Reaction Post

Throughout the Reconstruction Era, there were many positives and negatives that took place. Starting with the negatives...

Lynching is the public killing of an individual who has not received any due process. In 1891, New Orleans was the biggest lynching event in US history.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 in Tennessee. The goal was to restore white supremacy and the main target was the Freedman Bureau. The peak was between 1868 and 1870, and it successfully restored white rule in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. 

Carpetbaggers were individuals who wanted money and social and political power. It is when northerners would come down to the south and it was for support of the republican party.

Lincoln's Assassination at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC on April 14, 1865 and he died on April 15. There was a huge mourning over his death. He became much more respected after his death than in his actual life. 

The end of military Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877. This Compromise was between Republicans and Democrats. 

Black Codes are a restrictive law that limited the freedoms of African Americans and ensured their availability of cheap labor after the Civil War. The laws limited the freedoms of African Americans, the Grandfather Clause, the Literacy test, and segregation of public schools and public places. The Grandfather Clause was that a man could only vote if he had an ancestor.

The positive advancements include...

The Freedman's Bureau was from 1865-1872 and existed in many southern states stretching to Texas. Andrew Johnson was constantly a problem and was in the way of this. It did as best as it could with the limitations it had.

Founding Black Colleges in America, degrees were unallowed for black people. In 1837, Cheyenne University was the first black college established by Richard Humphrey. 

The 13th Amendment was passed on January 31, and banned slavery. It was ratified on December 6, 1865. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 and granted citizenship to all people formally enslaved born in the U.S. It gave and guaranteed equal protection of laws. It also authorized the federal government to punish states that did not abide by the 14th Amendment. Southern states would now be punished for not allowing African Americans to vote. The 15th Amendment was passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and it granted African Americans the right to vote.

The first African American in Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels who was a civil rights advocate who took part in passing legislation like the Civil Rights Act.