Politics in Reconstruction Essay - 497 Words

Reconstruction was a period of time that took place directly after the Civil War when the Confederacy was ruled by the Union government and military. Reconstruction is sometimes seen as a good thing because it did help out the newly freed African Americans, and the recently deprived white Southerners. However, it also created tension and resentment between Southerners and Northerners, as well as between the whites and the blacks, and, when the Reconstruction was over and the whites were back in office, they saw blacks as the enemy, and they took out the anger and injustice they felt they had received on the blacks. It brought the nation together once more, but it made the racial gap wider than ever. The Radical Republicans wanted to†¦show more content†¦However, the brief period of militaristic rule sparked up some indignities from the people, and they tried to defy what the military was defending with such secret groups as the Ku Klux Klan. They rode around at night, th reatening and harming the freedmen and those who were helping them get equal rights. When the slaves were freed and given some rights, they were offered ’40 acres and a mule’ if they would vote to keep the Republicans in power. Then, they started being voted into office. They had just been freed, and they were not educated, but they were pulled up and shown off to the white southerners to tell them that things were going to be done differently. The Black Codes started restricting the freedmen from voting, but, when they were not able to do it flat out because of the 15th Amendment, the white males did it more subtly through literary tests and charging money. The freedmen would have to read and explain passages from the Constitution, or pay money to vote. The Jim Crow Laws then separated the facilities, and that was what the Southerners wanted. It gave them a slight advantage over the blacks because they were able to worsen what the freedmen got and better what the y had, and in this way they could keep them from getting decent educations and jobs. However, in the case â€Å"Plessy vs. Ferguson†, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of separate but equal facilities. They could not make the blacks worse off then they were. They mightShow MoreRelatedPre and Post Reconstruction Period – Politics, Economic and Social Effects2107 Words   |  9 Pages History 2301-SA01 – United States History to 1877 Instructor: 18 July 2011 Pre and Post Reconstruction Period – Politics, Economic and Social Effects This research paper is intended to explain in general terms some of the political, economics and social effects America dealt with during the Pre and Post Reconstruction Period. 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