Rhetorical Essay On Reconstruction

Introduction
Rhetoric refers to the art of using language persuasively and effectively to influence an audience. It involves figurative language, rhetorical devices, and persuasive appeals. In other words, someone can make it up. The creators of Black stereotypes and associated derogatory language designed it to maintain the subordination of Black people. It may be tempting to believe stereotypes have truth to their origin due to some sort of innate shortfall or moral ineptitude of Black people. It is also tempting to believe that legislation is just or fair, reflecting the truth rather than creating it. The creators of these rhetorical systems of subordination manipulated reality to convince people that racial hierarchy is normative and

Following this, the Civil War took on a new dimension. The Union winning would fundamentally transform the South, where the “peculiar institution” of slavery was a crucial aspect of the economy, politics, and society. Just prior to the end of the war, in April 1865, Lincoln shocked many by suggesting limited suffrage for African Americans in the South, allowing them to vote, at least to some degree. The assassination of Lincoln was soon after, and his successor, Andrew Johnson, oversaw the beginning of Reconstruction.
Beginning in May of 1865, Johnson’s Reconstruction policies required former Confederate states to uphold the abolition of slavery, pay off war debt and swear loyalty to the Union. Besides these limitations, the white ruling class had substantial freedom to reconstruct their governments. However, as formerly enslaved people sought to strengthen their independence and freedoms to gain economic autonomy in the first few years of Reconstruction, white landowners fought to assert control over the labor force in a similar way to the institution of slavery, resulting in the enactment of the first Black

The significant concerns over race mixing are reflected clearly in this legislation, as it was punishable by life imprisonment. This further stigmatized interracial relationships and families, already subject to social ostracism. In limiting peoples’ ability to exist within interracial relationships, the perpetuation of the barrier allowing people to have dehumanizing beliefs against Black people occurs. A potential remedy to white people’s vehement dehumanization of Black people could have been having relationships with them, romantic or otherwise. However, the threat of life imprisonment would have drastically deterred almost any white person from considering entering into an intimate relationship with a Black person. The ferocity of the sanctions associated with race mixing demonstrates the lengths lawmakers went to limit white peoples’ ability to view Black people as human by limiting interactions between them as much as