American Reconstruction Essay Example

After the Civil War of 1865, the South came out of it beaten and torn. It was still a sensitive time for many people, as most of their lives were turned upside down due to the events and effects of the war. President Andrew Johnson was put into power, and he led the beginnings of what we call Reconstruction. As the name suggests, Reconstruction was a plan for rebuilding the South with the new developments. With formerly enslaved people now freed, there was still a lot more clarifying that needed to be done. Tension was rising in the South, and people still weren’t sure of the racial status of the South. During Reconstruction, power was thrown into the hands of many. Republicans, Democrats, radical Republicans, moderate Republicans, and so on. The Freedmen's bureau, KKK, and other contrasting groups were formed as many citizens sought community and answers from one another. The government was unstable, as was the South. Conflicting laws, amendments, and court cases arose one after the other, and people today still question whether Reconstruction was successful in helping those it promised to. However, it did more harm than good to the residing citizens it swore to protect. Reconstruction was overall a failure, due to the racist pieces of legislation passed, and how the court responded to cases that arose from these ridiculous laws, and although laws were set in place to aid freedmen, they didn’t prove effective as people violated and worked around them.

The black codes were a series of laws enforced throughout the South. The laws were meant to interfere with the basic rights of African Americans that resided there. People of color were only allowed to hold certain jobs, testify in court, own weapons, and much more. Violating a code would result in years of unpaid hard labor. “Police and sheriffs must find and arrest any laborer or domestic servant who quits his or her job before the contract has expired; the police or sheriff must return the laborer or servant to his or her employer”. Similarly to slavery, African Americans were dragged back to their “employers” if they attempted to leave. While this law doesn’t exactly mention people of color, it was obvious that it was directed at blacks; since most of the lower working class was composed of African Americans. Even if slavery was outlawed, people were signed into life-long contracts that they couldn’t quit. The parallels between slavery and these living conditions are apparent. Life hadn’t changed for African Americans, despite Government officials advocating for a better America. 

Segregation in public spaces overtook the South, and no legal action was being taken against it. Homer Plessy was a white-passing black man and took part in a plan to test the limits of the ridiculous laws set in place. Plessy boarded a “whites-only” railroad car and was taken into police custody. Defendants argued that segregation violated the 13th and 14th Amendments, and the case moved its way up to the Supreme Court. The following are excerpts of the court's ruling and reasoning. “Justice Brown Henry ruled that the law did not ‘discriminate’ among legal rights by race… The ruling established the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, ‘... we cannot say that a law which authorizes or even requires the separation of the two races in public conveyances is unreasonable, or more obnoxious to the Fourteenth Amendment...the constitutionality of which does not seem to have been questioned”. The Supreme court itself argues that no Amendment was violated. The 14th Amendment prohibits discrimination between races, but the ruling argues that the segregation makes races “seperate but equal”. While there were many pieces of legislation set in place to help and put freedmen on the same level as other citizens, there were loopholes that were abused. The Supreme Court itself would go as far as to reason away blatant racism, arguing that it was justified using wording issues.

On the other hand, some may argue that many laws and legislation was passed at the time to protect freedmen and shoot down people violating African Americans’ rights. While there were rising unease and violence in the South, amendments like the 14th and 15th helped protect the rights of freedmen. “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any persons of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”. This excerpt contains the rulings of both the 14th and 15th Amendments. Voter fraud was prevalent in the South, confederates were threatening black communities with their lives if they planned on voting. Amendments like these proved that Reconstruction had good intentions. Although there were examples like the 14th and 15th Amendments to consider, these laws weren’t being enforced. Abuse of loopholes and just blatant disregard for the rules was very common, so the legislation passed meant that it was illegal, but nothing changed. Take, for example, the KKK. Even though there were laws set in place to restrict and stop them, it didn’t make a notable impact in the end. “The largest being the Ku Klux Klan … Klan members rode in bands at night terrorizing African American communities, burning homes, schools, and churches … the third act, also known as the KKK Act, outlawed the activities of the Klan. Authorities arrested more than 3000 Klan members… Southern Juries, however, convicted only 600, and even fewer served time in prison”. Even if the activities of the Klan were outlawed, they continued. Even if they were caught, there’s only a roughly 20% chance that they were convicted. That isn’t even discussing how many served the time behind bars. The laws passed were rendered useless; since they weren’t being enforced as much as needed.

Overall, the Reconstruction act of 1865 should be considered a failure; to a near full extent. Laws that did more harm than good for freedmen were passed all over the Southern states, the Court system argues for segregation of seemingly equal people, and the government just wasn’t enforcing their own rules. African Americans were quite literally left to fend for themselves after the Civil War ended, with whites burning down their houses and the government refusing/failing to help. While some may argue that the government was trying to help, they didn’t aid freedmen half as much as they promised to. To be frank, most of the laws passed just caused more tension and unease between Southern Citizens.