Unintentionally or not, the liberty of African Americans was constantly jeopardized by legislation passed after the Civil War. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, Afro-Americans could not entirely enjoy of the sacred and inalienable right of freedom; they could not act upon the determination of their will. When the civil war came to an end, the south was immensely devastated. Since their structural systems and entire cities were destroyed, they attempted to restore their wealth by heavily relying on the forced labor of the colored man. The freedom of African Americans was not hindered only by unfair legislation but by financial restrictions and social inequalities. These inhibitors prevailed in the south for a long period of time due to the extreme violence that they were enforced with. After the Civil War, Afro-Americans were the victims of a system thoughtfully organized to make them fail. [1: Malisoff, William. "What Is Freedom?" Philosophy of Science 7, no.
3 (1940): 265-67.]
The most barbaric methods of oppression against black liberty commenced shortly after the Republican President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. When Andrew Johnson became the chief executive, he granted clemency to ex-confederates and permitted the southern states to rejoin the union. Johnson was a democrat who did not believe in the emancipation of slaves. Therefore, he did not lose sleep over the millions of lives that his political decisions endangered. When Johnson was asked about his believes about emancipation in 1864 he pretty much said that it was okay to set the colored men free as long as they were not allowed to make political decisions and that if whites and blacks could not coexist then blacks should become slaves again. Since his mouth was not as closed as his mind, white southerners felt protected by Johnson. They proceeded to place restrictions on...