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Reconstruction

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After the end of the civil war in 1865 and the abolition of slavery, a period of reconstruction followed where by the government hoped to seize control of the south and rebuild America. Some historians argue this was a promising period for the newly freed slaves where as others would argue it was a crisis and thus a negative period for the African Americans. When looking at reconstruction one must consider the economic, legal, social and political impacts it had on the African Americans.

One argument that suggests that reconstruction was promising for the African Americans was the passing of the 14th amendment. This stated that all persons born or naturalized in America were citizens. Not only did this overturn the black codes but also meant that states could not limit the right of citizenship for African Americans, resulting in them having the full protection of the law. Moreover the passing of this law secured the rights for black children (from two freed slaves) as well as securing the rights for black Americans in the future. Therefore providing strong evidence to why reconstruction was promising for AA’s.

Furthermore, the 15th amendment was also passed during the period of reconstructions which intended to secure the voting rights for AA’s. As a result of this 700,000 AA’s registered to vote, not only was this a success for AA’s, some historians argue that it was also a big success for the republican party as it secured the vote of the African Americans, potentially allowing them to remain in power. This was considered very promising for AA’s as the democratic party were against the abolition of slavery in the first place and were a lot more racist. In addition to this the 15th amendment could also be considered promising as it laid the foundation for future civil rights success in the 1960s.

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