Reconstruction – the American Revolution
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RECONSTRUCTION
The American Revolution was a glorious war fought to free the
American colonies from the British rule. Although we won that war,
there were still many people who were not free from our rule. One
people in general were the black slaves. The black people had many
struggles to freedom, which helped shape, our American culture today.
Three different periods characterized their struggles: the slaves
Before the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and during the civil
Rights movements. These three eras mark a pivotal point in the movement
And advancement of the black race to social equality.
During the time before the Civil War, it was not easy for slaves to
organize and rebel against their slaveholders or whites in general.
There were numerous laws that specifically took away slaves rights as
men. Slaves also feared the whip and even death if they were to act out
against their owners. The Declaration of Independence did not apply to
many groups and the black race was one of those excluded groups. “We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that their Creator with certain unalienable Rights endows them,
Those among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness. Thomas Jefferson, having slaves himself, recognized the fact
that he could not free the slaves himself in that document. It was
difficult enough for him to get the Declaration approved by all of the
colonies in itself. In fact the last man to sign the Declaration of
Independence did not do so until the year 1778. The slaves were kept in
ignorance of any knowledge, which might have led to their freedom. Laws
forbade reading and writing for slaves. They also forbade anyone to teach a slave to read. To keep the slaves obedient, slaveholders often made an example of a slave by beating him with the cow skin, or even killing him.
Most people in the north felt differently however. These people
were called the abolitionists, and they were dedicated to freeing the
slaves. The southern states, strongly disagreed with their views and
broke away from the Union to form the Confederate states. Their
division led to the Civil War, resulting in freedom for the slaves.
“And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order
that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts
of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive
Government of the United States, including the military and naval
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said
persons.”
The Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln wrote was a large step
towards the equality of black men and women. It spurred the
Reconstruction era that was so vital to black rights movement. The
Reconstruction period brought new laws, giving black people the right to own land, and black men the right to vote. It was now amended in the
Constitution. While the whites still found ways around these laws
however, the black people were still better off than they once were.
Some states enforced a Black Code, which forbade a black man the right