Pros And Cons Of African Americans During The Era Of Reconstruction

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The Era of Reconstruction took place in the late 1860's and 1870's, and it was a time of rebuilding all that was destroyed during the Civil War. Many people feel that African Americans gained their freedom during the Reconstruction Era, but they didn’t. Voting laws, segregation and sharecropping are all examples that prove African Americans did not gain their freedom during the Reconstruction Era. African Americans earned the right to vote during the Civil War, but there were many rules limiting their ability to vote. These limitations prove that African Americans did not gain their freedom during this time period. The southern states used laws to prevent blacks from voting like: White primaries ,grandfather clauses, poll taxes, poll tests, intimidation and violence. Black codes, also affected the rights and freedoms of freed slaves. The Black code is a law passed in the south to limit rights and segregate African Americans. segregation is when …show more content…
Union General William T. Sherman had encouraged this expectation in early 1865 by granting a number of freed men 40 acres each of the abandoned land left in the wake of his army. During Reconstruction, however, the conflict over labor resulted in the sharecropping system, in which black families would rent small plots of land in return for a portion of their crop, to be given to the landowner at the end of each year. The Union Army also donated some of its mules, unneeded for battle purposes, to the former slaves.
During the era of Reconstruction the African Americans did not of gained their freedom. These limitations on the African Americans were unfair for them but the whites thought they were fair. The African Americans did not gain freedom during the era of