The American dream is described as the “dream of land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity each according to ability or achievement”. In the South, the Reconstruction Era took place officially from 1865-1877. However, events still continued after 1877. As slaves were now free after the civil war, White Northerners, educated Northern Blacks, Newly Freed Slaves, and Yeoman farmers all wanted the same thing–for everyone to be equal. In the Reconstruction Era, African Americans were given many opportunities such as jobs, education, freedom, citizenship and protection of their rights. Economic conditions in the Reconstruction Era helped African Americans move towards the American dream. After the Civil War, new jobs were created to help …show more content…
However, Jim Crow Laws was also, another step back. The Jim Crow Laws were a system of segregation that covered all aspects of life. Although the Crow Laws separated the races, African Americans were still able to live their life more freely than before the Civil War. Besides the Jim Crow Laws, the Enforcement Act of 1872 was a step closer to the American dream. This Act protected African Americans rights by allowing the Federal Government to intervene when the States Government did not. Not only did it protect African Americans rights but it also helped the Ku Klux Klan disappear. With the Ku Klux Klan gone, people were allowed to vote and live more freely as they were no longer threatened and unjustly murdered. Lastly, Freedman’s Bureau also really helped African Americans by helping them transition to freedom to help them start their new lives, after the Civil War. The Bureau, helped locate family members, started schools, acted as an employment agency, and filed legal charges against employers. The Enforcement Act and Freedman’s Bureau made life for African Americans better and
This allowed African Americans to have more opportunities. But, racism was still very much alive, and many black workers came across racist people while working on their new
Separate parks and schools were created for children, blacks could not use the same restrooms as whites, and restaurants would not allow any other race other than white. The Jim Crow Laws were used as social control, and if blacks violated these laws they risked their homes, jobs, and even their life. (Pilgrim, David). The Jim Crow Laws were around until the mid-1960s when the Supreme Court ruled them
This negativly it negativly affected the lower class and many business owners such as farmers. On top of this all, discrimination still continued to negatively affect African Americans. The United States government implemented policies that significantly affected the economy and the American people thoughout the
In the early 1900’s America as a country was going through a reconstruction as they just overcame a four year battle that split the country into free and slave states. . Race played a big factor in this reconstruction, because before the civil war wealthy whites were able to own slaves. Slaves were supposed to gain their full freedom after the civil war, but they never really gained it. Many opportunities opened for Americans, and as the country became one again.
These speeches moved people and set goals for African Americans and others to be free from slavery. First of all, The two main goals of the Reconstruction Era were to bring back the former confederate states back into the Union. Also, to ensure equal citizenship and rights to former slaves. The Reconstruction Era reorganized and reestablished the seceded states in the union after the American Civil War. During the Reconstruction African Americans gained voice in the Government for the first time in History.
Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).
Peter Schroeder Dr. Christopher Marshall Modern United States History 2/2/17 Writing Assignment 1: The African-American Experience with Reconstruction Reconstruction among the south refers to the point in time which the United States was attempting to establish a relationship between the union and the rebels. The Union had won the civil war, so the next step was to begin to mend the broken relationship between the north and the south. Though historians cannot agree on when it began, there is merit in saying that it started before the end of the Civil War. After victory, had been solidified for the Union, attention of President Lincoln turned towards reconstruction.
The Bureau could not provide African Americans with land, but it did contribute to education. Formerly enslaved African Americans were educated with the help of Northern charities. This was a positive outcome during
During the late 1800s, because the South had been decimated by the end of the Civil War, .the Reconstruction Period was initiated to aid the South’s recovery. Although the Civil War did abolish slavery and unify the North and the South, the war not resolve racial prejudice, the South’s damage, and the African Americans’ economic instability. The Reconstruction Period was initiated in order to prevent economic instability and the structural ruin, because since slavery was abolished, and the South was completely dependent on slaves, therefore slaves could not work for the South to maintain the economy, and slaves also could not fix up the damages done to the structures done to the South during the war. By starting the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing
The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).
The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life.
The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.
Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help. New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S..
The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.
The Reconstruction (1865-1877) was a period during which the life of the defeated South was to be returned to normal; it was also a time when the Black Americans attained some rights thanks to Lincoln and the Republican part of the Congress and despite Johnson’s intentions. An extremely violent time, it is sometimes called “the darkest period of American history”; still, it brought many important progressive changes to the US. Abraham Lincoln is known for proclaiming the black slaves Emancipation in 1863; he was convinced that it was necessary for the North to win the war. Lincoln believed that the Confederate states needed to be reintegrated back into the US while preserving the abolition of slavery; however, the 16th President wasn’t planning