American History: The Reconstruction Movement

America has undergone many political changes and many leaders with different agendas have come and gone. Many political movements have left its mark on American history, Reconstruction was one such movement. It was a time period in American history after the civil war where the whole country was at unrest. Years of constant tensions between northern abolitionist and the southern pro slavery plantation owners pushed United States to the Civil war, the greatest tragedy in the history of our country. North had defeated the South and destroyed it socially, economically and politically. Four million slaves had been granted freedom but they did not know how to earn a living and were wandering aimlessly. The need of the hour was to rebuild the nation which was a daunting task. Reconstruction plans were made by President Lincoln, and carried on by President Johnson when he presided over the office to end the unrest and secure the future of the South and revitalize …show more content…
Many white southerners thought that privilege only belonged to them so they made it hard for the African Americans. Jim Crow laws compounded the problem by dividing public schools, referred to as “segregation”, and creating autocratic reading tests as described by Charles Dew in his memoir “The making of a racist” (DOC D). White Southerners killed the freed slaves, burned down schools and protested. African Americans were prohibited from many civic facilities and dissuaded from voting by creating poll taxes. Most freed slaves could not get work except as laborers where they were almost again slaves to the white landowners. They lived in poverty and could barely provide for themselves and their families. Furthermore, the Supreme Court helped severely limit the rights of African Americans through Slaughterhouse Cases, U.S. v. Cruikshank, and U.S. v. Reese. Although the Slaves were granted their liberty, they were not treated as