Slavery & Reconstruction 1

Slavery and Reconstruction

Logan Driggs

Northern Oklahoma College

Slavery & Reconstruction 2

Slavery in the United States has always been around since the first European Settlers

came to North America. White poor Europeans were used as servants and were not really looked

at as slaves. Until the first group of African slaves came over to North America in 1916.

Bringing in Africans to be slaves release the pressure off the white servants. Their were still

white servants but they did not do the same intense work as African slaves. The colony of

Jamestown was still being built so the slaves were put to work building houses, churches, and

other buildings. African Slaves were also put to work in the tobacco and cotton fields or feeding

the livestock. African slaves would become a major part of US history, slavery was the fault of

the deadliest American war and the reason certain laws are in place today. Even in today's world

there is still signs of racism and discrimination against African Americans. 

Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election of 1860 and that is what made the

southern states form the confederacy. In 1861 civil war broke loose between the Northern and

Southern state over the rights of slavery. Northern States were against slavery and Sothern States

were for it. The South would fire the first shot of the Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina on

April 12. The southern states were outnumbered by a huge deficit to the northern states but the

confederate soldiers from the had an advantage in combat and in their Generals. “In the First

Battle of Bull Run (known in the South as First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, 35,000 Confederate

soldiers under the command of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson forced a greater number

of Union forces (or Federals) to retreat towards Washington, D.C., dashing any hopes of a quick

Union victory and leading Lincoln to call for 500,000 more recruits. In fact, both sides’ initial

call for troops had to be widened after it became clear that the war would not be a limited or

short conflict.” (History.com Editors. (2009, October 15). Civil War. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history.) In the end of the

Slavery & Reconstruction 3

bloodiest US war the confederate army signed a surrender and slavery was embolished.

(History.com Editors, (July 27, 2019) https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-

civil-war-history)

After the war, President Lincoln was assassinated, and Andrew Johnson took his place as

President of the United States. Andrew Johnson was in charge of Reconstruction of the United

States. The US was still broke, and the south was destroyed from the war. “In January 1865,

Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution which would abolish slavery in the United

States.  On December 18, 1865, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment formally

abolishing slavery.” (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.howard.edu/library/reference/guides/reconstructionera/. Congress started coming up

with laws and black code laws for African Americans “The first Reconstruction Act was passed

by Congress on March 2, 1867.  Five military districts each under the leadership of a prominent

military general were carved out in the south and new elections were held which allowed the

vote to black males.” Retrieved from

https://www.howard.edu/library/reference/guides/reconstructionera/.  Even though congress

passed the black code laws to help get rid of slavey. It did not really change how the African

Americans were treated. Africans still were treated terrible and still worked as slaves for white

people even though they were not technically slaves or property to white people they still worked

as servants. Also, Africans were segregated they did not have all the same priorities or privileges

that white people had. African were even targeted by groups of white supremacy. They would be

lynched which consist of hangings and burnings of African Americans. In some cases hundreds

of Africans were killed in big groups and no man was ever punished for hate crimes.

(History.com Editors (June 6 2019)https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction

Slavery & Reconstruction 4

After Reconstruction was over it was almost like nothing had changed. Since 1877 the

end of Reconstruction African Americans have always been treated poorly. To this day, racism

still exist even White supremacy groups.  People still use racial slurs toward African Americans

and look down on them and do not think they should have rights. When the first African

American President was elected people lost their minds, threatening to kill him or making death

threats. No matter what anyone tries to do to stand up for this group of people, there will always

be hatred in this world.