Civil War Dbq

The Civil War was a time of great change for many people, especially people who had been slaves before the war. They were finally free and required the help of the American government to adjust and get started in their new lives as free men and women. Although they received their freedom, they did not receive enough help from the American government in the aftermath of the Civil War for it to be as revolutionary as it could have been

In fact, they received almost no help from the United States government. To support that argument, this paper will be presenting various points on how the former slaves were not given all the support that they could have been given. It will explain the circumstances behind each point and touch on why former slaves
When the Freedmen's Bureau was created, it had a few specific purposes and things to help out former slaves. Many times though, powers granted to the Freedmen’s Bureau were overridden by President Andrew Johnson. For instance, the Freedmen’s Bureau was given authority to settle former slaves onto abandoned and seized land, but after settling almost 10,000 African American families, whites started coming to reclaim the land, and President Andrew Johnson allowed them to, supporting their demands completely. After the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, Southern states began issuing Black Codes. “Black Codes denied most legal rights to newly freed slaves by prohibiting African Americans from voting, sitting on juries, or even appearing in public places,”1.The Fourteenth amendment and the Civil Rights Act countered such codes but discrimination was still very noticeable. The next ways the Southern thought to undermine the equality of former slaves and the caucasians of the time was to pass Jim Crow Laws. Many fought these laws, claiming they violated the Civil Rights Act, but after a series of court cases and arguments, the Court decided such cases to be out of their jurisdiction. In addition, many states added a poll tax, qualifications, and literacy tests for someone to be able to vote. To make sure these only affected former slaves, a grandfather clause was
They were denied even some of the most basic and taken for granted citizenship rights, and were subject to cruel things. It took quite a few amendments and laws to get them to a point even remotely close to the level of a caucasian person. Even after they were raised that high and had protections, they were harassed and their rights were undermined even time it was even remotely possible for it to happen. It was not even just in the South, although not as harsh as the South, the North still discriminated greatly against the former slaves of the Nation. Nothing that was given to them was ever enforced, and often times the American government would ignore or avoid the subject. They were not able to vote, first because of black codes and then because of qualifications. To make matters even worse, qualifications were never the same and could not be studied for. The person working at that time decided how hard or easy a test would be. It could be as bad as recite the entire Constitution for those that the person did not know or wanted to keep out, to recite the abc’s or something simple along those lines for those that the worker did not want to impede or knew. They could not pursue their goals in life, only certain companies and employers would hire former slaves, and these were usually people hiring for domestic, hard, or unwanted jobs. The employer also discriminated