Reconstruction Dbq Essay

There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.

The State of Louisiana passed a law “that all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train … No person or persons, shall be admitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to.” The Plessy v. Ferguson case was brought before the high court to decide if Mr. Plessy civil rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth was violated when Plessy was assigned a seat in the black car and when he refused was subsequently arrested for violating the law. The court felt the Thirteenth Amendment was about abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude which the court proved was not applicable to apply to this case. Since the case Roberts v. Boston, 59 Mass. (5 Cush.) 198 (1850) the states had widely accepted the concept of separate but equal education system, and the separation of races in places of entertainment have become widely approved throughout the country. Based on these examples, the court felt no infringement of equal rights was inflicted on Mr. Plessy as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court affirms the lower courts ruling that Mr. Plessy civil rights were not

In 1865, the United States government implemented what was known as Reconstruction. Its’ purpose was to remove slavery from the south, and give African-American’s the freedom in which they deserved. However, the freedom that they deserved was not the freedom that they received. With documents like The Black Codes restricting them from numerous privileges that white people had and the terroristic organization known as the Klu Klux Klan attacking and killing them, African-American’s were still being oppressed by their government as well as their fellow man. Slavery may have been abolished, but African-American’s were not yet given the freedom and rights that their white counterparts took for granted.

After reading the primary source, it has become clearer to me that the efforts made toward helping freedmen receive civil rights during Reconstruction were ineffective. The southern states were forced against their will into Reconstruction by the north, only adding more tension to the relations between the whites and people of color. Shortly after the last of the northern troops were removed, the south’s favored party, the Democratic Elite, regained control of the southern government and began restricting the rights of the freedmen.

Reconstruction’s greatest successes were the changes to the Constitution; giving freedom, the right to vote and equal rights to all men. The dismal failures lie within the South’s ability to adjust laws in ways that reflected different intents towards the newly freed slaves than the ones outlined in the document, however. Although blacks were to receive fair and equal treatment, Southerners were allowed to use their own version of “fair and equal” and often it was more slanted towards whites than not.

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

Following the abolition of slavery (13th amendment), the freedmen (i.e., the former slaves of the Confederate states in the South)? dealt with significant judgement and expectations, not only from others, but from themselves too. They were put into a society that none of them were accustomed to. Similarly, the rest of the population was not accustomed to the African – Americans having the same rights as them either. Rather than just accepting the minimal newfound rights, the freedmen fought for complete equality, enabling the passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the

party. Southerners saw the Republican party as the party of the “negro and corrupt white man,” who hated the South. Eventually, former Confederate states were limited to only the one-party system. Also, although the U.S. Congress tried to give more political and voting freedom to blacks in the 15th Amendment, Democratic leaders limited their access by reducing the number of eligible black voters. Literacy and educational tests, poll taxes and other property requirements, and the “grandfather” clause were all devices to reduce the number of Blacks who met voting qualifications. The last device, the “grandfather” clause, barred the Blacks and still made it possible for undereducated “poor whites” to vote.

On june 7, 1892 Plessy v Ferguson purchased a first class ticket he took possession of a vacant seat in a white car. He was arrested and convicted of violating the 1890 law of having no blacks in a all white car. Plessy v Ferguson challenged the law that it was an illegal arrest.He set a lawsuit against the state of louisiana. Plessy v Ferguson was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black he had the appearance of a white man. Plessy v ferguson and other many other black people were being treated unequally because you could clearly see that all white cars were more well put together than colored people cars. They had white people and colored people separated because of segregation laws put in place. The 13th and 14th amendments had the supreme

Ferguson( 1896); one of the most well known civil right cases regarding " equal but separate laws" in relation to public seating. In 1896 Homer Plessy an African American was denied the right to be seated in a white only section. The Supreme court denied Congress the authority to prevent unequal privileges to restraints and inns. Following this statement, the Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for, "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races" ( Supreme Court ). Consequently, transportation segregation was not unconstitutional but, “implies merely a legal distinction” (John A. Garraty). Nonetheless segregation in America was then more acceptable than before. Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163, #15248, National

North won the Civil War. Throughout the American Civil War, The North proved to be victorious to The South. The Union had a power and wealth, better economy and technology. There were many key factories: the money, the resources, the commanders, the manpower, the skill and determination and the most important the advanced weapons. Civil War was considered the first modern War in the World, because of new advanced weapons- rifled muskets, that cold reach 300 yards. Although, both sides had access to these weapons, North had the larger quantity. Union solders, were free people and some of Confederate solders were slaves, so the did not really care to fight. What were they defeating: slavery?

Ferguson case, the U.S. Supreme Court issued another ruling supporting racial discrimination. This 1896 decision supported a Louisiana law that mandated separate railway cars for black and white passengers. The court ruled that the law was not discriminatory. The judges stated that the law allowed all passengers access to the railway cars, but in separate facilities. The Plessy v. Ferguson case gave rise to the expression "separate but equal." It became the basis for widespread legal discrimination throughout the South for many decades to come. The separate but equal ruling offered a way out for governments wishing to adhere to the Constitution but wanting to continue segregation. In reality, facilities for blacks, whether in railway cars, schools, or hospitals, were far from equal to those for whites. Decisions like that of Plessy v. Ferguson allowed state and local governments in the South to make numerous laws that restricted or denied blacks access to places like beaches and

Slavery in America came to an end along with the end of the Civil War, resulting in the restoration of the thirteenth fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments, which were constructed to fortify equality to recently liberated slaves. Despite the abolition of slavery and the promises of new hope in America, black people continued to be robbed of their rights equality and freedom for another century, just as was the case since they had been forced into slavery centuries before. Thus, the abolition of slavery falsely implied that black people be provided with their rights to freedom and equality, but in reality the struggle for these rights had only just begun and would continue along with more suffering, hardships and determination.

After the American Civil War, Congress passed several laws to protect the rights of the newly freed black slaves such as the Thirteenth Amendment that prohibited slaves in the United States. In addition, Congress also passed the Fourteenth Amendment to fortify the rights of freed black slaves in which the Amendment granted the citizenship to all citizens who born in the United States, regardless of races, and the citizens entitled to “equal protection of laws” of the states where they lived.

June, 1892, Homer A. Plessy was arrested and jailed for boarding a car that was intended to seat white patrons only. He was a mix of two races, white and black. Plessy was 7/8ths white and only a meager 1/8th black. He was allowed to ride in his cart until he made his race known to the conductor, who then asked him to move to the cars for black patrons. When Plessy refused, the conductor had him arrested. On May 18, 1896 in a 7-1 decision, the policy of “separate but equal” was declared constitutional and enacted. This policy of segregation lasted almost 60 years until Brown vs. Board overturned the law, announcing it to be unconstitutional in 1954. The outcome of Plessy vs. Ferguson welded segregation into law, ultimately resulting in the perpetuation of pre-existing divisions in America.