Jim Crow, Abraham Lincoln, slavery, reconstruction, war, African Americans equality, government, republican, aristocrats
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Abstract
If the tragic assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by famous actor - John Booth, had not happened, America would have perhaps witnessed a different Reconstruction of the South, and a different handling of African-American rights (Collier & Collier, 2012). The civil war was greatly won by the North and this meant the end of slavery. One of the causes of the civil war was the slavery debate; the South didn't want to unionize, since this meant that slavery would end in these states. The South, which was mostly rural, did not want to abolish slavery, unlike the industrialized North. At the end of the civil war, slaver was ended. Many whites, Southern as well as Northern, did not know how to deal with the situation of the Freeman. It is my argument that this anxiety, which culminated into Jim Crow laws, was brought about by the failure of whites to accept the perception of equality between themselves and black people. This paper will explore how Reconstruction, amidst all this anxiety, bred these discrimination laws.
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[...] Works Cited Gates Jr, H. L. Stony the road: Reconstruction, white supremacy, and the rise of Jim Crow/Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Collier, C., & Collier, J. L. (2012). Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow: 1864-1896. Blackstone Publishing. [...]
[...] This paper will explore how Reconstruction, amidst all this anxiety, bred these discrimination laws. Anxiety after the abolition of slavery In 6th November the Thirteenth amendment was ratified to legally abolish slavery (Gates, 2019). Earlier that year, the South had surrendered to the North, ending the Civil war. The war had destroyed many states in the south, cities, farms, barns, homes, and factories had been torn apart. Deaths, especially of men in the military age had affected both sides of the nation, with an estimated 620,000 recorded from the war (Collier & Collier, 2012). [...]
[...] The reconstruction period had almost equated the white man with the black. This horror made them execute this endeavor with a passionate vengeance. They made the federal government to bar itself from intervening in matters involving violence towards Blacks, thus restoring activities of the KKK. Sections of the constitution that allowed black people to vote were stripped off of it. In most southern states, laws were established to discriminate black people in the access of public services and accommodations. This saw the deprivation of black civil rights and their dehumanization, up until the 1960s. [...]
[...] Grant responded by withdrawing federal troops in southern states, although reconstruction continued in Louisiana and South Carolina. In 1877, Rutherford, a republican won the presidential election. A compromise had to be made, however, for the Democrats of the South to accept him. He had to withdraw the remaining troops, cease federal interference, and reconstruction altogether. This paved way for Jim Crowism in the South. Laws to segregate Black people had not been written because their previous slavery status was too low. The freeman status threatened the civil ongoing of the white man. [...]
[...] To keep the economy running, they sought to obtain cheap labor from black people. The Southern states, therefore, sought to make laws that would re-enslave the freeman. They were known as the Black codes. These laws deprived African Americans equality, and they forced them to return into the fields as workers. They were strict and aggressive, as to recommending arrests for blacks who were simply unemployed. Reconstruction Johnson's reconstruction policies were weak and they were toppled after a short time, when radical Republicans dominated Congress. [...]
