To What Extent Was Reconstruction A Success

Reconstruction was the time period after the Civil War when the United States was trying to rebuild. This took place 1865-1877. This was taking place in the newly freed South. The key issues the United States now faced were the fact that there were now all these former slaves who had no jobs, no place to live, no rights. There was now this mass amount of people who had no clue how to live life and even if they did know how they could not because they had no rights. Reconstruction was a success because former slaves gained social equality, were able to exercise their political rights, and they were granted legal rights. Reconstruction succeeded in its goal of giving African Americans social equality. They did this by adding the 13th amendment.
Another way they provided social equality was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in any public place due to race or color of your skin (United States Senate). Previously African Americans could be barred from entering due to the color of their skin. This meant that because they were African American, they may not be allowed to enter a restaurant or a store. This act would not forbid this from happening.This Act provided equal access to public places that had not previously been allowed. This is a success for the African Americans because this meant that they could no longer be denied entrance to public places due to the color of their skin. This was a big advancement due to the fact that this had not previously been allowed. This gave the African Americans the same access as the people who had once enslaved them. Another success of Reconstruction was that African Americans would gain political rights. This can be seen in the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment gave former slaves equal citizenship and legal rights. The 14th amendment gave former slaves political rights in the form of
Around this time, the 14th amendment had been enacted which gave African Americans citizenship. But people were still denying them their rights; this made it illegal to do so. This was a big success for African Americans because it meant they could no longer be treated differently than anyone else with citizenship. They were now legal citizens and had to be treated as such. As legal citizens they now had due process of the law, the right to own property, and eventually the right to vote. This meant that if someone were to discriminate against them, they now had the right to fight back against that because they were equals. Another way that Reconstruction was a success was by giving former slaves legal rights. The 14th amendment gave African American legal rights. They needed the 14th amendment to be able to make any advancements. Without this they had been freed, but that was all they could not do with that freedom. An addition to the success of Reconstruction was the 15th amendment. The 15th amendment gave all males the right to vote no matter the previous position of servitude. This was a big deal for African Americans; they now had sway within the