Freedom During Reconstruction

With the end of the Civil war, many blacks felt that they would start reaping the benefits that had been denied from them for years. Being able to vote, own land, have a voice in political affairs were all goals that they felt were reachable. The era of Reconstruction was the "miracle" they had been searching for. But the South wasn't going down without a fight and blacks would have to wait at least 100 years for Freedom Summer to arrive to receive the "miracle" they wanted. 100 years it took for equality to become more than just a word but a way of life for blacks. But they did enjoy some privileges that weren't available to them.

(C) Native Americans were not free during reconstruction.(E1) Black code section 1 and 3 states, Native Americans were not allowed in certain towns or have homes in certain towns (Document B).(R1) When you are not allowed in certain towns it makes you feel unimportant and unwelcome in the place you live in. If you cannot buy or rent homes you are not at home in this world. Also if native americans were not allowed in certain towns the other people who did not want to live in a community with native americans. The towns that the native Americans could live in probably had very few white people lived there and if they did they hated the native americans.(CA1)

The first reason why blacks were free was slavery was abolished. The first example of how blacks were free is found in the 13th Amendment in Document A. The 13th Amendment stated that slavery was unconstitutional. These Amendments clearly gave blacks freedom. It removed slavery which literally gave them freedom from their slaveowners.

In conclusion, African Americans were denied of their amendments and whites were racist towards them. African Americans were not free even though they had rights that they could live

In “Reconstruction Revisited”, Eric Foner reexamines the political, social, and economic experiences of black and white Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War. With the help of many historian works, Foner gives equal representation to both sides of the Reconstruction argument.

Many people had different views and ideas about Reconstruction. There was much debate about how the Confederate states, which included Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, should be readmitted into the Union. Some people believed that the states should be treated as territories, and others believed that the southern leaders should be punished instead of the states. Still, others believed that the South still belonged to the Union because secession was illegal. During the Civil War, on December 1863, President Lincoln announced his 10 % Plan for Reconstruction. Many Northerners considered it to be too mild, but the blacks condemned it for ignoring

As a result of the North’s victory in the civil war and the reconstruction period that followed, African-Americans were seemingly on the verge of being able to enjoy the freedom of no longer being slaves. During the reconstruction era, important pieces of legislature were written in order to protect the rights of the newly freed men. Those pieces of legislature were essentially trying to somehow transform former slave into free productive members of society. However, a number of disgruntled southerners took it as their duty to prevent African-American from being free of their former masters. They saw the northerners demand as an infringement of the South traditional values. Although the

Being free was not meant for everybody, especially the African American or slaves . Slaves didn’t have the freedom of choice, education, and freedom of speech. Freedom was an enormous word that the slaves wanted and that people against slavery against slavery want to. The word freedom is written all over the Civil War and the text we have been reading like Abraham Lincoln speeches and Sojourner Truth’s speech and the poem that help Americans abolish slavery. The Civil War changed America's mind set about the cruelty of slavery and what it really meant to be a free American.

The Reconstruction Era was a time of incorporation between the northern and southern states in the United States after the Civil War. Since the northern states won the Civil War, they sought freedom for the blacks from slavery; although the northern states sought freedom for the blacks, the blacks were still oppressed by special laws for them and they lacked many living necessities. During the Reconstruction Era, blacks were free by law, but no resources and racism kept blacks in slavery.

“We hold our heads high, despite the price we have paid, because freedom is priceless.” - Lech Walesa. Freedom - the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Such a small definition for a word with so much meaning. This miniscule word has inspired people and even started wars.This topic is rarely regarded; even though we would certainly know if someone took our freedom from us.

Congress’s plan for Reconstruction included several restrictions placed on the South and those involved in the Confederacy. One of these demands was that each state must write a new constitution that accepts the 14th amendment, which states that the black slaves are now free people. This meant that blacks could take part in things they never used to do before like marry,

The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. A word created by man to escape the bonds of tyranny to express the idea of what it means to persist one's own ambitions. Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of confinement but the will to achieve freedom when imprisoned. After carefully concluding the reading done over this semester one is able to clearly understand the confinement these early Americans felt and their decision to achieve a form of freedom. Freedom has always existed but it is the history of this nation that will define what actions freedom takes.

During reconstruction, the meaning of freedom suited many different types of interpretation; the perception of freedom between former slaves and their slaves masters were very contradictory. To begin with, African-Americans had suffered severe abuse over those years of slavery, so to them, the meaning of freedom was basically a hope that in the future, they won’t experience all kind of punishment and exploration that they have been experienced so far. Besides that, formers slaves were demanding equal civil and political rights. In the same way, they valued their freedom by establishing their own schools and churches, reuniting families that were separated under

During the time of Reconstruction, the federal government did little to help the people of America as a whole, they concentrated on bettering African American lives and “reconstructing” the South. The focus during this time period was to protect the rights of African Americans, which had long and hard been fought for. The federal government made it their priority to ensure equal rights among all black people. Also, the readmission of the Confederate states was essential to the federal

It seemed as though black people were finally starting to be recognized as actual people. According to the article “Reconstruction” on the website ushistory.org it says, “Under federal bayonets,blacks, including those who had recently been freed, received the right to vote, hold political offices, and become judges and police chiefs.” African Americans were finally able to hold some type of power in political offices and could have jobs of importance, however, many Southerners were angered by black people having this new sense of freedom. From the same article it says, “Many Southern whites could not accept the idea that former slaves could not only vote but hold office. It was this era that the Ku Klux Klan was born.” Douglass’s dream of equality was starting to slip away with white supremacists discriminating against black people. To this day, there is still racism and discrimination among not only African Americans but all races and this goal of equality has yet to be reached and may not be achieved ever.