Reconstruction And The Rights Of Former Slaves. In The

Reconstruction and the Rights of Former Slaves In the 1860s the United States was a nation that had been ripped apart by the Civil War and left in torn pieces. The war left many white southerners stripped of their slaves, land, and in destroyed towns with little to eat. The only people worse off than the white southerners at this point in history were the black southerners who had nothing to their names but the freedom they had recently been granted which left them penniless and searching for a place to go. In hopes of a resolution president Abraham Lincoln took charge in by announcing a reconstruction plan in hopes of bringing the country back together. President Lincoln believed the plans for reconstruction should be lenient on the†¦show more content†¦The act also gave the federal government the power to step in if any states attempted to intrude on the African Americans’ rights. By the 1870s the Civil rights Act in full force and the African American had gained th e right to vote, right to get married, equal protection under the law, the right to own land and a right to an education. The former slaves had come along way but things were not as great as they may seem. In many ways, the former slaves were still controlled by the white southerners. Many of the African Americans struggled to find work outside of working on plantations which left them with little money and without money life was difficult. The white southerners could go around the laws made by the Federal government and still for the most part control the African American southerners. A quote from our book, â€Å"We are sheep in the midst of wolves† stood out to me as a very accurate representation of what life would have been like for African Americans living in the South during this time. Overall though the African Americans had come a long way from slaves who worked the fields from dawn until dusk, but still needed to progress further. The Reconstruction and civil rights act would have been more of a successful if it was not for the North becoming less involved. The north became extremely involved with other factors and become less and less committed to the Civil Rights Act. Without the federal government aiding and protecting the FormerShow MoreRelatedThe Reconstruction Era ( 1865-1877 )1589 Words   |  7 PagesThe Reconstruction era (1865-1877) was a period of excitement for ex-slaves because they were declared free American citizens. However, all their expectations of freedom were not fulfilled as soon they expected because of the conflict their new freedom bore between them and their former masters. In this discussion, the focus of Eric Foner on the Reconstruction will be compared with that of P. 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