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Why Was Reconstruction A Failure For The Freedmen?

1584 Words7 Pages

In 1865 The Civil War, a war which lasted four years, completely destroyed the South, and freed about 4 million slaves had finally ended. The period of Reconstruction was when the South rebuilt what had been destroyed and the South and North joined back together. The Nation also had to solve many problems including how the recently freed slaves would fit into society. Reconstruction was a failure for the Freedmen because Freedmen got to peruse their rights and not live in fear for minimal time, until President Grant did not run again for president and Rutherford Hayes became president leading to the former groups who terrorized the Freedmen to reorganize. In addition, a start to segregation began due to troops being removed from the South …show more content…

One illustration of the rights of Freedmen being limited is the act of the Jim Crows laws, which were created during Reconstruction. These laws according to Jim Crow & Plessy Vs. Ferguson, “discriminated against African-Americans and Immigrants” President Grant had chosen not to run for president again and people believed that the election of 1876 was rigged. so Rutherford Hayes was chosen to be president with the condition of the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise of 1877 had intended to help the South more than the North which caused the South to gain power in the government, which ultimately affected Freedmen's rights. This is because Jim Crow laws, laws on voting intending to discriminate against freedmen were ratified. These laws included Poll Taxes which were taxes that were charged when a person went to go vote but since sharecropping was unsuccessful for freedmen they could not afford to pay the poll taxes thus not allowing them to vote. To insure that this law would not affect the poor white people, more Jim Crow laws were introduced. These included the Grandfather Clause and Literacy tests. The Grandfather clause states that if your grandfather or father could vote before the year of 1867, then you could vote. However, slaves gained the right to vote through the 15th Amendment in 1869 which meant this law would not apply to them. The literacy tests were tests that …show more content…

Freedmen were further left out of an important part of their society due to their abilities, which meant they Reconstruction did not have a positive impact on the way the were treated and integrated into the newly developed society. Another example of freedmen's rights being extremely limited was the segregation they faced. During Reconstruction the public started to feel frustration with the Grant Administration because of many events that occurred such as the Amnesty Act. The Amnesty Act disappointed many Republicans because it allowed Ex-Confederate Southerners to vote and allowed Democrats from the South to join the government. Grant did not run again and Rutherford Hayes was chosen to be president causing the Compromise of 1877. This Compromise benefited the South and with the increasing participation in the government, they set a goal to harm the Freedmen. According to the American Journey, “By the 1890s, segregation, or the separation of the races had become a common feature of the South...The facilities were separate but in no way equal. Southern states spent much more money on schools and other facilities for whites than for African Americans” As seen in the quote above, The South did

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