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Essay On African Americans And Reconstruction

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After the Civil War, the North began Reconstruction efforts between the years of 1864 and 1877 in the South to maintain the freedom and equality of blacks. Northern Republicans went to great lengths to ensure the equality of previously enslaved African Americans and preserve the Union. Under Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan, Andrew Johnson began to readmit states back into the Union, requiring the ratification of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery and ten percent of eligible voters to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union. However, there was controversy as radical Republicans took on a “forfeited-rights” perspective against the seceded states, believing that they deserved to be punished and that Congress should decide re-admittance. Soon after, …show more content…

By only having to ratify the 13th Amendment, which recognized the freedom of slaves only, Southern states began to draft laws that controlled the black population and entered them into contract labor, hence the creation of the Black Codes. Furthermore, terroristic acts against African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan increased tensions between the races, making it hard for progress to be made in the South. Congress enacted federal laws to counter these but what infuriated white southerners the most was the 14th Amendment as they could not tolerate blacks in political positions of authority. Regardless, the Redeemers, a group of white Democrats that believed in the ideal of the “Old South,” worked around this by using redistricting laws to prevent black political influence. Also, the South was able to continue showing white supremacy although blacks were “equal” by committing to the segregation of all public facilities. To summarize, the South’s continued resistance against Reconstruction efforts and denial of African Americans as equals led to the North to feel apathetic towards

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African Americans weren’t actually free during Reconstruction because they were initially not accorded the full rights of citizenship under the constitution, they were forced into submission by violence and intimidation, and were abridged the rights they had later gained by Black Codes. Despite the fact that African Americans were liberated from slavery, during the early years of Reconstruction, they were not equal citizens under the law. Even though blacks had fought loyally for the union, they were initially denied the right to vote (Doc a). The President of the United States, President Johnson, regarded black suffrage as something to radical that would “change the entire structure and character of the State governments,” (Doc b).

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Congress aimed for the Bureau to include protection for all the black population and they override Johnson’s veto. The Civil Rights Bill granted American citizenship to blacks and denied the states the power to limit their right to obtain property, testify in court, and make contract for their labor. Furthermore, congress wanted to make sure the states were following the ideas of the Civil Rights Act by adding the fourteenth amendment. This amendment granted state and federal citizenship for all people born or naturalized in the United States, forbade any state to deny anyone equal protection of the law, and disqualified former Confederates from holding federal and state office. Additionally, Congress aimed to remove all Black Codes and ensure that all states follow the 13th amendment, that legally emancipated slaves.

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Some may have heard of reconstruction. Reconstruction was some of the hardest part of American history. The real question is who killed it? North or South? The South killed reconstruction because of the KKK (Klu Klux Klan),they complained like little kids to the north, and all of the racism that was going on.

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The Wade-Davis Bill required 50% of voters to take the allegiance oath and safeguards to protect the freed blacks. > As the Radical Republicans took control of the Reconstruction from President Johnson, they implemented a few changes such as: Congress denying representatives from former Confederate states for their Congressional seats, passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and wrote the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The 14th Amendment, extended citizenship rights to African Americans and guaranteed them equal protection of the laws. >

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After the Union won the major battles that is when Lincoln had put the ten percent plan on the table, this plan was when ten percent of the state’s eligible voters pledge oath to US then they could join the Union. To begin with, there are a few reasons why one would say that reconstruction in the south was a failure. One of these reasons being that, even after the civil war in the South’s government passed laws to limit the rights of the free African Americans. In document C we can see this is evident where it states “No negro or freedmen shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission of his employers. Whoever breaks this law will go to jail and work for two days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.”

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As a result, this formed the basis of Radical Reconstruction, where the South was divided into five military districts and the Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment despite President Johnson’s veto. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery while the 14th Amendment guaranteed African Americans civil rights as citizens along with the 15th Amendment giving them the vote. In the end, even though the Northerners eventually grew tired of Reconstruction and tolerated segregation in the South that recognized African

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While the legislation of the radical Republicans brought much-needed measures of radical equality to America, their enforcement of such measures came at a time when the South was already looking for reasons to resent the Union, and the military action certainly didn't help the concept of remaining on good terms. Corruption under these regimes were rampant as well, in which radical government schemers took advantage of the money provided for new public programs and used it to pad their own wallets. The Ku Klux Klan began because of the backlash from the hastily-passed 15th Amendment and would proceed to beat, threaten, and murder blacks and Republicans alike, creating an atmosphere of fear and a movement that would persist until the 1920s. In the end, the results of Congress's actions served to alienate Republicanism in the South, and the good they attempted to do for freed blacks was ultimately undermined by Southern voting stipulations, governmental corruption, and a Northern disinterest in the plight of African Americans. Lincoln's plan never saw fruition and never had the chance to evolve as necessary; only the bare ideas were in place, and written before the war was even over.

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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.

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Its spring 1865 and the Civil War is finally over- costing more than 600,000 lives, and a downfall economy for the South. Although economic reasons, slavery and state’s rights led the Civil War and had caused much damaged to the South, it still gave many African Americans slaves their freedom. But now what? What should the Nation do with the free slaves besides focusing on reuniting and reconstructing the South? Just because African Americans weren’t no longer slaves, does that mean they have the same social, politic and economic life as a white American?

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The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century. Post Civil War (After the Civil War – The period after the Civil War) - President Abraham Lincoln and Congress were determined to rebuild the nation. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union by readmitting the southern states that had seceded, as well as provide African Americans with more rights. Period of Conflict -

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In the years of the Civil War, African Americans played an important role in contributing to the Union Army and the confederate army. A great deal of African American men volunteered to join the Union Army but only after they gained freedom did they participate in fighting the war. Besides the Union Army, there was the confederate army which consisted of slave labor whom were forced to aid the confederacy following their masters. Later in the war, the Confederacy ran short on men and were in need to supply soldiers, leaving no choice but to enlist the colored men. Not only were African American men impacted from the war, but African American women also served to supply and aid in the war.

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The Reconstruction’s mission was to pave the way for America’s recovery. The Reconstruction consisted of efforts to unite the differences between the North and the South. The two main goals of the Reconstruction were to create “new, loyal southern states and [make] their abolition of slavery a condition for reunion” (Oakes et al., 2017, p. 453). However, the abolition of slavery was not a short process. The Republican Congress had a different agenda than President Johnson on the approach to abolish slavery.

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One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

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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..

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In the period of reconstruction, there was a lack of racial equality and racism towards blacks. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, with the exception of allowing it as a punishment for a crime (“Thirteenth Amendment” 19). Although it abolished slavery, there was still a lack of equality towards blacks. The Black Codes were state laws in the south, that were implemented in 1866. These laws limited the rights of African Americans and were

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