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