-The Reconstruction Era- By: David Lin
The Reconstruction Era took place between 1860 and 1877, the main idea of this period is about United States abolishing slavery, getting rid of Confederacy and reconstructing both nation and the Constitution. While Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States, presidential reconstruction had begun in each state after federal troops took control of most of the states. During the Reconstruction Era, this was the period when African Americans benefited from the Civil Rights Act (March, 1866). On the other side, this was also when the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment got made. Three of these Amendments are basically addressing slavery, citizenships and voting rights. However, for African Americans in the former confederacy, opportunities were limited as in1865 and 1866 the former confederacy states passed Black Codes' a replacement of the former slave codes, which once again forcibly cemented the second-class status of African Americans.
A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch car...
President Abraham Lincoln was descended from Samue...
Ku Klux Klan members and a burning cross, Denver, ...Constitutional & Political Reconstruction
13th Amendment
Even though the Congress had already abolish slavery in the District of Columbia in 1862 and President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation ended the practice of slavery in rebellious states in 1863, when the war ended in 1865 the question of slavery had not been resolved at the national level. The federal government required new state constitutions in former Confederate states to include the abolition of slavery, but there was nothing to prevent states from reinstituting the practice with revised state constitutions. The Thirteenth Amendment ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery "within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Congress required former Confederate states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment as a condition of regaining federal representation. (US Senate, Thirteenth Amendment)
The Thirteen Amendment not only just abolished slavery and involuntary, made them as a punishment for...