Andrew Johnson's 14 Amendment

After the murder of Abraham Lincoln, the United States was left without a wise leader, in this panic and loss of a president, Andrew Johnson was elected. Johnson was an Unionist and was hated, for his excessive use of his pardoning power, by the Radicals, state governments and moderate Republicans. Southerns would elect leaders that served the confederacy and that would instal “Black codes”, these codes would beat down African American’s civil rights and push them to being slaves again. From violences against African Americans, Yankees and Unionists, the 14 Amendment was produced. The Fourteenth Amendment enabled every American citizen rights that states had to respect and honor. The amendment made the South more violent and they would not
listen to reason or authority. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 broke the former Confederacy, aside from Tennessee, into five sections and made them military districts.
The commanders were allowed to remove office-holders and were members of the Union. African American’s political power was not strong enough to enact a change and most of the African Americans would vote for white leaders. African American leader would not have enough pull in the electorate, but found common ground with other leaders. Carpetbaggers went to the South supporting economic modernizations and civil rights initiatives. Scalawags were desperate ground from the old Whig party, loyal yeomen and entrepreneurs. From building schools to social services the government responsibilities went up and so did the
taxes. Republications wanted to make the South more entrepreneurial but some felt it would be better by debt relief or land reform and this undermined the Republicans. Even through multiple government repairs, there was still terrorists attacking the Republicans and African Americans. The Panic of 1873 let the South gain politic power and beat the North from economic issues to losing control of the House. From this disorder, the government launched violent campaigns to stop the governmental interference in Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana.(MAPAH) In conclusion, the Democrats cut down on government responsibilities and expense, focusing on making African Americans legal and protected citizens and workers. (MAPAH) From the Civil War, the Union had collected Confederate land that was left by the Southerns in fear of being captured.
Many African Americans wanted to grow their own crops, so General Sherman promised property to them, in 1865. There was a strip of land in Charleston that was held for African American settlement and each family was allowed 40 acres. Many former slaves desired to work for wages on the plantations of the loyal owners or Northern leaseholders. Africans Americans started to establish their own schools, churches and places in politics. President Johnson gave the former Confederates back their land, this included some of the land Sherman had promised to the African Americans. Many African American families settled on their promised land and argued that it should be theirs after working on it for so many years. Even through the families pleads, the Congress refused to concede upon the matter. The Freedman’s Bureau composed fair contracts between the land owners and the African American labor force. (MAPAH) Since the former slaves did not want to fall back into slave actions they did not work women or children, worked shorter hours and looked for the best terms. Families would cultivate pieces of land and divide the produce with the landowners, the better working conditions the landowner gave them, the better produce they would receive. The control from Republicans and African American public officials did not let the former Confederates to treat the workers as
slaves. Democrats defined sharecroppers as wage laborers paid in kind and gave landlords authority over crops which the wage workers grew. If the pay for the product was low, the wage worker would have debts to the landowners and their living circumstances would drop. From this drop in price for some of the products, many farmers had to have only one crop, debt and had to give up their land. Since the South economy depended on their export of product, it led them to export crops, raw material and processed goods in need of money. (MAPAH) With Jim Crow laws and disfranchisement measures showed the people that independence and equality was not close in their future.