In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was made as the nation approached its third civil war. The proclamation declared that all slaves held within rebellious states shall be set free, but those under confederate control were not freed and continued being slaves. While the 13th Amendment was being passed, the Black Codes became introduced which took away legal rights from those who were past slaves, but were freed due to the emancipation proclamation. Some historians argue that freed slaves were given no real support during the Reconstruction era, while other historians believed that freed slaves were given a lot of support during the Reconstruction era.
To go more on depth on why this occurred, the 13th Amendment created slavery to be separated and not in accordance with the political constitution. Therefore, the Black Codes came into play. In North Carolina, the KKK group was largely formed which was a hate group whose main target was African Americans. This started to scare and intimidate the ex-slaves because they were unsure how they would be treated if they were technically freed from slavery. Due to the Black Codes, Congress passed the 1866 Civil War Act and the Reconstruction Act of 1867. Military rule of the south became present due to the passing of the acts and the Black Codes vanished due to the North being angry towards them.
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Secondly, in March 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was established to provide ex slaves with support. They were provided with schools and hospitals. However, in 1872, the Bureau was no longer being followed and previous to that, in 1868 the roles were becoming restricted. Despite no longer being present, the Bureau was seen to do many great things for the freed slaves. Then, in 1870, three enforcement acts were passed by the congress to give ex slaves the right to vote, serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws.
Finally, the white supremacist organization began to have action taken against it when Ku Klux Klan Act persuaded the president. This created the ex-slaves to not have to look out for themselves in the public area, but when it came to making food and farming, the ex-slaves were on their own because they were given no land to farm on. To be able to farm, ex slaves usually ended up working for the ex-owners to be able to grow food and have wage labor.
To conclude, no real help was given to the ex-slaves when living in the public. Although laws were passed to help this situation, they all seemed to fail. The Freedmen's Bureau helped the former slaves and their owners to agree to be apart from each other and sign their contracts, but once the Bureau was gone, no help was provided for the ex-slaves. In 1870, Reconstruction then later came to an end. The Republican Party of the North left the free slaves of the South to live on their own. However, their position worsened as Southern Democrats later introduced Jim Crow laws.
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