Reconstruction - Grade: 88.33 PDF

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Thesis Statement: 11 out of 12 points. This is a good overall framing of the period, with a good explanation of two failures and one success. I'd make sure you put the points in the order you give them (the point you list third here actually comes second in your paragraph structure)....

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Sarah Bowman U.S. History September 1, 2018 Reconstruction I personally think that Reconstruction was a difficult success. Throughout the Reconstruction era, there were many setbacks and successes that pushed this revolution forward. Even after the abolishment of slavery, there was still no equality for African Americans. Through all the racial violence, African Americans managed to find ways around laws to gain their rights back. Many southern democrats saw Reconstruction as a way to keep down blacks and push forward with white supremacy, but African Americans and other minorities saw it as a new beginning. From the beginning, Abraham Lincoln’s vision was the reunification of the United States and the abolition of slavery (the Emancipation Proclamation). But of course, this concept only reached the rebellious states. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. It abolished slavery with the exception of using it as punishment for criminals. After Lincoln’s assassination, black codes were put in place to control “black behavior.” Due to these black codes, many African Americans’ rights under the constitution were being violated. One example of many, the Penal Code, stated, “that no freedman, free Negro, or mulatto not in the military service of the United States government, and not licensed to do so by the board of police of his or her own county, shall keep or carry firearms of any kind, or any ammunition, dirk or Bowie Knife… (“Mississippi Black Codes, 1865,” Class Reading 08/27/18, HIST 2112, Fall 2018, CSU).” This is a clear violation of the Second Amendment. After the emancipation of slaves, many white southerners believed in order for African

Americans to become submissive, they have to return to their old ways and re-establish control over former slaves. “Whites were understood as fit for freedom and citizenship, blacks for chattel slave labor” (“Reconstruction, Section 5: Racial Violence in Reconstruction,” American Yawp, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/15-reconstruction/#V_Racial_Violence_in_Reconstruction). The Ku Klux Klan was one of the most infamous groups to suppress African Americans to exercise their rights. They would do so by lynching, raping, whipping, and murdering not only African Americans, but Republicans too. Because of such terror, between 1870 and 1871, the Enforcement Acts were passed to make it illegal “to deprive African Americans of their civil rights.” In 1867, Congress ordered southern states to eliminate racial discrimination in voting. This led to African Americans winning elections across the South. (“Reconstruction, Section 2: Politics of Reconstruction,” American Yawp, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/15reconstruction/#II_Politics_of_Reconstruction). Soon those voting rights led to African Americans holding office. Many free African Americans, started to become wealthy and well educated. “By the end of Reconstruction in 1877, more than two thousand African American men had served in offices ranging from local levee commissioner to U.S. senator” (“Reconstruction, Section 2: Politics of Reconstruction,” American Yawp, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/15reconstruction/#II_Politics_of_Reconstruction). I think it is hard to determine reconstruction as a success or a failure. Though there were some successes for African Americans towards the end of this era, they still had about 80 more years of oppression ahead of them, but at least it was a step in the right direction....