Imagine yourself working endlessly, scorching hot days out in the fields plowing, planting and harvesting your crops. I work so hard to keep my family together so we can try to create a future. However, this land is not my land. I can’t keep and cherish all my harvest for my family and I. I am required to sacrifice a portion of the harvest to the white landowner. This situation draws a picture of what the African Americans during this time period went through. One day, they were given freedom. The next day it was taken away. One of the many examples is the 15th Amendment was passed, allowing every citizen have the right to vote. This was a significant step towards full citizenship, but soon everything went downhill. The KKK, for example, was
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Democrats gained strength when “Congress passed a general Amnesty Act which restored the right of officeholding [and voting] to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified” (Doc 3). This meant that Democrats would now have more power in office so they could try to remove the rights of the freedmen during Reconstruction. This hurt African Americans because now many former black officeholders would lose their positions and the Democrats would vote against Republicans, giving themselves more power. This made it more difficult for freedmen to continue Reconstruction. In addition, the newspaper excerpt titled, “Democratic Victory; Congress to be Democratic” (Doc 5), gave Democrats more power, as well as giving them confidence and acting more superior. This was causing Republicans to lose power. This event is a factor to why efforts to ensure equal rights failed because Republicans were constantly getting defeated and making their way down the totem pole. Lastly, Democrats gained more power causing Reconstruction efforts to fail shown in the map. This shows the removal of all federal troops from Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida (Doc 8). This hurt freedmen, causing Reconstruction efforts to fail because this was the official end to Reconstruction. Not only did the rising of the democratic power cause Reconstruction efforts to fail, but so did
Democrats gained strength when “Congress passed a general Amnesty Act which restored the right of officeholding [and voting] to the vast majority of those who had been disqualified” (Doc 3). This meant that Democrats would now have more power in office so they could try to remove the rights of the freedmen during Reconstruction. This hurt African Americans because now many former black officeholders would lose their positions and the Democrats would vote against Republicans, giving themselves more power. This made it more difficult for freedmen to continue Reconstruction. In addition, the newspaper excerpt titled, “Democratic Victory; Congress to be Democratic” (Doc 5), gave Democrats more power, as well as giving them confidence and acting more superior. This was causing Republicans to lose power. This event is a factor to why efforts to ensure equal rights failed because Republicans were constantly getting defeated and making their way down the totem pole. Lastly, Democrats gained more power causing Reconstruction efforts to fail shown in the map. This shows the removal of all federal troops from Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida (Doc 8). This hurt freedmen, causing Reconstruction efforts to fail because this was the official end to Reconstruction. Not only did the rising of the democratic power cause Reconstruction efforts to fail, but so did