Ms. Conboy
AP U.S. History
25 January 2012
After the 13th Amendment was passed, African American slaves were freed from their lifetime involuntary servitude, and life for them seemed to be on the way to happiness (Document A). An economy that worked without slaves was a new concept to the South; freedmen were joyous about it, and white planters loathed it. The United States underwent a sort of revolution in its economy and its social hierarchy (Document D). After the Civil War ended, numerous changes had to be made to the South including rebuilding the infrastructure, maintaining hostility towards blacks, punishing or relieving Confederate leader, and determining the rights of newly freed slaves. Many of the South’s political, social, and economic difficulties link with the issues of freed slaves.
Of the political difficulties, voting became a new right to Black men. Black males felt a surge of pride, and Grant’s election in 1868 was due to the increased amounts of black voters. Union Leagues originally run by the Republican Party helped to gain a political …show more content…
The KKK made racism a physical thing by torturing and killing blacks. Susie King says the war did almost nothing for her people in terms of social equality. She says the nation is still divided if one race wants to kill another (Document F). Black codes, laws passed by Southern states to limit the rights of freedmen, still were prominent in the South at this time. Blacks also still worked on farms as sharecroppers to earn money. Sharecropping spread as more and more African Americans needed ways to find income (Document G). The freedmen still worked hard labor for white land owners, only instead of being called slaves, they were sharecroppers. Many African Americans agreed that his new found “freedom” was more of a burden than slavery (Document H). Because of the harsher treatment from whites and the KKK, slaves felt trapped into their former slavery