Essay about Who Killed Reconstruction?

Northern Neglect and Southern Resistance both played major roles that influenced the termination of Reconstruction, in which Freedmen were being noticed as equal in our society. Towards the end of the Civil War, slaves began to have hope in America because the tables were beginning to turn. It was the 100th anniversary of The Declaration of Independence, and former slave states started allowing black Americans in their home (Background Essay). Three Amendments were formed to officially end slavery, provide rights and protection, and made it illegal to deny someone to vote based on their race (Background Essay). It was paradise. Although, new groups such as the KKK (Klu-Klux-Klan) were formed, and Northerns didn’t seem to be themselves, changes were being made. Paradise was over. Our question is now, Who Killed Reconstruction? I believe the South killed reconstruction because of their violent and murderous actions toward the former slaves.

Opelousas, Louisianas’ Black Codes passed in 1865 stated that, no negro could come into town, live, rent, or use land in town, go to any public meeting in town without a pass from a government official or white boss, they also couldn’t carry a gun unless in the military (Doc. B) a white person could do these things by their own choice. Former slave Henry Adams said to the U.S. Senate in 1880 that, he once asked the madam “‘ where was the boss?”’ She said, “‘You should say ‘master’ You are not free... and you shall call every white lady ‘missus’ and every white man ‘master’.’” (Doc. C.), many would say African Americans weren’t free because whites didn’t think they

After the Civil War, America was still amidst great turmoil and economic instability. During this time period, the ultimate goal for Americans was to seize the “American Dream”. This was defined by most as being able to support their family and live a comfortable life. Although some did achieve this, many faced social, political and economic hardships. Beginning with the unjust treatment of African-Americans, then the struggles of immigrants, and followed by the rise of big businesses, the challenges faced during this time of rebuilding varied among the classes.

     Imagine yourself wrongly convicted of a crime. You spent years in jail awaiting your release date. It finally comes, and when they let you out, they slap handcuffs around your wrists and tell you every single action you do. In a nutshell, that’s how the Black Codes worked. The southerners wanted control over the blacks after the Civil War, and states created their own Black Codes.

In the article “Black Codes” it states many restrictions for African Americans living in the town such as “No public meetings of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the town” and “ Every negro is to be in the service of (work for) some white person, or former owner.”

The original purpose of Reconstruction was to restore the buildings and the economy of the south the best they could, but without the immoral element of slavery. But, reconstruction under the Johnson Presidency was a failure for a few reasons: 1) Convict Leasing, 2) Sharecropping, 3) the Ku Klux Klan, 4) Segregation in schools, even in the North, 5) Carpetbaggers/Scalawags, 6) misleading statistics, and 7) racism.

Reconstruction took placed in the South from 1865 to 1880. It impacted the United States’ history by holding the South back economically behind the

Some of these issues were discussed in the document and included issues such as taxation without representation, erecting new offices, and depriving them of trial by jury. Walker very much felt the same way when describing multiple real life instances where this oppression is apparent. One instance was when Walker heard a white man in North Carolina say that of any man would teach a black person to “spell, read, or write,” he would persecute him. Another instance was when the legislature of Georgia passed a law where “all free or slave persons of colour,” were prohibited from learning to read or write. There are even laws from states such as Virginia and North Carolina where they prohibit a man of color from obtaining and holding any office in the government of the United States. Walker believes that his people are facing oppression in very much the same way that Americans believed they were being disadvantaged by Great Britain’s rule; he even goes to question whether their suffering was” one hundredth part as cruel and tyrannical” as what his people have suffered under the United States government. This mistreatment of black people is evident social, religious, and political measures and affects them whether they are free or confined to slavery; the government of the country that Walker lives in, as he sees, was to blame for these

Every freedman, free negro and mulatto shall, on the second Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and annually thereafter, have a lawful home or employment, and shall have written evidence thereof as follows, to wit: if living in any incorporated city, town, or village, a license from that mayor thereof; and if living outside of an incorporated city, town, or village, from the member of the board of police of his beat, authorizing him or her to do irregular and job work; or a written contract, as provided in Section 6 of this act; which license may be revoked for cause at any time by the authority granting the same”

Reconstruction was the time between 1863 and 1877 when the U.S. focused on abolishing slavery, destroying the Confederacy, and reconstructing the nation and the Constitution and is also the general history of the post-Civil War era in the U.S. between 1865 and 1877. Under Abraham Lincoln, presidential reconstruction began in each state as soon as federal troops controlled most of the state. The usual ending date is 1877, when the Compromise of 1877 saw the collapse of the last Republican state governments in the South

Due to the gradual elimination of African-American rights and the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South to enforce such rights, the end of Reconstruction surfaced in 1877. In the eyes of blacks, Reconstruction was a point in history where they could see their civil rights expanding before their very own eyes. On the contrary, whites were deeply disturbed at the way their once “white supremacy” government was dwindling in the rear-view mirror behind them. This fourteen year period known as Reconstruction houses the memories of temporary freedom, scandal, backdoor deals, and the unresolved social, political, and economical issues of our country.

Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in the former Confederacy and to readmit the land in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. Reconstruction yielded many benefits for African Americans. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote respectively. The Freedmen’s Bureau also provided African Americans and poor whites with education, jobs, and supplies. Despite this, Reconstruction was cut short in 1877. The North killed Reconstruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.

“Anthony Johnson was a negro from modern-day Angola. He was brought to the US to work on a tobacco farm in 1619. In 1622 he was almost killed when powhatan Indians attacked the farm-fifty-two out of fifty-seven people on the farm perished in the attack. He married a female black servant while working on the farm. When Anthony was realesd he was legally recognized as a “free Negro” and ran a successful farm in 1651 he held 250 acres and five black indentured servants” . When I first read this I was confused because I thought that there was no such thing as an African American owner/master,

A time where these laws were especially relevant was the period from 1890-1910 called the “Black Nadir.” The Black Nadir was considered to be, “the high point of institutionalized racism”(Brown), in which there were many unwritten laws to

Slavery in all territories, “now held, or hereafter acquired” was to be prohibited north of 36o30’, but south of that line it was to be given to federal protection.