Reconstruction Video

 The incident that occurred in Charleston that we have read and heard all about lead to many people around the world asking why these hate crimes are happening. People started looking into the history of our country leading all the way back to the civil war in the 1860's. America had always promised to be the land of the free but this wasn't the case up until the reconstruction era. As this reconstruction occurred, it caused a lot of backlash, white southerners could not accept the fact that we are all equal and tried to do something about it. The goal of this was to have the government run without race playing any part in it which was different from what it was in the past. On April 9th, 1865, the civil war was over and this was the death day of slavery in the US. The United States had the opportunity to make up for the decades of slavery and inequality but failed by not redistributing the land formerly used for slavery, and we are still dealing with the backlash from it. Before slavery was abolished, it was a part of the economic, legal, and political systems in the United States. After it being abolished, the United States had to work to change how slavery was viewed and how it effected the country. Also, the racism against slaves and black people in the US didn't just immediately change, it took a while and we are still working on it to this day. The United States created laws that only applied to the black people, the Black Codes. The overall purpose of the Black Codes was to accept and recognize that slavery has been abolished, but for there to be as little change as possible. Every adult black person was forced to sign a labor contract for the year with a white person as their employer. If they didn't do that, then they would be fined but if they could not pay the fine then they would be hired by a white person who could pay the fine and work to pay the fine off. Any white family could go to the courts and say that a family could not take care of their own child and to let them do the job. The white southerners would take these young children and train them in farming methods as well as train their daughters in housewifery. The parents would receive little to no payment at the end of it, but they had no say in it. Thaddeus Stevens believed that black people saved the United States and that we have a moral obligation to create freedom and equality before the law. He believed that without that, everything was a fraud. Johnsons reconstruction plan established the idea that anyone born in the country is a citizen. They did this because they knew that southern states were trying to define ex-slaves as non citizens. Even though black people were given the right to vote, they were still threatened and worried about going and voting. They would gather the night before and discuss plans as to when to go to the polls when the least amount of white people would be there. They would bring weapons and show up in large groups just in case, for their own safety. Grant won the election and he treats black people as equal citizens and said that they could not defeat the confederacy without the help of the blacks. In this election, even tons of black men were elected to office, even if they were enslaved in the past. 

#6 EOTO & Mock Trial #1

 The Election of Lincoln was one of the most important elections in History. The main issue during the time of the election was states rights and slavery. Lincoln believed that slavery was a “great evil” and did not support it one bit. To Lincoln, American Democracy meant equal rights and opportunity for everybody in the country. He supported the idea of giving government aid to the freed slaves. He also supported them being able to establish their own colonies abroad leading to them having their own political and civil rights. 

Overall, Lincoln thought that slavery was wrong morally. He thought the main cause of it was that it was sanctioned by the Constitution, the highest law. Working strongly with the abolitionists, Lincoln deeply wanted the termination of slavery to occur. Lincoln’s Peoria Speech was where he declared his opposition to slavery which he later used in his presidential election. In 1860, the Democratic party was split, half for slavery, the southerners and half against it, the northerners. One of Lincoln’s main campaign goals was to not be like the democrats and stay unified about their ideas of slavery.

#5- Something I learned

Town Hall Meeting

 Plessy V Ferguson was a monumental supreme court case that “upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the separate but equal doctrine.” This case sparked because an African American male decided he didn't want to sit in a car specifically for African Americans. This case made it so that segregation was legal as long as accommodations were made for both races. The reasoning for this was that technically it was fair for everyone because they still had access to all of the same things but they were just in different places. An argument in favor of Ferguson is that the state has the right to make the laws based on public safety. We have learned about many spars that occurred because of segregation and not having equality. Having separate facilities minimizes the chances of having those outbreaks. It also protected the 14th amendment by being separate but equal. It not only satisfied the demands of white people but also black.