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How far did African Americans gain civil rights in Constitutional terms in 1865- 1877?

Date : 13/10/2019

Author Information

Michael

Uploaded by : Michael
Uploaded on : 13/10/2019
Subject : History

In 1865 the American Civil War ended and a period known as reconstruction began which lasted from 1865 to 1877. But why did the U.S need to reconstruct? The answer in this lay in Lincoln s emancipation proclamation which stated that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free. With this Lincoln all former slaves became freemen and were now granted the ability to own property, to educate themselves the abilities that before were only granted to the white Americans. But this was only granted by law, in constitutional terms African Americans had gained civil rights, but was the reality to this in fact very different? This essay will refer to two terms the De Jure and the De Facto by law and in reality when discussing whether or not the constitutional reforms gave African Americans their civil rights that were granted to White Americans. The roles of the various U.S presidents and Civil Rights campaigners, i.e. the political aspects, will also be assessed to discover how great a role they played in the Civil Rights movement. Finally the extent that the constitutional changes actually effected the social and economic status of African Americans will also be assessed.

With the end of the Civil War a came about the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S constitution, these amendments were based on the principles that all people had the right to live out the American Dream. So in the de jure sense it seemed that all people were given the right to live out the American Dream as in the constitution it was written that they could. With the assassination of Lincoln the new president Andrew Johnson inherited the problems of reconstruction. However under Johnson the first Civil Right Act was passed in 1866 again granting equality under the law in the de jure sense. Again the question needs to be asked to what extent this actually effected African Americans socially and economically. Although Johnson was against radical reconstruction it can perhaps be said that he did in fact do the most for the advancement of Civil Rights of all the presidents throughout this period. Grant accepted reconstruction and lobbied to enforce the amendments but it was during his time as president that the rise of White Supremacy emerged and therefore undermined any political efforts put forward by Grant and any U.S presidents thereafter. And this is where the problem lies whilst there was constitutional reform and the achievements of civil rights in the de jure sense in reality white supremacist movements in the South such as the KKK prevented the achievement of these civil liberties. However due to the United States being a federal system each state had the ability to implement its own laws alongside those put forward by congress. This also meant that rather than civil liberties being denied by white supremacist cults they were also denied by the legal apparatus of the state. This was seen in the introduction of the Black Codes in the southern states, the laws in each state differed slightly but all had the same major themes to prohibit African Americans from living out the rights that were granted to them by the constitution. Such laws such as grandfather clauses which prevented African Americans from voting unless their grandparent could vote showed that state governments had the power to do as they please and limit the extent that civil right actually granted liberties. Finally in terms the political system of the United States the Supreme Court is perhaps the most controversial, the so called protectors of the constitution denied African Americans their civil rights constantly throughout this period. The most famous case being The Slaughterhouse Case in which the Supreme Court decided that the rights of citizens should stay under state rather than federal control. Stating that the 14th Amendment protected individual rights but not state rights. This meant that in fact the Amendments were never implemented in the de facto sense. In later years there were many other Supreme Court cases which inhibited and prevented the civil rights of African Americans being achieved.

So if the constitutional changes did not grant African Americans all of the political freedoms that they needed, did it grant them their social and economic freedom? Once the Civil war was over the concept of Forty acres and a mule came about, the idea being that every freedman would be granted forty acres and a mule to be able to start up his new life. But this idea was never implemented properly and so many African Americans were in fact struggled to start up their new lives as they received little economic aid. However an organisation was set up by congress in attempt to aid the freedmen, the Freedmen s Bureau was set up to help former slaves and poor whites in the south in the aftermath of the Civil War, it provided food, housing and medical aid as well as offering legal assistance and establishing educational facilities. Thus it seems that socially and economically that African Americans did in fact have federal support. But again like in all cases during this era, the state governments caused problems for the Freedman s Bureau and eventually congress also removed its support for the organisation, as many senators would rather have been elected again and chose to gain votes. Instead African Americans had to accept the cop-lien system which meant they had to maintain relationships with the ex-plantation owners who preferred to keep African Americans at the bottom of the economic pile and benefit of them instead. However the constitutional changes did impact African Americans as it meant that there were those such as Booker T. Washington and Ida B. Wells, although not active during the reconstruction era were able to in the years after reconstruction to campaign for civil rights, something that they would not have been able to without the constitutional amendments. And representatives were elected to both state legislatures and congress.

To conclude in constitutional terms African Americans had gained civil rights, the de jure. They had the backing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, the Civil Rights Act, the Enforcement Acts. However due to the federal system of the United States, they did not have Civil right in the de facto sense. As seen by the introduction of the Black Codes, and the interference of the Supreme Court in limiting the advancement of Civil Rights. There were some positives that came out of the reconstruction, as African Americans did gain some representatives in congress. However as William De Bois later said the slave went free stood for a brief moment in the sun then moved back again toward slavery. African Americans were freed and in a political sense by constitutional terms it seemed that they were in fact standing in the sun, then the introduction of the Black Codes meant that African Americans were economic and social slaves rather than political ones now. And so the question still remains, African Americans gained all their rights in constitutional terms between 1865 and 1877 but not there real liberties.


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