Civil War Reconstruction

The period right after the civil war can be characterized as an active period, fraught with policy and action with the purpose to consolidate the nation. Congress and the president of the united states approached this reconstruction era differently. New definitions for the status of African Americans arose from the ashes of the war, quantified by the ratification of the 13th 14th and 15th amendments. Consequently, there was a adverse southern reaction to this change that led to several antiblack protocols, especially exemplified by the Jim Crow system Considering this historical information, one can see that the nation was in fact not successful in rebuilding the relationship between Americans of African and European ancestry. The reconstruction

He gave a similar deal to ex rebels like that of lincoln, which pardoned most but not all rebels. To recently deceased lincoln 's benefit, Johnson recognized the state governments created by Lincoln but set out his own requirements for restoring the other rebel states “all that the citizens of a state had to do was to renounce the right of succession, deny that the debts of the Confederacy were legal and binding, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, which became part of the Constitution in December 1865” (Roark 407). Additionally, Johnson also returned all confiscated and abandoned land to pardoned ex Confederates, even if the land was in the hands of a freedmen. All this happened while Congress was out of session, so nothing was done about this “leniency that had acted as a midwife to the rebirth of the Old South” (Roark 406). Congressional reconstruction which was also called radical reconstruction can be characterized as “Increased intervention in the south” (Roark 409). Southern whites and there constant defiance, boosted the standing of radical republicans within the republican party. Finally In March 1867, “Congress overturned the Johnson state governments and initiated military rule of the south” (Roark 411). Congress rolled

Life for African Americans some what changed for the better, temporarily. Slavery was Abolished in the south, but that didn 't really mean that the blacks were equal or really free. Constitutional additions specifically the 13th amendment which stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” the 14th amendment which stated, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”, and the 15th amendment which stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (United States Constitution). But blacks encountered crippling complications. During the reconstruction Blacks encountered severe white incrimination and several instances of out right violence “a Freedman living on the plantation of James W. Wade in Fort Bend Co. was arrested, chained and whipped by the wades and others” (Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Texas). Additionally, Black Codes which were laws passed by Southern states with the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans ' freedom, quantified southern sentiment but this was eventually countered by The Civil