Jacqueline Escobar
01/25/10
P.4
Reconstruction
Reconstruction took place in the south of the United States right after
the civil war. The radical Republicans mainly started this and their main goal
was to punish the south for their rebellious actions. Even after reconstruction
blacks were treated unequally and southern states passed numerous laws
restricting the rights of African Americans, which were known as the "Black
codes." It was almost equally as bad as slavery. Racist terrorists groups
formed, such as the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK used intimidation and pain
against blacks or anyone who supported them. Also, separate but equal was
declared constitutional. This was a huge error. Reconstruction was successful
but also unsuccessful in changing the south in getting them to treat blacks
as equals, both politically and socially.
To protect the civil rights of African-Americans, Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act of 1867. Civil Rights Act extended citizenship to "all
persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power”.
Reconstruction was successful politically in its attempts to solve the
problems of how to deal with the newly freed slaves and how to bring the
seceded states back into the Union after the Civil War; however, many of
these methods were unsuccessful socially or economically. Some solutions
determined by Reconstruction included: the passage of the Thirteenth,
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments; the Freedmen's Bureau; the
Reconstruction Act of 1837, the Civil Rights Act, and the Enforcement Act of
1870. In 1865, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which stated
that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States." Simply put, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished
slavery. The passage of this amendment was successful politically; however,
many states did not enforce this law. Many even passed discriminatory laws
known as black codes.
The black codes placed numerous restrictions on African-Americans
including the prohibition of blacks to carry weapons. Southern whites
regained political power, Southern blacks suffered. Therefore, the
Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 were enacted to protect the voting
rights of African-Americans and give the federal government power to
enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. It’s true they gained their freedom but
were prevented from enjoying it by local laws denying them access to many
public facilities. They had gained the right to vote but were intimidated at
the polls. The South had become segregated. The postwar Reconstruction
process had begun with high ideals but collapsed into corruption and racism.
Its failure delayed the struggle for equality for African Americans until the
20th century, when it would become a national, not just a Southern issue.
Slaves were granted their liberty, but not equalization. The North
utterly neglected to meet the financial necessity of the freedmen. With the
help of the Freedmen's Bureau, former slaves began to slowly pull
themselves back up. Everyone, regardless of color, was entitled to equal
protection of the law and the states were enjoined from violating the rights
of citizens to life, liberty, property, and equal protection of laws. However,
the Fifteenth Amendment did not succeed in making it possible for qualified
African-Americans to exercise their right to vote. Congress voted in February
of 1866 for the continuation of the Bureau. It most definitely was a
successful solution to one of the main problems after the war-how to deal
with the newly freed slaves. The South still found ways to keep blacks from
exercising their civil rights, which included the above mentioned black codes
and racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. That terrorized blacks and prohibited
them from being able to use their new-found rights.
Reconstruction-era did make some gains in renovating Southern states
damaged by the warfare, and in broadening public services, mostly in setting
up public schools for blacks and whites, and in granting civil rights to African
Americans that they never had before as their right of liberty. But there was
always racism and segregation in the south which made it harder in their
attempts for a better life. Many factors both political and economic, as well
as the need of the Southerners to rebuke social change, brought the failure
of the Reconstruction. This failure meant that the effort of African Americans
for equality and liberty was prolonged until the 20th century. Although even
with the leaps made during the 20th century, political, economic and social
change are slow to come and still exist in the 21st century.
