A Recreation of Slavery
The goals of Reconstruction in America were to restore the union of the North and the South and to help the freed slaves achieve civil rights. During this time, many accomplishments were made in order to gain equal rights for African Americans such as the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which abolished slavery, gave many African Americans citizenship, and gave them the right to vote. While the slaves were technically freed, they were not truly free because of state laws trying to undermine these amendments which were attempting to extend their civil rights. Reconstruction was not successful because of state government attempts to limit the rights of African Americans, which pushed for a recreation of slavery to occur. …show more content…
Through the Grandfather Clause, a voter 's father or grandfather could vote without taking a literacy test if they had been eligible to vote on January 1st, 1867.4 As a result, this allowed whites to vote and excluded African Americans because their fathers and grandfathers had been enslaved at that time and therefore could not vote. Further, the Grandfather Clause was created primarily under these conditions so that it would exclude African Americans, and would treat them in the same way they were treated during slavery when they could not vote, expressing the attempted recreation of slavery. Next, the introduction of literacy tests forced African Americans to write down lengthy sections of the Constitution in order to vote. If the answers on these tests were written crooked, or a period was not written at the end of the sentence, it could be considered a wrong answer, showing the strictness that was forced through these tests.5 Consequently, it was difficult to pass these literacy tests, making it unfair for these African Americans because their rights were being taken away. In the same way that the Grandfather Clause took away the right of voting, the literacy tests attempted the same thing in order to exclude African Americans from voting, in the same way they were not able to under slavery. For this purpose, many African …show more content…
This was because it did not accomplish the goals of Reconstruction because one of the two main goals of Reconstruction was to gain civil rights for freed slaves. Consequently, this proves Reconstruction to be unsuccessful because of attempts at taking away the rights of African Americans, which undermined this larger goal. Through state governments, laws were made which took away the rights that they were trying to be gained by African Americans such as voting, having the ability to choose who they work for, and not being enslaved. The purpose of southern state governments taking away those rights from African Americans was to recreate slavery and recreate a system of white hierarchy which technically had been outlawed. This was all as a result of the state governments having too much power because despite the accomplishments of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the state governments found ways to take away these rights that were granted in the amendments. Overall, Reconstruction was a failure because state government acquired too much power which allowed them to limit the rights of African Americans, which turned into a recreation of
The goals of Reconstruction in America were to restore the union of the North and the South and to help the freed slaves achieve civil rights. During this time, many accomplishments were made in order to gain equal rights for African Americans such as the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which abolished slavery, gave many African Americans citizenship, and gave them the right to vote. While the slaves were technically freed, they were not truly free because of state laws trying to undermine these amendments which were attempting to extend their civil rights. Reconstruction was not successful because of state government attempts to limit the rights of African Americans, which pushed for a recreation of slavery to occur. …show more content…
Through the Grandfather Clause, a voter 's father or grandfather could vote without taking a literacy test if they had been eligible to vote on January 1st, 1867.4 As a result, this allowed whites to vote and excluded African Americans because their fathers and grandfathers had been enslaved at that time and therefore could not vote. Further, the Grandfather Clause was created primarily under these conditions so that it would exclude African Americans, and would treat them in the same way they were treated during slavery when they could not vote, expressing the attempted recreation of slavery. Next, the introduction of literacy tests forced African Americans to write down lengthy sections of the Constitution in order to vote. If the answers on these tests were written crooked, or a period was not written at the end of the sentence, it could be considered a wrong answer, showing the strictness that was forced through these tests.5 Consequently, it was difficult to pass these literacy tests, making it unfair for these African Americans because their rights were being taken away. In the same way that the Grandfather Clause took away the right of voting, the literacy tests attempted the same thing in order to exclude African Americans from voting, in the same way they were not able to under slavery. For this purpose, many African …show more content…
This was because it did not accomplish the goals of Reconstruction because one of the two main goals of Reconstruction was to gain civil rights for freed slaves. Consequently, this proves Reconstruction to be unsuccessful because of attempts at taking away the rights of African Americans, which undermined this larger goal. Through state governments, laws were made which took away the rights that they were trying to be gained by African Americans such as voting, having the ability to choose who they work for, and not being enslaved. The purpose of southern state governments taking away those rights from African Americans was to recreate slavery and recreate a system of white hierarchy which technically had been outlawed. This was all as a result of the state governments having too much power because despite the accomplishments of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the state governments found ways to take away these rights that were granted in the amendments. Overall, Reconstruction was a failure because state government acquired too much power which allowed them to limit the rights of African Americans, which turned into a recreation of