African Americans Their Rights example essay topic

Reconstruction: the period of US history in which the nation tried to adjust to the new conditions created by the Civil War Results: slavery abolished; Freedmen's Bureau provides services for war refugees and freed people (including food, medical aid, and education); Civil Rights Act passed in 1866 - gives federal government power to protect African American rights; the Reconstruction Acts establish Radical Reconstruction; the acts seek to outlaw organizations aimed at denying African Americans their rights; the Civil Rights Act of 1875 protects African American rights in public places; African Americans held office during reconstruction; debt peonage or forced labor came about in south; US became an industrial power; women's rights were postponed Andrew Johnson's Plan: Made most Confederates eligible for pardons in return for taking an oath of loyalty to the US, favored easy terms under which the Confederate states could returns to their place in the Union, states were instructed to hold constitutional conventions and write a new state constitution that abolished slavery-voided secession-ratified the 13th amendment-stop payments of state's war debts Abraham Lincoln's Plan: Offered pardons (official forgiveness of crime) to any confederate who would swear allegiance to Union and accept end of slavery excluded were confederate military and government officials and those who had killed African American prisoners of war, when 10% of those who had voted in 1860 election had taken oath in their state the state could hold a constitution convention to write a new constitution endorsing 13th amendment, after convention state could be readmitted to the union. His plan did not require the new constitutions explicitly to ensure African American rights Civil War Amendments: 13th - abolished slavery, 14th - defines citizenship to include African Americans and guarantees due process of law and equal protection under law, 15th - guarantees voting rights will not be denied on basis of race Radical Republicans: Wanted terms that would be more difficult for southern whites to accept, wanted to change southern society in order to ensure the rights of African Americans, wanted to punish the white South severely for its secession, tried to pass Wade-Davis Bill in July 1864 that made it almost impossible for a Confederate state to return to the union-Lincoln would not sign Reasons for Immigration: Homestead Act-gave 160 acres of land to immigrants planning to be citizens for a $10 registration fee, political freedom, religious freedom, personal freedom, many job opportunities and a lot of land Freedmen's Bureau: Established March 1865 to provide aid to freed people and then help them make the adjustments to freedom City / Urban Living Conditions: Poverty, overcrowding, and neglect led to decline of neighborhoods. Open sewers and backyard privies attracted rats and other disease-spreading vermin. Six or seven families shared one toilet and there weren't any bathtubs. Diseases spread rapidly and epidemics were common. Fires were also devastating.

Effect of Strikes: Many unions were formed, anarchists rallied and were often arrested for violence, strikers and scabs fought, public took a negative outlook to unions and strikers, Employers used violence to stop unions and used yellow-dog contracts (promise to never join a union) Working Conditions: Wages were low, entire families worked, piecework-got paid for how fast and how much you produced, employers pushed to increase efficiency, discipline was strict (fired or fined for being late), women locked into factories so wouldn't leave, long hours, dangerous machines and conditions, children had to work. Impeachment Procedure: Impeachment voted upon by House of Representatives and if voted to impeach then tried by senate. If 2/3 majority convicts official the official is removed from office Johnson's Impeachment: Congress claimed that Johnson tried to fire the Secretary of War (Edwin Stanton a Radical Republican) and therefore went against the Tenure of Office Act (Senate has to approve of the firing of an official previously approved by the senate) Life after Freedom (For African Americans): Many children began getting an education, voluntary organizations began to help the freed people, sought political involvement, gained control of land and labor, intimidated and hurt / killed African Americans, some had no where to go.