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Ulysses S. Grant was the president during the Reconstruction era. He was the Union General that led the Union’s victory over the Confederates States. Andrew Johnson was very lenient to the South. He allowed them to regulate the transition to free states themselves and offered no political roles to blacks in the south. The South tried to bring back slavery, and white supremacy again in the South by passing laws called Black Codes that restricted blacks by denying them any political rights or legal equality. This forced former slaves to sign yearly labor contracts or else they’ll get arrested for vagrancy. They also did sharecropping, which is where farmers would rent small plots of their lands to families, and the family would get a portion of the crops, but the landowner had a right to ask for the cat the end of the year. This was still like slavery as they could leave but they still had nowhere else to go. After the impeachment of Johnson, the Radical Republicans took control over Reconstruction and tried to undo the South's intransigence bypassing the 13, 14, and 15th Amendments that provided African Americans civil rights. Violent groups, like the KKK, harassed mainly African Americans to stop them from voting in the South. To a large extent freed slaves were given no support in the Reconstruction era however they were supported at times.
To a large extent freed slaves were not supported during the Reconstruction era because the South implemented many intransigence that tried to bring back slavery through legal documents and denied their rights, they even could arrest and send them to jail for vagrancy if they didn’t sign a yearly labor contract. The south passed Black Codes that denied blacks legal equality and political rights. Many farmers did sharecropping which if looked at closely is still slavery. They would rent small plots of land to freed slaves in return for a portion of their crops, which the landowner had a right to ask for at the end of the year. The men weren’t treated with any respect and didn’t have anywhere else to go, which trapped them in the farms. More violent cult groups began to surface and harass African Americans, the KK started with scaring Republicans away from the South but then switched to blacks so they could scare them to not vote. As the Radical Republicans lost support, the Southern Democrats regained support, and people started to lose interest in helping the African Americans as they didn’t see the mistreatment near them. The Civil War also ended a while ago and more people just cared about getting to their pre-war status. The African Americans had the Freedman’s Bureau, but Congress overruled Johnson’s veto and ended it out of bad local agents, the inherent difficulties of the work, and national neglect. Freed slaves did not get support but had white men trying to get their power back by limiting the rights of blacks.
Although to a large extent the freed slaves had no support, they did have some support from people. The Freedman’s Bureau was made to help new free men get back on their feet. They provided medical aid, established schools, food, housing, and offered legal assistance. They understood that it will be hard for the freed slaves to transition to a life with rights, and that they needed guidance and education to be able at some point to do it themselves. When the Radical Republicans gained control over Reconstruction, they first had to undo the south’s intransigence. They did this by passing the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery, the 14th which gave citizenship to all those born on U.S. soil, and the 15th which protects their right to vote and not allowing someone’s right to vote based on their race. African Americans started to get more involved in Congress and local politics, more than 600 were elected to the state legislature. Hiram Rhodes became the first black member of the Senate. To combat groups like the KKK, President Grant created the Enforcement Acts to issue a harsh punishment on those who acted on the violent crimes or were part of the groups, he even issued criminal codes which protected African American’s right to vote, hold office, and the right to equal protection of laws.
Freed slaves did not get support in the Reconstruction era, because even more laws were created to prevent them from truly being free and to live a life with civil rights that whites had. Even though agencies like Freedman’s Bureau were made to help them, later on, Congress ended this and ended up not helping in the long run. Freed slaves were given support, however, they ultimately had none. The lack of political focus on the effort failed to solve the sectional wounds, and the elimination of the freed slaves newly gained civil liberties failed to bring about long-term racial integration. Lincoln started to focus on helping African American’s but when he was assassinated and replaced by Andrew Johnson, he was too lenient on the South which allowed them to make black codes and sharecropping. After the Civil War, many people held grudges on the South, wanting them to pay and lost sight of helping the slaves get freedom and civil liberties. By 1877 most efforts Reconstruction had come to an end, federal troops left the southern states, and the south entered an era of African American suppression with little improvement for former slaves.
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