Civil War Reconstruction

When the Civil War ended, "Reconstruction" or what became known as "Radical Reconstruction" efforts began. The plans called for the reconstruction and expansion of towns and cities. After the war, the South was financially and politically devastated and the Union assumed responsibility of rebuilding the war-torn territory.

The Union also assumed responsibility to newly freed slaves. In 1965 the Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, which became known as the Freedmen’s Bureau.

The Freedmen’s Bureau helped provide dental and medical care, food, housing, and establish schools. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped to train teachers and assisted in the building of more than 1000 schools and colleges.

The bureau continued to assist freed slaves for 7 years from it's conception until it was discontinued in 1872, citing a lack of proper funding.

Despite the end of the war, the North and South continued to disagree about the rights of Blacks Americans in individual states. A few southern states passed legislation in 1865 to restrict the rights of Black Americans to purchase property and segregated areas in which they could live. Some southern states established curfews.

These restrictions were abolished the next year, when a group of Northern congressmen paved the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This law officially declared that blacks and whites would share equal rights as citizens. The Civil Rights Act acted as the basis of the Modern Civil Rights movement in America.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was passed later that same year, in June of 1866. This law guaranteed that federal and state laws would apply equally and unequivocally to both blacks and whites.

Congress also insisted that Southern states could not be readmitted to the Union unless they ratified the Amendment. Originally each state refused to do so, with Tennessee being the exception. Finally in 1868 the remaining 10 states also ratified the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, accepting that blacks and whites would share equal rights as citizens of the country.

Blacks helped in many ways during Reconstruction efforts. By 1867, blacks were helping to create new laws and abolish old ones. Many were elected into highly regarded political positions including spots in the U.S. Senate.

Politcal disagreements between the North and South in regard to race continued through 1870, when Congress passed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. The 15th Amendment guaranteed blacks the right to vote.

Several Southern states tried to circumvent the new Amendment by adding grandfather clauses to the Constitutions of ther individual states in an attempt to stop blacks from voting. In 1915 and again in 1939 these grandfather clauses were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Many great things happened for Black Americans in the South during the Reconstruction efforts, but this success was short lived. By 1877 Northern Troops had left the South and returned to their homeland. Southern whites quickly regrouped and re-established themselves politically and socially, replacing Blacks and Republicans in influential political positions.

Areas became segregated and the rights of blacks were frequently restricted, in blatent disregard for the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

The racial and political discord would continue into the 1960's and explode in the form of the Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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