America’s post civil war growing pains
After the civil war, America suffered a lot of growing pains. There two major events that can be said to have contributed to the growth of the nations. The first one was the reconstruction era of 1863- to 1877. This era represented a reconstruction of the American society and the state. It involved a restoration of the southern confederation into the union. The second important event that contributed to the growth of the nation after the civil war was the 15th amendment to the constitution. This amendments lifted suffrages by giving every citizen the right to participate in voting irrespective of the servitude condition, race, or color. These two events helped the nation painfully grow and make adjustments to unite the nation.
Reconstruction is still considered an unfinished revolution. As a result the process of reconstruction is still ongoing today. After the civil, America struggled to unite herself since the south was divided and separate from the North confederation. The struggle still continues in today’s society. The African American community’s present condition is largely blamed on slavery which they were subjected to in the past. The 15th amendment to the American constitution was done in 1896. Despite giving all freed men the right to exercise their civil rights of voting, this part of the constitution remained dormant until the 1960s. During this time, there was a successful attempt to align the constitution to the sentimentality of Americans via the civil rights movement.
Both the reconstruction and the 15 amendment are relevant in American’s economy today. The most essential issues that surround these two events still remain unresolved today. These issues include racial justice, economic justice, and protection of citizen rights. All these are roles bestowed upon the federal government. The government still needs to ensure that the rights of its citizens are protected and there is both racial and economic justice. Specifically, the 15th amendment created new opportunities for equality especially with regards to gender. Everyone got the right to vote including women. Women were also subjugated by men economically; they did not get all the privileges that men got. But as the nation grew, women began to enjoy equal economic opportunities as the men.
Politically, the reconstruction period created a change in the relationship between the government and its citizens. Up until the 1960s, the American Supreme Court misused the provisions of the 15th amendment to protect corporate and businesses from regulations by the states. Instead of protecting citizens, a lot of focus was on the business corporate. However, the relationship between the government and the every citizen is improving as the rights of the minorities are emphasized more compared to the majority. Currently, the minority communities have the power to legislate as a well as make changes to the constitution through being proactive in political activities.
Culturally, the two events also had an impact. The reconstruction created a culture where the US army recruited freedmen. This mainly relates to the freed African American men. In addition, churches belonging to the African American community were made to be centers of community life. Through these centers, many African Americans found hope to live the American dream irrespective of their race. The government controlled systems give equal rights for every citizen. For instance, the public schools allow every American child access to education. There is a lot of emphasis on diversity especially in the public schools. The 15th amendment allowed African Americans to take up public offices and political careers. African Americans could run for senate, governorship, membership in the house of representative, and any other political office in America.
On the negative note, the reconstruction until the 1960s, created a culture of segregation where country became divided more in the lines of races. The African Americans had to struggle for their rights in the society and in the process, many whites who defended the rights of the blacks, immigrants, and African Americans died as a result of the segregation in the society. The disobedience in the 15th amendments also created a cycle of poverty especially among a particular racial community. Because of being denied their rights, many of them lived in poverty thus affecting their generations till presently.
President Lincoln is among the leaders who gave direction for the reconstruction. His stand on slavery was very clear that he did not support it. He actually rose into power because he campaigned for the freeing of African American slaves. After the civil war, President Lincoln was concern for a speedy restoration and unity of the union. He formulated numerous legislations that supported the freedom of slaves, the rights of the freedmen, and the restoration of the confederate. The reconstructions period therefore may have been different if President Lincoln had not been assassinated. First of all, the reconstructions era could have been less radical. The compassion on slaves could have continued and at the same time, President Lincoln could have been a little hard on the southerners who had threatened the unity of the confederate.
The Industrial Revolution and the Market Revolution improved the material lives of many Americans by enabling them to live in larger houses, cook on iron stoves, and wear better-made clothes. But especially in the cities, the new economic order spawned distinct social classes: small but wealthy industrial and commercial elite, a substantial middle class, and a mass of property-less wage earners. By creating a class-divided society, industrialization posed a momentous challenge to America’s republican ideals. There was also a growing division or categorization of people within the society. The upper class in the society included the business elite. The middle class were social product of the economic revolution. And then lastly there were the lower class included the property-less wage earners. The growing size, wealth, and cultural influence of the middle class reflected a dramatic rise in urban prosperity.
In 1869, the court denied women suffrage. If the Fifteenth Amendment troubled some proponents of black suffrage, this was nothing compared to the outrage felt by women’s rights advocates. They had fought the good fight for the abolition of slavery for so many years, only to be abandoned when the chance finally came to get the vote for women. All it would have taken was one more word in the Fifteenth Amendment so that the protected categories for voting would have read “race, color, sex, or previous condition. Another example is the constitutional underpinnings of the antiterrorist campaign that came into question, culminating in the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876) that the federal government had exceeded its authority. If the civil rights of the ex-slaves were being violated by individuals or private groups (such as the KKK), that was a state responsibility and beyond the federal jurisdiction.
Gaustad, E. S., & Schmidt, L. E. (2002). The religious history of America. San Fransisco: Harper.
Maier, P., Smith, M. R., Keyssar, A., & Kevles, D. J. (2006). Inventing America: A History Of The United States. New York: W. W Norton & Company.
Opotow, S. (2008). Conflict and justice after the American Civil War: Inclusion and exclusion in the reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. New York: Pearson.
