The Era Of Reconstruction During The Civil War - 1630 Words

The freedmen fought hard for their freedom and even though they got their freedom it was followed by a brutal contraction, which was imposed by the white people. This contradiction is emblematic of the African-American experience. The era of reconstruction was a short-term success, a medium-term failure, and a foundation for the long-term successes of the civil rights movement in terms of black freedom. The era of reconstruction exposed the radical limits of freedom for natural born citizens in the post-civil war United States. The idea of freedom changed in a tremendous way for the blacks. I would like to begin by asking the same question James A. Garfield had asked in 1865, â€Å"What is freedom†, is it a bare privilege of not being†¦show more content†¦His story â€Å"Twelve Years a slave† has been made into a movie and is very heart touching. In his story he described what it was like to be treated as human property. Background Africans Americans were enslaved since the 17th century. By the time of the American revolution and the adoption of the the new constitution in 1787, the founder agreed to end the importation of slaves. But soon slavery was once again thriving in the southern United States. This was due to the introduction of the cotton mill. The outbreak of the civil war changed the future of the American nation, it determined what kind of a nation America would become. The main cause of the civil war was the uncompromising differences between the free and the so called slave states. After Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the southern states broke away from the federal union believing that Lincoln would restrict their right to own slaves. Slaves were treated very cruelly and many families were separated due to this. In 1857 Dred Scott ruled that slaves are subhuman property with no right of citizenship. The south defended their slave institutions by saying that the blacks are like children’s and were incapable of caring for themselves and slavery is what keeps them fed, clothed and occupied. Slaves worked all sorts of jobs but the majority worked in plantations. The civil war was one of the bitterest war in the American history. Many Americans died and many were left