What was the Reconstruction Era?
The Reconstruction era was a period in time where slavery was being put to an end and the Southern states were being rebuilt.
The Reconstruction era was a period in time where slavery was being put to an end and the Southern states were being rebuilt.
About the Reconstruction Era
Black codes helped shape the politics by giving a place for African Americans in the 1860s. The Black Codes basically stated that if you don't sign a contract to work for someone, they have the right to force the person to do unpaid labor. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a plan called the 10% plan. The 10% plan was a system to help get the Southern states back into the Northern society (or the union). The system allowed voters to take an oath of allegiance to the Northern states. If 10% of the state's population agreed, that state would become part of the Union again. Jim Crow laws were a series of laws in order to help get African American Americans basic human rights. At the time, colored people were 'separate but equal', with different bathrooms and drinking fountains and churches than whites. Jim Crow laws tried getting people to stand up against the segregation and finally put an end to it all. Andrew Johnson was a very lenient president, allowing the southern states the right to do what the pleased with the blacks as long as it fit the amendments. He gave amnesty and soon became okay with the blacks. The legislature passed three new amendments; the 13th, 14th, and the 15th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. This amendment made many southerners angry because they could no longer hold a slave and they'd have to do the work the slaves were doing themselves and they generally just lost money. The 14th amendment granted to citizenship to anyone born in the United States (including the African American citizens). The 15th amendment gave African American citizens the right to vote and become a full-fledged American citizen. Radical Republicans wanted to punish the south for what they've done to the African Americans by changing the war and enforcing the new laws more than anyone would've thought. The Military was divided into five sections all fighting to get the blacks to be seen as real people. African Americans were now allowed to vote, hold a job, and do normal humanly things that they were not allowed to do when they were slaves. President Johnson had vetoed to change the laws being set, but the congressed rejected him each time and he later got impeached. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to get rid of the Radical Republicans and African American citizens. Led by Nathan Bedford Forrest, they would burn the people at the stake. They'd also beat and lynch them. The KKK opposed social change in the south and immediately took it upon themselves to try and stand up for what they believed in. The KKK disbanded twice, reemerging again in the 1950s and the 1960s.
Black codes helped shape the politics by giving a place for African Americans in the 1860s. The Black Codes basically stated that if you don't sign a contract to work for someone, they have the right to force the person to do unpaid labor. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a plan called the 10% plan. The 10% plan was a system to help get the Southern states back into the Northern society (or the union). The system allowed voters to take an oath of allegiance to the Northern states. If 10% of the state's population agreed, that state would become part of the Union again. Jim Crow laws were a series of laws in order to help get African American Americans basic human rights. At the time, colored people were 'separate but equal', with different bathrooms and drinking fountains and churches than whites. Jim Crow laws tried getting people to stand up against the segregation and finally put an end to it all. Andrew Johnson was a very lenient president, allowing the southern states the right to do what the pleased with the blacks as long as it fit the amendments. He gave amnesty and soon became okay with the blacks. The legislature passed three new amendments; the 13th, 14th, and the 15th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. This amendment made many southerners angry because they could no longer hold a slave and they'd have to do the work the slaves were doing themselves and they generally just lost money. The 14th amendment granted to citizenship to anyone born in the United States (including the African American citizens). The 15th amendment gave African American citizens the right to vote and become a full-fledged American citizen. Radical Republicans wanted to punish the south for what they've done to the African Americans by changing the war and enforcing the new laws more than anyone would've thought. The Military was divided into five sections all fighting to get the blacks to be seen as real people. African Americans were now allowed to vote, hold a job, and do normal humanly things that they were not allowed to do when they were slaves. President Johnson had vetoed to change the laws being set, but the congressed rejected him each time and he later got impeached. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to get rid of the Radical Republicans and African American citizens. Led by Nathan Bedford Forrest, they would burn the people at the stake. They'd also beat and lynch them. The KKK opposed social change in the south and immediately took it upon themselves to try and stand up for what they believed in. The KKK disbanded twice, reemerging again in the 1950s and the 1960s.
"One reads the truer deeper facts of Reconstruction with a great despair. It is at once so simple and human, and yet so futile. There is no villain, no idiot, no saint. There are just men; men who crave ease and power, men who know want and hunger, men who have crawled. They all dream and strive with ecstasy of fear and strain of effort, balked of hope and hate. Yet the rich world is wide enough for all, wants all, needs all. So slight a gesture, a word, might set the strife in order, not with full content, but with growing dawn of fulfillment. Instead roars the crash of hell..." |