The Reconstruction Period

The American civil war was one of the biggest hardships for the young country to endure, and yet it did not prepare them for the tension after. Slavery was the biggest conflict between the Northern states and the Southern states, this what lead us to civil war. Between these national crisis it was the breaking point for the young country. Reconstruction was needed and the period following the civil war, the reconstruction period, fostered many significant results and achievements especially for Constitutional amendments. While mending a broken country, the reconstruction period still left many fresh wounds. Passing laws wasn’t enough, to make a change would take a leader strong enough to change the hearts and minds of Americans. The ideas of …show more content…
One of which was the thirteenth amendment, which abolished slavery. Although recognized it did not change the injustices being done to the now former slaves. When this wasn’t enough Lincoln devised the ten percent plan. This was a way for southerners to reclaim their United States citizenship and set up a state government after ten percent had done so. But these didn’t come without its terms and conditions. “Under this ten percent plan, such governments had to be republican in form, must recognize the “permanent freedom” of the slaves, and must provide for black education. The plan, however, did not require blacks be given the right to vote.”. While this was a really good idea it had many flaws to it. Ten percent of a state is a very small representation of that state, this lead to states joining the union under conditions many of the occupants disagree with. Congress realized this and wanted nothing to do with the representatives who’d join congress from the joined states. This still didn’t solve the issues of discrimination against blacks. The fourteenth amendment took aim to fix the laws that states created such as the Black Codes to discriminate against blacks. The fourteenth amendment defined what US citizenship is granting all former slaves and blacks citizenship in the United States. This allowed them many rights they had previously been …show more content…
The racial tension and hate was still there. The government passed several laws issuing former slaves and blacks their rights, yet for decades the tension never died and the issues still remained at large. The thirteenth amendment should have disbanded slavery in the south but laws such as the black codes, which held blacks in involuntary servitude and sought to restrict their freedoms, made this difficult. ‘These varied in severity from state to state, but all, as one planter admitted, set out to keep the blacks “as near to a state of bondage as possible.”’ Blacks couldn't bare arms, read or write, or even gather to worship, effectively bring them back to near slave status. This shows the ideas many held towards the former slaves, treating them as subservient to them. In another attempt to defeat these ideas the fourteenth amendment was ratified granting former slaves and blacks US citizenship. As previously stated the south completely rejected this idea leading to the reconstruction acts. The north had to use military zones to control the south and forced them to accept and ratify the fourteenth amendment. At this point in time tensions peak to their highest, post civil war. After this time period the treatment of blacks in the south was in steadly decline yet again. Following the fifteenth amendment's ratification, which forbid states to deny