Reconstruction Video

    After the end of the Civil War, the once-split United States was left with two heavily opposed "nations" that were required to revert to co-existing as one whole nation. There was much hope for life for all post-Civil War, however, that hope would turn into despair for African Americans and freedmen once again. Even fresh off the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, African Americans still faced severe backlash from the deemed "superior" whites. For example, the establishment of Jim Crow laws stripped African Americans of the rights they were entitled to by those past documents and amendments. These laws were not handed down by federal ways but by state and local governments that had the jurisdiction to segregate and downright treat freedmen horrendously by the hand of the federal government. On top of the segregation and backlash they faced, freed slaves were dirt poor as they had no wages, property, or anything to their name at all. So, therefore, they already were starting severely behind the eight ball with the rest of society, and to add their newly awarded rights being stripped away left us back at square one. 

    As we know, Abraham Lincoln fought tooth and nail to win the Civil War and provide former slaves with the rights they deserved and earned. Infamously, he was assassinated before he was able to see his work be enforced in the newly reformed United States, leaving Andrew Jackson as our president. According to abolitionist Frederick Douglass, "Andrew Jackson is no friend of the black." Douglass was correct in that assumption. Even though Jackson saw the Planters, rich white southerners, as responsible for the Civil War and its horrors, Jackson essentially forgave the Planters for their sins of the Civil War. This led to the ex-Confederates being rewarded for their land back, which was at first given to freedmen to start their economic lives and build the black community in the South. This led to the freedmen refusing to leave their promised land by the government which resulted in mass tensions once again between the whites and blacks. 

    With these new tensions, the state and local governments of the South were back at it to force the freedmen away. This time the Black Codes were passed to once again limit the rights of African Americans. These laws accepted that slavery was abolished but made sure there was little change made from slavery to abolishment for the African American citizens of the South. Working hand in hand with the Black Codes, there was a sense of hatred for the blacks by the whites, which resulted in riots, deaths, and general violence across the Southern land. It was not until the Fourteenth Amendment was passed three years later that these laws controlled the lives of freedmen. By the words of the Fourteenth Amendment, southern states were forced to establish new constitutions, ratify the law of giving African Americans the right to vote, and adopt new freedmen laws. 

    In essence, Reconstruction was a successful failure as it brought on three new amendments that wrote into federal law that African Americans had rights and could not be mistreated for their race and past. Even with those federal laws, the states and towns had their say in how African Americans were treated, which resulted in not much change being made or ground covered for a civil society. In fact, to this day relations are not completely civil between whites and blacks, and there is a great chance there may never be. Southern rebellion and violence before the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were passed helped lead to their approval. Without that unrest, these amendments might not have been ratified. In this way, some 'good' aspects came from the struggles of Reconstruction.