Changes in the Southern States after the Civil War in the 19th Century - Research Paper Example

? Changes in the Southern s after the Civil War in the 19th Century Changes in the Southern s after the Civil War in the 19th Century Slavery in the US was mostly experienced in the southern states up to the time the civil war was experienced. Two different groups were distinct during this time; the agriculturalist southerners and the industrialists northerners. Because of the high demand of workers in the plantation, farms, most of the slaves inhabited the south where they were running their master’s errands. The tendency of using slaves in the farms occasioned ownership of the farms to concentrate in the hands of the few rich people while the rest worked as slaves in the farms. The civil war in 1861 sought to voice the grievances of the slaves following the conditions they faced1 Thesis Statement Given the agitations that occasioned the civil war in the US in 1861, it is evidenced that the revolution was a precursor to the liberation of the black people. After the war ended, several bills were passed in the congress that changed the way slaves were perceived. The war is construed to have laid a solid foundation with which the quest for the slaves’ right began to gain spiraling momentum. This then occasioned the several changes in the southern states as far as human rights and dignity are concerned. Period before the end of slavery in the US, slaves had no rights to take part in any electoral voting, sire children or given equal chances as the whites in the US. They were discriminated against in all social and economic areas. The treatment of the slaves who happen to be blacks as second-class citizens necessitated the civil war in 1861. The northerners supported the war as it denied them the opportunity to make sales of their industrial goods. This is because few people in the south owned land while the rest were slaves. They wanted the feudal land policy to be abolished so that they could get market for their manufactured farm machineries. Following the abolishment of the slavery in the United States in 1863, one of the major proposals by the then president Abraham Lincoln was to ensure that blacks be given the right to own land just like their white counterparts. In this sense, the blacks in the southern US got access to land for the first time and could now manage their own affairs. The eradication of the feudal land policy in this case made the ownership of land to spread into the management of all the backs. This enabled them to do farming that contributed directly to their families2. The standards of living for the blacks remarkably improved and the northerners experienced increased sales of their farm materials that they manufactured. It can then be said that the abolishment of slavery contributed to the independence of the blacks in the US3. Even after the abolishment of slavery by Abraham Lincoln, the quest for the liberation of the black man did not stop. Civil right movements were out to ensure that the freedom of the black man was not taken for granted and that it was actually practiced in deed4. They ensured that the end of slavery was the beginning of respecting blacks as equal citizens to whites, they did this by staging demonstrations whenever they felt offended by the racial segregation that was at all time high. The tribulations of the black Americans did not end that simply. In the nineteenth century, the blacks went through a long fought for the right to vote. For along time when slavery was practiced at its best, the blacks were considered slaves and were not allowed to vote. They were given direct disenfranchisement. During this time, the blacks fought for the deletion of the discriminative policy that barred them from taking part in the democratic exercises like voting leaders of their own choice. Voting in the US for along time remained the privilege of the Caucasians while blacks were not given any right to vote in any form of election5. The disenfranchisement was also coupled with high level of segregation policy in which blacks were not allowed to visit certain places public or private. Throughout this period, blacks were fighting for the acquisition of the social rights, which they eventually gained finally. Provision of education also became a necessity to the southerners after the civil war. Before the war was witnessed in the US, blacks rarely got access to formal training and education6. They were to be used as source of labor. Because of this, slaves were to be kept out of formal training because they were going to miss cheap labor. When the war was fought and ended in the 19th century, it dawned on the Americans that liberating the blacks would be the only solution to the plethora of uprisings in the country. They were then granted rights and started attending formal education and acquiring useful and gainful skills that they could use to significantly change the society and agitate more for the right of the fellow blacks. 19th century to this extent was critical in the history of the US since they witnessed many revolutionary reactions that demanded freedom. After the civil war, the Americans were keen to know and address the issues that led to the civil war. During this time, they made a proposal widely known as the reconstruction era. In this policy paper, the needs and grievances of the blacks were to be amicably addressed after understanding the unfair treatment they faced over the period. Though the policy faced several obstacles in its implementation by not passing the majority vote in the congress, the content of state reconstruction was later implemented in the southern states that were considered lugging behind in term of development and empowering of the people7. The reconstruction of the states act in the 19th century was very important in positively changing the lives of the suppressed blacks in gaining recognition as equal citizen and not as second-class citizens. The policy emphasized on both economic and political achievement of the southern states in the US. The economic and political emancipation quest continued through out the century and this was even accentuated by the civil war. The need to grant a universal suffrage voting to everybody was equally contested. Previously, women were discriminated against when it came to voting and other legal rights. This was perceived as totalitarianism and dictatorial. It was as fiercely fought just like other inequalities that were resented by the blacks and by the end of the century, voting was not a preserve of the few but a matter of democratic right to all the citizens of the US given one had satisfied certain constitutional requirements In conclusion, the blacks in the US faced several discriminatory concessions before and briefly after the American civil war. These issued got addressed mostly in the period after the war in the 19thcentury and continued in the 20th century where civil right activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and others like Malcolm X continued to fight for the liberation of the black man. Southern US is one of the areas where slavery was heavily practiced in the world following the agrarian and industrial revolution. Most of the slaves in this case traced their origins as African descendants. The acts of slavery not only manifested the abrogation of basic human rights but also separated families in Africa. In addition, loss of artisanship, energetic young persons, and mass killing was also associated with slavery during capture process. Though after the abolishment of the trade most slaves were freed back popularly known as “creoles” in the West African country of Sierre Leone, some remained in the US to date as black Americans. Slave trade has been regarded as one of the worst inhumane treatment the world has ever witnessed. Reference Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Franklin, John Hope. From slavery to freedom; a history of American Negroes.. 2d ed. New York: Knopf, 1956. Litwack, Leon F.. Trouble in mind: Black southerners in the age of Jim Crow. New York: Knopf, 1998 Perman, Michael. Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1862-1879. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1987. Roark, James L.. Masters without slaves: southern planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction. New York: Norton, 1977. Williamson, Joel. The crucible of race: black/white relations in the American South since emancipation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Read More