was not perfect. During Andrew Johnson’s presidency, many conflicts arose between the viewpoints of Congress and Johnson regarding Reconstruction and the future of ex-slaves. Johnson’s views represented most of the democratic South’s, while the views of Congress represented the North.

The Reconstruction of the south was to rebuild the infrastructure the economical system of the South and rebuild white and black social system. The Reconstruction of the Confederacy from (1865-1877) was first by Abraham Lincoln until his assassination and then by President Johnson. The textbook stated (Such accounts add another dimension to the usual narrative of the Reconstruction era (1865–1877). The period witnessed the liberal readmission of southern states to the Union as proposed by Lincoln and his successor, Andrew Johnson. But when the readmitted states restricted the rights of former slaves, a furious Republican Congress “reconstructed” the South by empowering former slaves—and their Republican allies.

The Reconstruction Period was a period of great disaster for the United States. Although the goal of the Reconstruction Period was to give African Americans rights, the only thing given to the freedmen was the lack of rights. From violence without consequence towards African Americans and segregation that was so split that it couldn’t be left unnoticed. Even Congress was corrupt enough to think that segregation was a perfectly legal practice. The events of Reconstruction ended up doing more harm than good towards freedmen since they were treated as an afterthought.

In chapter, five there are several points. However the biggest points are if the colonists should be independent from Britain, the colonists reaction to the laws and acts made by the British Empire, and the rights of the colonists. These points summarize the contents of chapter five of “Voices of Freedom” and “Give Me Liberty”. The articles in voices of freedom that are arguing the primary points the first article is the “Virginia Resolutions on the Stamp Act (1765)”. This article is about Virginia’s House of Burgesses making resolutions to defend their liberty they decided to approve four of these resolutions and rejected three. The next article is “New York Workingmen Demand a Voice in the Revolutionary Struggle (1770)”. This article is

The Civil War was a major conflict in American history that led to the Reconstruction period. This name evolved from the need to rebuild the war-torn South, Union, and Southern society (Keene, 404). Reconstruction was difficult to define because many questions were raised by war and emancipation (Keene, 404). The two periods of Reconstruction and the Fourteenth Amendment were significant events during the 1800’s. It is important to learn such topics to understand the history behind each.

In my opinion one of the biggest inadequacies of Reconstruction was that fact that slaves were not really “free”. That even though they were classified as free, they really weren’t because of all the restrictions that were placed on them by the laws. “Black Codes” is what they laws were called. These laws restricted free blacks activity and forced them into labor contracts and blacks saw little improvement in their economic and social status. If they did not abide these laws they were beaten, arrested and even forced into non paid labor contracts. Ultimately after they were freed blacks had nowhere to go that was safe. As former slaves they owned nothing, had no money, and had no shelter or food. The slaves had no protection from people who

One failure of Reconstruction would be sharecropping. After the Civil War ended, slaves were formally emancipated. Most of them, however, did not have any skills aside from farm work, so wealthy white farmers allowed poor Americans (mainly blacks) to work on their farms in exchange for part of the crop. While this seems like a great idea, in reality most plantation owners took advantage of their workers. From “Rebuilding the Old Order,” paragraph 2 states, “SHARECROPPERS often found themselves in debt, for they had to borrow on bad terms and had to pay excessively for basic supplies. When the harvest came, if the debt exceeded harvest revenues, the sharecropper remained bound to the owner.” That sort of sounds like another form of slavery,

This selection, Letter by a Female Indentured Servant, really gives you incite as to what life was like in the 1700s as an indentured servant. (Foner, 2011) The reader can really feel the pain she is going through while she was in America trying to pay her dues for passage to what they thought was the promise land. She wanted to ensure her father really knew what kind of horrible life she was living because of the details she included like she was whipped to the degree that she now serves the animals. Apparently, you didn’t speak of the horrible things that would occur as an indentured servant because she writes to her father that she hopes he will pardon the boldness of her complaints and she also hope