Federal Government Research Paper

The role, power and size of the Federal Government has changed many times between the Civil War and 1930. As we consider what influenced these changes we have to take in account who made up the government and what were their intentions. If we step back and take a look at the Federal Government, we can see that the size and power rose and fell throughout the years. This is due to the fact that when things change there are always people or groups that oppose them and eventually change is needed in the other direction to balance things out. Shortly after the Civil War, the Nation entered into a time that was later named the Reconstruction Era. The Federal Government grew in both size and power during this time. The Republican Party began to …show more content…
The democrats who had once been in power opposed the new change. The white southern citizens were also against this new transformation as well. The new freedom meant that life as they have known it had to change. As the Republican Party strengthened and new laws were set in place, southerners began to discriminate against black citizens. To oppose the new amendments, southerners started to implement new poll taxes and a literacy test at the voting booths. White southerners also formed the KKK, they thought of this as a tool that they could use to suppress the new freedoms that blacks were given. As the reconstruction era came to an end, the Republican Party began to put all of their efforts into winning the presidency and the democrats and redeemers began to …show more content…
The lack of government involvement meant that these minorities were subject to harsh deeds. The African Americans were restricted by laws that made it almost impossible for them to vote. These laws, in essence, took away their right to the 15th amendment and was not opposed by the Federal Government. There were also other state laws that were adopted like the Jim Crow laws that opposed the previous laws set in place by the government but because the government was indifferent to these new state laws it took many years before they were abolished. The rich business men that had come to power because of their wealth had begun to manipulate political positions into doing things to build their dynasty. The government was used to force Native Americans out of their homes and off of their land to accommodate the railroads that were heading west. The government was also influenced by big businesses as to which immigrants were allowed to enter the US. Immigrants that seemed to weaken the economy were kept out and those that were seen as laborers for large industries were allowed to