The federal government is the most significant factor in improving the lives of African Americans not only politically but also socially. The long-term effects of Reconstruction before and after it played a huge role in advancing the civil rights of blacks and in part significant in improving the lives of African Americans.
Reconstruction was described as the rebuild of the South, but it also gave African Americans political power in the South. one main reason while the Reconstruction period was successful and helped benefit African Americans in the long term, was due to the successful creation of the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments. The 13th Amendments in 1865 stated “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall be duly convicted, shall exist within the US, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”, meaning slavery was therefore made illegal. The 14th Amendments made “all person born or naturalized in the United States citizens of the country” this gave citizenship African Americans it also invalidated those who said blacks could not be citizens like Dred Scott v Sanford. Finally, the 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote if they were also in in the US. This amendment helped better African Americans lives and gave them attempts to improve their lives and added the second Civil Rights Act in 1875 that banned segregation in public, but not in schools. This overall made Reconstruction very significant as it gave African Americans chances to improve their lives, but it also forced the southern state to embrace the abolishment of slavery.
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It’s important to note that, Reconstruction in the south had some loophole as they frequently enacted Black Codes that discriminated against former slaves in employment, voting, and education regressing their initial progress. Jim crow laws was also used as a racial enforced way to discriminate against African Americans. Furthermore, the 14th Amendment outlawed Black Codes but was only ratified by one southern state therefore limiting its purpose to increase equal protection of its laws.
Also, the enforcement acts passed between 1870 and 1871 was a law to free all slaves and to mainly protect African Americans from violence carried out by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups. The KKK would go out and kill African Americans that voted for the wrong, this posed a massive threat to all people of color.
Overall, the Reconstruction period had its advantages for African American lives and was a foundation or catalyst that was built on by the federal government. However, it is not as significant as it didn’t make any major changes in the south especially as African Americans briefly gained political power and they attempt to gain more freedom and equality was overshadowed by white violence on blacks.
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Significance of Reconstruction for African Americans.
(2022, December 15). Edubirdie. Retrieved November 2, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/significance-of-reconstruction-for-african-americans/
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