Essay On Reconstruction Era

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After the Civil War there was a span of twelve years where citizens were making efforts to restructure the political, legal, and economic systems in the states that had been the confederacy. This era is more commonly known today as the reconstruction period. During this period many changes were being made so these states could be accepted back into the United States. One of the main changes in this period was that African Americans were given their freedoms and rights. With that freedom came terrible backlash. Workplaces were passing laws with the intention of limiting the freedom of African Americans and convincing them to work in a high labor jobs with low wages during 1865 and 1866. Also many groups of non-African Americans socially protested …show more content…
During this time the president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, had created reconstruction policies that were very loose. This allowed the white citizens of the states in the south to enact restrictive laws known as “black codes”. Black codes were enacted to limit African American activities and ensure their kind as a labor force. When it comes down to it black codes were a way to keep slavery going without it being the exact definition of slavery allowing them to unite with the northern states. The first black codes were passed in Mississippi and South Carolina. According to the History Channel “Mississippi’s law required blacks to have written evidence of employment for the coming year each January; if they left before the end of the contract, they would be forced to forfeit earlier wages and were subject to arrest. In South Carolina, a law prohibited blacks from holding any occupation other than farmer or servant unless they paid an annual tax of $10 to $100.” Many white southerners and groups like the KKK enforced these laws ensuring their supremacy. Even though these laws died down as reconstruction started to end History Channel states in one of their articles that, “In the years following the end of Reconstruction, the South reestablished many of the provisions of the black codes in the form of the so-called "Jim Crow laws." These remained firmly in place for almost a century, but were finally abolished with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of
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