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The development of racism in America
The development of racism in America
Social consequences of the civil war
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The era of the Civil War brought a multitude of changes that would impact the lives of all Americans. After the conclusion of what would be the bloodiest war of the 19th century, several constitutional and social developments were brought into effect. Such constitutional developments included the Emancipation Proclamation and the Radical Reconstruction of Andrew Johnson. To a similar extent, the passage of the 15th Amendment guaranteed all African American males the right to vote, regardless of any previous condition of servitude. However, in spite of many positive constitutional developments that arose during this era, a combination of legal developments such as Black Codes and Poll taxes, combined with negative social developments such as the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacy resulted in an unstable …show more content…
In response to his beliefs about slavery, President Lincoln was shot by James Earl Booth. Furthermore, hate crimes skyrocketed in the South with the rise of White Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. During the period that Republicans controlled state governments in the South, groups or southern whites organized secret societies to intimidate black and white reformers. The Ku Klux Klan was an “invisible empire” that burned black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered free men to keep them from exercising their voting rights. In addition, lynchings became prevalent in the South and were an effective way of scaring African Americans from voting. Several policies such as Jim Crow Laws, the Grandfather Clause, poll taxes and literacy tests were implemented in the South as a way of preventing any political activity run by African Americans. The despicable acts of the Ku Klux Klan and White Supremists extended to burning the houses of freedmen, and as a result, they were considered to be worse than slavery
...dom and right to vote established by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, blacks were still oppressed by strong black codes and Jim Crow laws. The federal government created strong legislation for blacks to be helped and educated, but it was ineffective due to strong opposition. Although blacks cried out to agencies, such as the Freemen's Bureau, declaring that they were "in a more unpleasant condition than our former" (Document E), their cries were often overshadowed by violence.
In order to unite the nation, intense dispute had aroused. Through various laws both African Americans and ex-Confederates were affected by the reconstruction period. Although the Reconstruction Era had gained a negative legacy, the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were a breakthrough in the life of African Americans. The continuous development of polices was to reach the intended goal that the Reconstruction Era was sought for, to unify the United States of
After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was passed and slavery was abolished (Doc. 8). In addition, 14th and 15th amendments were passed which gave citizenship and the right to vote to African Americans (OI). If the slaves didn’t try fight for their freedom, the US would have the equal rights that they have today. This changed the fabric of the American population forever.
During the Reconstruction Period, many Southern states passed laws that productively disenfranchised African Americans. The Civil Rights Acts of 1875 should have protected blacks against discrimination in public places when Reconstruction ended in 1877. Segregation lived throughout the South. The Democrats wanted to stop the blacks from voting so they could take away all the rights blacks had achieved. African Americans were so furious because all of their hard work was crumbling right before their eyes. There were many laws passed to keep African Americans separated from the public such as the Jim Crow Laws. They also imposed a poll tax, a literacy test, proof of residency, and other requirements for voting. They knew this would have a huge effect on African Americans because they could not afford to pay the poll tax, and it was illegal to teach African Americans so most of them were illiterate. Everyone started to see what the lawmakers were doing and how far they were willing to go to disfranchise black voters. Many Northern legislatures were enraged with how the South was taking ...
While some citizens of the United States, between 1825 and 1850, believed that reform was foolish and that the nation should stick to its old conduct, reformists in this time period still sought to make the United States a more ideally democratic nation. This was an age of nationalism and pride, and where there was pride in one’s country, there was the aspiration to improve one’s country even further. Many new reformist and abolitionist groups began to form, all attempting to change aspects of the United States that the respective groups thought to be unfair or unjust. Some groups, such as lower and middle class women and immigrants, sought to improve rights within the county, while other reformers aspired to change the American education system into a more efficient way of teaching the county’s youth. Still other reform groups, particularly involved in the church and the second great awakening, wanted to change society as a whole. This was a time and age of change, and all these reforms were intended to contribute to the democratic way our country operated.
Between 1860 and 1877, America experienced a number of constitutional and social changes, as a result of the Republican election and loss of southern power that lead to the Civil War, and the reconstruction efforts that would follow, inevitably proving unsuccessful. During this period, the south, and the freedmen left residing in southern states as well, had to adjust to a new society, driven by constitutional developments such as the Emancipation Proclamation, and later, the 13th amendment, which freed slaves and left them to assimilate into a white civilization. These freedmen gained the rights to vote, hold positions of power in congress, serve in the army, and own land- which although would not last for a very long period- would prove to
Although the Civil War is celebrated as the time of emancipation, emancipation was not the primary issue at stake. This leads to wondering how the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th amendment actually affected the life of the average black. If emancipation was a side effect or an afterthought, what did it really mean? Truly, although blacks were legally freed after the war, they were in many ways still enslaved to the white man. But although the majority of whites in the South did desire and often succeed in keeping the “freedmen” under their control, some few truly did desire to see blacks succeed in the world. Also, the status of blacks during the war was intriguing; for the North, blacks from the South and Northern blacks were treated the same. And that same was inferior to the whites of the North.
