African Americans - position and government Flashcards
What is the thirteenth amendment?
There were 4 million African American slaves in the USA at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861
The amendment, signed February 1865, stated ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States.
When did Slaves become free?
In April 1865 slaves became free.
However, their new status as freedmen did not mean that they were immediately gained the same rights as their former white owners.
Former slaves were caught between being legally free and yet not being seen as equal, they also had no means of making a living.
What were the suggestions for the position of African Americans after the war?
One was that all former slaves should leave the USA, but President Lincoln had ruled this out as impracticable.
Another idea would be to ensure that African Americans had the same rights and status as whites. This would meet formidable problems in the South, given the resentment by a defeated white problem accustomed to considering African Americans in terms of being more akin to property than citizens. Even in the North, a minority of Americans saw total political and social equality between the races as undesirable.
What is the American Civil War?
The Confederate states was the name given to the Southern states which broke away from the Union in 1851 after the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was opposed to the further expansion of slavery and was considered a threat to slavery itself.
A civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the north (union) and the South (Confederacy),
What is Sharecropping?
White landowners allowed former slaves to work their land in return for a considerable share of what was produced.
But this was not very different from slavery.
While it was true that former slaves were now allowed to move, to enjoy personal liberty and no longer be separated from partners and children, they still faced considerable limitations.
What were the limitations of sharecropping?
African Americans suffered a huge amount of violence in the aftermath of the war for any supposed lack of respect to whites and any attempts to make use of the rights given to them.
The amount of segregation increased markedly.
The Old South, confident of the legal difference between black and white, did not always segregate the races socially.
However as fear of African Americans increased, particularly in some areas where they were more numerous than whites, violence and segregation intensified.
What is the Old South?
The Southern slave states of the period before the Civil War.
It became a term of nostalgia, suggesting that there had been peace and harmony between owners who looked after their slaves.
That was not the reality of a system with considerable brutality and sexual exploitation.
What was the uncertainty in the immediate post-war period?
The US government was uncertain about what to do about the millions of freed slaves and about the Southern rebels whom they had defeated.
The white population was uncertain about how far to go with measures for greater equality.
African Americans were uncertain about their role and status and how far to press for equality.
How were former slaves not better off under sharecropping than slavery?
They had a degree of freedom, but could not in reality leave, due to lack of money from having to give money to the landowners, forbidden to sell to others forbidden to move if they were indebted to their landlord, and having no money as they had been slaves before.
In addition, the land under federal control was returned to its previous owners, rather than the former slaves.
It ensured the continued dependence and poverty of African Americans in the south.
Under slavery, their owners were responsible of making sure they were fed and well to continue working, but now they had no such incentive.
How did Congressional Reconstruction begin?
Vice President Johnson, who took office in April 1865, aimed at a quick return to normality.
Once Southerners had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Union they could elect state assemblies which would approve the Thirteenth Amendment.
The issue for Johnson was the union, not African American rights.
What is Congressional Reconstruction?
A period from 1865 to 1876 during which a republican led Congress attempted to promote African American rights.
What are the Black Codes?
With a sympathetic president, the new state assemblies passed the highly discriminatory laws:
Restricted the rights of African Americans to compete for work with white people.
Gave states the right to punish vagrants and unemployed former slaves, and to return them to forced labour.
Allowed those who attacked African Americans to go unpunished, with state officials often participating in attacks.
How did Congress take action?
The Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner - were persuasive and influential advocates for change.
They were helped by congress, establishing a federal institution in March 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau, to help the emancipated slaves.
Who are the Radical Republicans?
Republicans in Congress who had been active opponents of slavery.
They saw the Southern slaveowners as evil exploiters and wanted radical changes to help the freed slaves.
They were influential, but had limited support in the North.
What is the Freedmen’s Bureau?
Set up by congress in march 1865 to care for former slaves.
It provided shelter, food, hospitals and education.
It set up two universities, but its 900 agents were subject to intimidation and violence by hostile southerners.
Who passed the 14th and 15th amendments?
A Joint Congressional Committee of Fifteen was established December 1865 which pushed through the 14th and 15 Amendments.
It also sanctioned military support for the reconstruction measures in the South; federal force would not be used again in this way until the 1950s.
