After the American Civil War had ended, the South was in social, political, and economic disorder. Reconstruction was definately in need. As a result, after the Civil War, in 1865, the Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau, as an effort to assist former slaves . It was a Bureau of Refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands. The Freedmen's Bureau provided various amounts of things such as food, medical care, helped with resettlement, and it established schools. There were over 1,000 schools built, teacher-training institutes were created and several black colleges were founded with the financial help of the bureau. On January 16, 1865, there was an act that gave freed slaves 400,000 acres of abandoned rice land on Georgia’s Sea Islands and on the coast of South Carolina. The land was divided into forty-acre plots. Later the army was ordered to provide mules to the freedmen, also known as “forty acres and a mule.” However, this order did not last long after the assassination of President Lincoln. The vice president, President Andrew Johnson, had took over.
Later on in 1865, while the freedom of the Southern blacks was settling in, there were several Southern states that had passed legislation, creating Black Codes. The Black Code generally restricted the blacks right to own property. It controlled where they were allowed to live, established a curfew, and forced them to work as agricultural laborers or as domestics. A year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was established, quickly eliminatiing the Black Codes. The Civil Right Act, was what the black people hoped for. The act gave the blacks the rights and privelages of full citizenship.
Also, during the reconstruction there was a battle for political power. President Andrew Johnson, was a very horrible president. He was very unsupportive of the Freedman's Bureau, but thought that there should be a southern white rule over local government. He supported that idea strongly, but abolitionists and Republican Congressional members put a stop to it immediately.In 1867, the Reconstruction Act eliminated the white controlled governments. Now with the Reconstruction Act in action, it gave the blacks the freedom to participate in the political process.
Though the Freedmen's Bureau had many successes, it was not succesful for everything. There were several overriding factors. Due to these couple factors such as inadequate funds, inefficiency, and corruption, in 1870 the organization had to come to an end. After all the progression towards equality, everything soon came to an end. All of the hardships, and successful effort of Reconstruction had vanished. By 1877 blacks were again relegated to second-class citizenship. The Southern Democrats had retaken control.
By the Southern Democrats regaining power, I know things for blacks had to only get harder. I can't even imagine how they were feeling at the time. Everything they had worked for and gained, seemed so worthless, and useless. The Reconstruction of the Civil War had built happiness and hope for thousands of people. How could all that success be driven away? All of this only gave blacks more strength to continute to fight for their equality. No one should ever give up in what they deserve."You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."-Margaret Thatcher.
15 comments:
I enjoyed reading your blog, it was very informative. I liked how you talked about the Freedmen's Bureau and how it helped many of the new freed slaves. I also liked how you used specific dates, which showed kind of like a time line of what happened after the Civil War. The use of inferences throughout the whole blog made it interesting instead of sounding like a lecture. My number one favorite thing about your blog was how you used a quote from Margaret Thatcher at the end of the blog to tie into the topic. Great blog!!
i liked your blog alot i really didnt know at the time that congress had actually made a freedmen"s bureau. i never ever heard about that . the only time i actually heard about a document for the slaves when president lincoln did the one document and i cant say it right lol but stilled im glad i got to know that there was a second documnt involved after the civil war
I think this blog was a great summary of the overall struggles of the freed blacks after what happened in the Civil War. Not only were they in a struggle in finding decent jobs to make a profit, but they were still discriminated by the people in all of US. Acts were put in place, such as what you summarized to give blacks something to do to make a living. As some acts were good, others were degrading, some of which were applied by who was in office. Southern Democrats gave blacks a very hard time, while Republicans gave blacks the opportunity to be full citizens. Explaining this tells people that it was no picnic for blacks even after being freed.
Jazzy Phayy!, [[smiles]]
First of all, great job on using the quote to sum everything up in the end. I couldn't imagine working for something that I desperately wanted and yet still fail in the end. I also like your break-down of "forty acres and a mule". I feel that your blog was very informative as well as interesting. All in all, well-done, and good use of quote at the end once again!
your blog was very intelignant had alot of information in it. i like how you discribed orgnizations that help freed slaves. and the documents in exact detail. informing people i had no clue about Freedmens bureau or anything. your blog showed me alot
I think it is such a shame that even after the North won the war, the south still treated blacks unfairly. They had lost the war, and their cause was gone, but they still tried to oppress African Americans.
You did a good job of explaining reconstruction and showing how everything ended up for both sides.
I think that your blog was wondeful. I really liked it. You really touched on a good topic. I like how you comparedthe bureau with the democrats and different things going on today. So well done.
nice blog! You gave a lot of info in blog that focused mainly on your topic. I didn't realize that " forty acres and mule" was from civil war times. The south did a whole lot of work to rebuild from the damage of the civil war. Freedmen's bureau was lifesaver for the men that it affected. It probably saved a lot men's lives.
i enjoyed reading your blog. You reached a lot of important facts about the Freedmans b thingy. even after they where promised the land and a mule some people did not recieve the things that they were promised and this upset them. this caused many protests and also riots. I also liked how you included the quote from tuminaros room in your writing that was hot good observation skills.
What can I say.....simply amazing! I learned a lot more from your blog about the Freedmen's Bureau and what it worked hard for. It's a shame that it seemed like all that work was for nothing when President Andrew Jackson stepped in. I agree with you that it made people fight harder for their rights! i loved the quote at the end. it was like the iceing on top of the cake!
I like your blog, it summarizes how the Civil War began and what presidents in office at the time. It is sort of like Economic crisis that is going on today in our world and the presidental election that is coming up with John McCain and Barack Obama.
great blog jazz. i like the quote in the end by margaret thatcher! but most importantly i like how u explained the freedmens bureau and how it helped many freed slaves.
It was a very interesting essay of how the reconstruction was after the Civil War. Very discreptive on how America was being rebuilt along with a lot of interesting facts. Excellent job.
Jazz!!!I loved reading your blog. It was very interesting and informative. i liked how you picked the topic Freedman's Bureau. I never really heard of the Freedman's Bureau. So, from reading your blog, i learned some new things. I loved how you used that quote at the end of the blog. Th quote ties everything together
love ya jazz!!
-Kay
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