Reconstruction And Violence Essay

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Reconstruction led to violence in many cases. The period after the civil war was filled with riots and other criminal activities. Whether the person was Native American, African American, or some other race, the hostility was flowing rapidly. There were few safe places for people of color, Native Americans or African Americans. The issue stems from the loss of the war. The South was not overjoyed that it had to surrender to the North. Many people committed suicide and refused to submit to the Union. The loss was great on both sides. The problem was not originally the African Americans. The problem was succession. The South, however, constantly took its bitterness out on the Freedmen who they saw as inferior to the caucasian race(American Missionary June 1, 1872). At the time the Freedmen were the scapegoats. The fact that the South had tried to overtake the North and become its own country, of course, had nothing to do with it. There were some aspects that changed for the former slaves. With the thirteenth amendment being passed slavery was no longer permitted in the United States, but that did not stop the plantation owners from trying. Many slaves were kept on their master’s property long after the law had freed them. Some slaves stayed out of ignorance others because they feared for their life if they attempted to leave. In some cases it took Union troops forcefully removing the Freedmen from their bondage. So yes, in this instance life changed dramatically for former slaves. Slaves were free. …show more content…
They were no longer subservient to in some cases, cruel and abusive masters. This would change anyone’s life. The downside was that some slaves were forced off of the only home they had ever known with only the clothes on their backs. Many accounts depict a scene that suggest life on the plantation in some instances was better than the life the reconstruction programs could help them achieve(Daniel Waring Ex-Slave 1937). Some slaves had the privilege to experience master 's with a calm and generous temperament rather than others who saw them as nothing but property. There were occurrences of masters that would provide their slaves with spending money, less harsh labor, and gave the ability to attend church on Sundays (Daniel Waring Ex- Slave 1937). For this reason, they slaves had few qualms about their positions. The drastic shift in society was evident in the loss of industry in the South and the economy reflected it. There were no laborers for the plantations anymore, the ones that were not raised by the Union armies passing through. That leads to no crops which also takes a toll on society. Without food there was hunger and starvation. The Confederate money was worthless worsening matters. It did not help that the slaves who were freed had no skills other than farming. Most Freedmen were illiterate which hindered the advancement of the African American population at the time. Many African Americans suffered from the loss of their homes and ended up migrating to the north to the industries in the cities where there would be less tension and resentment for them (American Missionary June 1, 1872). It was challenging for freedmen to find sufficient jobs because they were heavily discriminated against(American Missionary June 1, 1872). The jobs they did find were often blue collar jobs. They often ended up back on the plantations from which they came doing sharecropping which was not much …show more content…
The Southern society was quickly returned to the hands of its former masters. Plantation owners, with the help of president Johnson, regained their positions of authority and their political offices. They then found additional methods for manipulating the laws and orchestrating a hierarchy where people of any color, Native Americans or Freedmen were back at the bottom. They passed black codes, and Jim Crow laws restricting African Americans to a certain position in society. There were laws against miscegenation. The KKK was created to intimidate and terrorise the African Americans in the South who did not give in to the higher up white people. The KKK mostly targeted the freedmen for political agendas. They wanted to scare them away from the

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