Problems Of Reconstruction Essay

Reconstruction did not successfully solve the problems caused by slavery and the Civil War because the slaves were still being tricked and the white people were discriminating against the African Americans. Slavery was a big issue in the United States. They took advantage of the African Americans during the Civil War. Lincoln believed that slavery was wrong and if he set the slaves free during the Civil War, then they would get a huge advantage and reach the end of the war with the Union’s victory. After the war ended, the former slaves were being excluded from the rights given to them. The freedmen were given rights which were written into the Constitution. They became the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
What is known as, the 13th Amendment
states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or and place subject to their jurisdiction.....” (Source 5) This abolished slavery in the United States and made involuntary servitude illegal unless it was penalty for a crime.
The 14th Amendment reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws....”(Source 5) This means, any person born in the United States is considered a citizen of America and whichever state they live in. Any citizen will have the rights of life, liberty, and property and nobody can deprive them of it. Even African Americans can have it without getting everything taken away from them as long as they are
citizens.
These were two of the most important laws to follow when reconstruction began. The white people refused to think that the African Americans were citizens of the United States so they refused to treat them as citizens. Although the Constitution stated that they were in fact citizens of the United states and were free, the white people excluded them from what citizens have rights to do.
The white people and even the African Americans were allowed to vote because of the 15th Amendment which says, “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 conditions of servitude.......” (Source 5) Even after the African Americans had the right to vote, the white men still were discriminating them by whichever political party they chose.
In an article for Harper’s Weekly on October 21, 1876, there was a picture depicting the rudeness of the white men and the scared freedman with a gun pointed to his head.
The white men said to him, “Of course he wants to vote for the democratic ticket! You’re as free as air, ain’t you? Say you are, or I’ll blow your black head off!” (Source 6) These men hated the democrats because of how they handled everything with slaves and their new rights. The black man voted for a democratic ticket and they began with their threats, racism, and segregation. The white men are persuading the freedman to vote for a republican. They threatened to shoot him in the head if he voted for a democrat. This began a voting
propaganda.
In 1868, things were a little different. The black people wanted to vote for the republican party instead. The republicans were what the African-Americans were voting for and they were against the democratic party. The white men were making fun of the way the African-Americans looked and discriminating against them. The white people were trying to show everybody that if they voted for the republican party then they would be joining the former slaves. If they voted for the democratic party, they would be standing with the whites against the African-Americans. (Source 10) This caused a lot of conflict for the government. A group of Klansmen called the KKK or the Ku-Klux Klan.
The KKK was a form of people who despised the African Americans and their ways. They believed that the only way to rid the country of the people who will potentially hurt the country is by doing acts of terrorism. “Although African Americans had long been the targets of racial violence, the Reconstruction Era brought new waves of brutality to the North and South. Hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan spread terror across the nation as the government struggled to contain the hate crimes they committed.” (Document 5) The KKK murdered John W. Stephens. Who was a State Senator from Caswell. The Klansmen not only murdered him, but they did it in a way where he would suffer and leave a gory look which made people fearful of them. He was stabbed five or six times, and then hanged on a hook in the Grand Jury room. (Source 16)
There were terrible groups created. Not only did they discriminate against people, but they used acts of violence to hurt them because of their race, color, or religion. The KKK was a major hate group and they destroyed lives and homes of the humans, “unworthy” of being citizens of the United States. The Ku-Klux Klan murdered important government officials that supported the equality of people. They often rallied together and hurt people. In result of Reconstruction, these horrific events occurred. Reconstruction made hate groups come by giving the freedmen more rights. (Document 5) This made life so much harder for the African Americans.
African Americans were living in poverty, they were homeless, and were out of jobs. Most employers hired only white people which left the black people with either no job or they would have go back to their former owners just to get money. Their previous owners blackmailed them and told them false information so that they would work again. (Source 1) Black people had the highest unemployment rate from 2003-2010. If they can’t get jobs now, than in the years past it would have been even harder with the discrimination against them. (Source 2)