Believe it or not, major events occurred in the 1870s. They did not go wild in their cowboy boots and hats riding along on their horses. The American people were expanding west and man was the controversy endless. Come on now, it’s drama, it can be dated back to the B.C. years. Of course the drama was all tied into politics. Politics in the 1870s consisted of changes, first time events, and two elections.
In the post-Civil War time period, many of the people in the United States still wanted slavery. Grant, however, proved that he believed no citizen should be treated unequally, no matter their race. In 1866, he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It states, “granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States, without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude” (Lloyd web). In his campaign for presidency, one of his promises was to grant blacks the right to vote (“Ulysses S. Grant” web). He kept his promise by signing the 15th Amendment, which states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Even after these Acts were passed, the blacks were still treated very poorly. In 1875, Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (“The Civil Rights Act of 1875” web). This act guaranteed blacks equal treatment in public accommodations, such as transportation. It also stated that African Americans would be treated equally in court. As aforementioned, Ulysses S. Grant greatly affected the lives of freed
In 1860, blacks were enslaved in the south. By 1877, blacks were legally allowed to vote and have all the rights afforded to any white man. The first major change to blacks’ rights was made by the thirteenth amendment. It abolished slavery in the United States; however it left blacks in a limbo between slaves and citizens. Some government officials, such as Gideon Welles, disagreed with the federal government dealing with civil rights. Contrary to their wishes, the next change came from the fourteenth amendment, which established blacks as full citizens. This was much to the delight of blacks who fought for the Un...
After the Civil War was over and the Reconstruction-era began, changes were made such as the 13th amendment in 1865, which forbid slavery in the United States. Even though slavery was now prohibited, freed blacks were now left alone to struggle finding simple things like a roof to live in and a job to work for. Meanwhile, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to give the south humane conditions for them to be accepted back into the union and also wanted to give African Americans and former soldiers the right to vote, but that wasn’t very successful when put into the hands of Congress. Soon after Lincoln was killed in 1865, President Andrew Johnson came into presidency and changed the conditions giving African Americans a harder time adapting to their new lives as freedmen. Furthermore, the south became very violent against the blacks and came up with black codes, which put freed blacks as closely as possible back into a slave state. These black codes prohibited interracial marriages, the ownership of guns or liquor, congregation in large groups and had curfews for these freedmen. Furthermore, these black codes forced the freedmen to sign annual work contracts that were offensive and offered only in the agricultural f...
Following the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln believed that the Union could not survive while it remained profoundly divided on the subject of slavery. Revered by numerous historians, Lincoln’s actions throughout the Civil War created social and political change that would bring the United States of America into a new era of cultural reform. In attempting to abolish slavery and weaken the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation redefined the objectives of the Civil War. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery in the southern states, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to extinguish racial discrimination against the newly freed African Americans. Indeed, although progress had been made, the use of intimidation and segregation by white southerners continued to strip black citizens of their fundamental rights, thus deepening racial tensions, not only in the southern states, but across the entire fractured nation.
In the latter half of the 18th century, freed slaves possessed the right to vote in all but three states. It was not until the 19th century that states began to pass laws to disenfranchise the black population. In 1850, only 6 out of the 31 states allowed blacks to vote. 1Following the civil war, three reconstruction amendments were passed. The first and second sought to end slavery and guarantee equal rights. The third, the 15th amendment, granted suffrage regardless of color, race, or previous position of servitude.2 The 15th Amendment monumentally changed the structure of American politics as it was no longer the privileged whites who could vote. For some it was as though hell had arrived on earth, but for others, it was freedom singing. However, the song was short lived. While many political cartoons from the period show the freedom that ex-slaves have for voting because of the 15th Amendment, they often neglect to include the fact that many African Americans were coerced into voting a certain way or simply had their rights stripped from them.
In the early 19th century there was a large influence of new ideologies. Although, these “new” ideologies were not new, they had always existed, but were just now given a name. An ideology is a set of beliefs about the world and how it should be, often formalized into political social or cultural theory (West &the World G–6). I think that Liberalism is one of the most important ideologies of the early 19th century, and still is today. Liberalism drew significantly off of the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, and their promises. Liberals fought to change society; they wanted to live in a world of individual freedom, liberty. Liberals derive their theories from significant individuals from the Enlightenment such as: John Locke and Montesquieu. These individuals gave liberalist ideals, for example: Locke, helped them adopt ideals about natural laws, rights, toleration, and the application of reason to human affairs, and Montesquieu, said that government powers should be separated and restricted by checks and balances (W&tW p. 582). These ideals led to the start of the age of ideologies, and changed countries drastically. In the early part of the 19th century the ideologies were changing everything, the policies reforms, and completely flip-flopping nations, especially Great Britain, Russia, and France.
In the 19th century most nationalists also believed in liberalism. Liberals saw the people as the ultimate source of all good government. Also, they agreed that the benefits of self-government would be possible only if the people were united by common traditions that transcended class and local interests. Thus, individual liberty and love of a free nation greatly overlapped. One of the most famous liberal nationalist in the 19th century was Giuseppe Mazzini. In 1860, Mazzini released An Essay on the Duties of Man Addressed to Workingmen, and states that a man's primary duty is to humanity and his family, the next duty, following closely, is to his country and to unity. He declares that united, independent countries are the highest order of