American Reconstruction After the Civil War

One of the biggest events in American history is the Civil War. The Civil War started after the emancipation proclamation. Through the long years of the war, it finally came to an end when the leader of the confederate south surrendered to the Union. 

In the beginning of the war black slaves started escaping and making way to the north to claim their freedom. When in the Union freed men started to join the military. Black soldiers began to change the meaning of winning the war. It meant so much more to them to show that they fought for their rights and put their lives on the line for their freedom. 

After the war the first question that sprang into talk was who were citizens and what rights do they get. 

The north and south saw reconstruction in two very different ways. The south saw it as the freeing of slaves but the north saw it as the beginning of change for black Americans. 

Abraham Lincoln made a speech at the end of the war where he stated that "black men who are intelligent and veterans of the war, should have the right to vote." This upset many people including the man who eventually assassinated him, John Wilkes Booth. 

During the reconstruction many former slaves began to put ads in papers to try and reconnect with their families that they lost during slavery. Many were looking for their kids who they lost in auctions. 

With all these questions arising and problems having to be solved many people believe that the end of the war actually brought more questions than answers. 

Many freed men wanted and dreamed of many of the same rights that everyone else had. The biggest thing they dreamed of was the right to own land. They believed that with land came freedom. With this the Freedmen's Bureau was created. Their job was to protect the newly freed black people. This bureau didn't have many resources but they had one important thing, land. 

Although the Bureau was able to rent out land, they soon had to take it back. After Johnson made the white rich southerners personally come to him for a pardon, he demanded that the Bureau must give the land back to the confederate owners. 

When looking back, many scholars have concluded that the confederacy was not really created until after the war. In the beginning many people were resistent to succession. But after the war the confederacy took on a new stance as a dream of what the south could have been. 

The south could not bare to treat black people equally. They said they could not just treat the formerly enslaved people as their equals. With these feelings, southern governments began to create Black Codes. Black Codes were rules and laws created only for black people in hopes of making little change from slavery to freedom. 

One example was that the Black Codes made it mandatory for black adults to sign a labor contract with a white employer for a year. If someone failed to sign such contract then they would have to pay a fine. Knowing that many people wouldn't be able to pay the fine they made it legal that someone could auction for the person in efforts to pay off their loan. The person must then work for that employer until their debt was paid. 

With these Black Codes the Ku Klux Klan was formed. The KKK would take up the jobs and replace the role of the slave catchers. The KKK would go around to make sure that these Black Codes were being followed and if they weren't then they would scare off and run black people out of their home through threats and even violence. 

When Congress finally came back from recess they saw what had happened and knew that they must fix all of what President Johnson had let take place. 

At first, when congress came back many former confederate generals and even the Vice President of the Confederacy were elected for office. But that soon changed. During a meeting, the speaker purposely skipped over and didn't call the formally succeeded states. Thus removing them from congress and not allowing them to have say in what happens.

During this time the Civil Rights Act took place creating the 14th amendment. This amendment established birth rights which was congress' answer to the southern Black Codes. 

With the passing of this amendment, riots began to break out in Memphis. White mobs went out looking to kill any black person they saw. It took the army 3 days to get control over Memphis. In that time, many black people were killed. All of the casualties from the riots were black except for two and no white man was killed by a black man. 

With this riot and many other starting to spark congress began to take serious action. They made it clear that no southern state would be allowed back into congress until they adopted to the 14th amendment. This meant that the states could not with hold due processed and called for equal protection. 

Not only did congress do this but they began to pass many bills. Throughout this period, President Johnson tried numerous times to veto the bills congress was creating but every time they stood strong and withstood the veto. 

In the end the southern states began to agree to the conditions and adopted the 14th amendment which allowed their state to be in congress. Many scholars believe that if the white south would not have been so stubborn and the reconstruction had gone more smoothly that the 14th amendment may have never been created thus leading to an even longer reconstruction.