My name is Koby Law, I am 18 years old and I am a virtual student as I am currently working full-time at a Mexican restaurant to try afford college.
It was fundamentally a war between 1861 and 1865, fought by profound struggles about the expansion of slavery and new territories. In these times, enslaved labor laid many important bases to the economy, especially within the South, limitation of such an institution was beyond less abolition would completely undermine the entire Southern economy. However, the election to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who did not want the expansion of slavery, saw eleven Southern states secede from the United States and form the Confederate States. The dividing line then resulted in a terrible war which would cost too much life and destruction, especially for the South.
In 1863, Lincoln made public the Emancipation Proclamation, wherein all enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas were declared free. Although it did not immediately end slavery across the nation, it redefined the war aims of the Union to include the abolition of slavery. Leaving many questions as to how the formerly enslaved people were to be integrated into American society, it was until the Thirteenth Amendment finally abolished slavery throughout the nation in 1865 that this legal milestone occurred. Land ownership, education, and full citizenship rights for African Americans became pressing issues in the national discourse.
The federal government had to undertake the tall order of re-integrating the seceded states into the Union. President Andrew Johnson, successor to Lincoln after his assassination, favored lenient policies toward the South and allowed many former Confederate leaders to regain power. It thus gave birth to "Black Codes" instituted throughout Southern states to limit African Americans job choices and enforce further constraints to perpetuate White dominance. There came from that in the radical response in the 1867 Acts of Reconstruction even harsher for restriction towards the South by Republicans within Congress. These laws divided the South into five military districts, each headed by a Union general, and compelled the states to write new constitutions that included the guarantee of equal protection under the law for all citizens, granted by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Understanding these pre-existing conflicts is crucial to understanding why Reconstruction unfolded as it did, with competing visions for the nation's future. It was not only about rebuilding the physical South but also reconstituting American democracy. the contest between federal power and states' rights, the economic reorganization of the South, and the struggle for African American civil rights-all had roots in the war and antebellum period. These contests framed Reconstruction's successes and failures and reverberated through ongoing conversations about race, citizenship, and democracy.
My sources
"Reconstruction." Britannica, 5 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history.
"Reconstruction." History, 16 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction.
It was fundamentally a war between 1861 and 1865, fought by profound struggles about the expansion of slavery and new territories. In these times, enslaved labor laid many important bases to the economy, especially within the South, limitation of such an institution was beyond less abolition would completely undermine the entire Southern economy. However, the election to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who did not want the expansion of slavery, saw eleven Southern states secede from the United States and form the Confederate States. The dividing line then resulted in a terrible war which would cost too much life and destruction, especially for the South.
In 1863, Lincoln made public the Emancipation Proclamation, wherein all enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas were declared free. Although it did not immediately end slavery across the nation, it redefined the war aims of the Union to include the abolition of slavery. Leaving many questions as to how the formerly enslaved people were to be integrated into American society, it was until the Thirteenth Amendment finally abolished slavery throughout the nation in 1865 that this legal milestone occurred. Land ownership, education, and full citizenship rights for African Americans became pressing issues in the national discourse.
The federal government had to undertake the tall order of re-integrating the seceded states into the Union. President Andrew Johnson, successor to Lincoln after his assassination, favored lenient policies toward the South and allowed many former Confederate leaders to regain power. It thus gave birth to "Black Codes" instituted throughout Southern states to limit African Americans job choices and enforce further constraints to perpetuate White dominance. There came from that in the radical response in the 1867 Acts of Reconstruction even harsher for restriction towards the South by Republicans within Congress. These laws divided the South into five military districts, each headed by a Union general, and compelled the states to write new constitutions that included the guarantee of equal protection under the law for all citizens, granted by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Understanding these pre-existing conflicts is crucial to understanding why Reconstruction unfolded as it did, with competing visions for the nation's future. It was not only about rebuilding the physical South but also reconstituting American democracy. the contest between federal power and states' rights, the economic reorganization of the South, and the struggle for African American civil rights-all had roots in the war and antebellum period. These contests framed Reconstruction's successes and failures and reverberated through ongoing conversations about race, citizenship, and democracy.
My sources
"Reconstruction." Britannica, 5 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history.
"Reconstruction." History, 16 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction.