Civil War and Reconstruction

The the States we know today is a very different place than the America this country once knew during the reconstruction period. In todays society everybody has equal rights and opportunities to do as they please. People today incur a right to do basically boththing there heart desires, precisely years ago it was a different story. African Americans didnt have galore(postnominal) rights at all. The people and groups involved in reconstruction had many different ideas for starkdom and equality. In 1861 the Civil fight broke kayoed and became and on vent battle for the next four years.At the end of the war 600,000 people were dead and four one thousand thousand slaves were freed. aft(prenominal) the war Abraham Lincolns plan for Reconstruction began. With this plan Lincolns master(prenominal) goal was to bring the North and S unwraph together and bring the South back into the Union. The Civil War ended in 1865 and that equal year on April 15th Lincoln was assassinated. Aft er Lincolns death the 13th amendment was ratified on December 6th 1865. This amendment abolished slavery in the United States, but at the same term it still didnt make it easy for African Americans to succeed in America.This struggle for African Americans was told in an question of Felix Haywood a former slave from San Antonio, Texas. The slaves at that time believed that when they became free that they would become wealthier than the white people and all their worries would disappear. We thought we was going to be richer than the white folks, cause we was stronger and knowed how to work, and the whites didnt, and they didnt have us to work with them anymore. But it didnt turn out that way. We in short found out that emancipation could make folks proud, but it didnt make em rich. 1 An new(prenominal) interview with Warren McKinney a former slave from Hazen, Arkansas McKinney explains how tough it was for his people to cope with freedom. The government gave out rations there. My ma washed and ironed. People died in piles. I dont know till tho what was the matter. They s financial aid it was the change of living. 2 African Americans were now free from slavery, but in a spirit it was even tougher for them to survive because they were on there own. They had no money for food or a house, no education, and there were many restrictions on what African Americans could do.Many White people during Reconstruction had intentions of controlling and constraining African Americans. In many southern states black codes were enforced. These codes did just that. The Louisiana black codes Section 8 No freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic at bottom the limits of Opelousas without peculiar(a) permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board. 3 It was almost care Louisiana and several other southern states with black codes treated African American people same(p) children.Another exampl e of a black code, Section 3 No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or nutrition a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances, and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an employer or leave the town within twenty four hours. 4 Anytime African Americans wanted to do something they always needed permission from the mayor or president of the board. The White people wanted to seclude them from white society, but at the same time still wanted to control there every move.Whether it was the location of where they wanted to buy a house, or the time and reason in which they were in the local town, there were always restrictions and severe punishments. After Lincolns assassination Andrew Johnson was appointed president. Johnson was a former democrat turned republican. He was natural in the northern part of Tennessee. Growing up he was poor and didnt get a great education so he could barley read or write. He was a antiblack tailor who hated rich people. While in office Johnsons main intention was to keep black people oppressed.His Restoration plan pardons restored property, granted pardons to rich and confederate officials, gave no provisions or protections for freedmen, and the southern whites started voting again and gained control of local governments. Johnson would do anything to keep the blacks down, he vetoed the Civil Rights fare which gave African Americans citizenship and guarantee of equal rights. He then vetoed the Freemens Bureau which wanted to provide aid to African Americans who needed medicine, food, housing, and a right to an education. At this time the pedestal Republicans had enough and in 1866 became the absolute majority in Congress.The Congress eventually overrides Johnsons vetos. The Radicals wanted equality for the black people and in 1867 Radical Reconstruction began. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens states everyman, no matter what his race or color every earthly beingness who has an immortal s oul, has an equal right to justice, honesty, and fair play with every other man and the law should ensure him those rights. 1 Stevens is basically saying all men are created equally, but at the same time he also suggests that it is up to the white man to decide for himself whether or not to associate himself with African Americans and it isnt in the hands of the law.After Stevens doctrine in 1867 the Radicals had control of Congress and they were soon able to impeach President Johnson. Being that Johnson was impeached and the Radical Republicans were the majority in Congress it still didnt seem like the future was any brighter for African Americans. Wide spread Anti-Black violence began. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan formed. They began kill blacks, raping their women, burning down there schools and churches. Elias Hill, an African American man, recounts a nighttime visit from the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. He had a horsewhip, and he told me to pull up my shirt, and he hit me.He told me at every lick, acquire up your shirt. I made a moan every time he cut with the horsewhip. I reckon he struck me eight cuts right on the hip bone. 1 For Elias the KKK was always a threat to him and his family, just as they were to all African Americans. The people and groups involved in Reconstruction had many different ideas for freedom and equality. on that point were presidents like Lincoln who wanted to help African Americans and on the other hand there was Johnson who wanted nothing more then to keep them as slaves and did everything in his top executive to keep it that way.Then there were political parties like the Radical Republicans who also wanted to see threw with slavery and lend aid to African Americans and then you had organizations like the KKK causing extreme violent acts towards African Americans. There is no question that the Reconstruction period was a chaotic time where people had to struggle with freedom and equality and today in the United States of America p eople might be free, but I still think that there are some forms of inequality.