Hello Students!
As we wrap up our Civil War and Reconstruction unit, you can post comments or questions here. Please stay on topic.
Focus on our essential question: How did life change for African Americans in the United States after the Civil War?
Remember that the essential question is your topic question for our comparative essay.
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After the Civil War the African Americans pointed weapons at their masters and showing that they were unhappy at the system .African Americans were freed but they didn’t have anything besides the clothes they were wearing and they didn’t know what to do. The African Americans didn’t have any plans for themselves and neither did the government. After the African Americans were freed the best way for them to have survived was land.
Excellent, Marie! Thanks for getting our discussion started!
Basically life didn’t change very much for the African Americans. All that was different was gaining their own freedom. It seems like they had more problems after they were free. They had to deal with alot of problems more than they had last time. During their slavery, all they did was work, sleep, and eat. When they were free, they had to provide themselves all these stuff and try to have some control over land but that was hard, especially having so much people who wanted to set up their own life with plantations and having a president like Andrew Johnson.
Life is still unfair and difficult for the African Americans even though they had recieved their rights after the Cilvil War. The former slaves didn’t have their own land for living and it’s very hard for them to find a job. Many whites were extremely angry such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) began to harass and physically attack the African Americans who tried to exercise their own rights. The BLACK CODES shouldn’t be passed because it prevented African Americans from using their rights. Luckily the Freedmen’s Bureau helped formly enslaved people and some white Americans after the Civil War. The first program they started is a hospital, which is a very good idea because slaves who fought in the war risked their lifes and some are injured. I think is a good chance for the government to do something to help the slaves.
I agree with Amy and Marie. The best way to help the slaves is to give a land of their own so they can have a better living on their plantation and get some income. And also life didn’t change a lot for the African Americans after the Civil War because even though there’re free, life for them after gaining their freedom is about the same. For example, African Americans could not leave their jobs without giving up any back any pay they were owed. They were still treated unequally with the whites and they were hated badly.
By reading these great comments i like to add somethin. Today i learned that some white man started a law that starts segregation which means separate and i don’t think is fair to the blacks because u will never know wat part of the space will u get. They might give u a space that is like a dump. I read that the southerners burned down African American’s houses and the white people who was on thier side. I think that is awful.
This is wat i think and African Americans still have the freedom but their lives is still difficult to follow.(its to hard to achieve their goals when there is so many obstacles that block their way.)
Reconstruction after the Civil War took a long time because after the Civil War, all the areas where the battle had been is ruin and bloody. It also takes a lot of money for the government to get all the streets, building, and plantation back to normal. The slaves were free and some were given 40 acres of land. But because there weren’t enought land, some former slave familys don’t have. The lands were given to the oldest man in the family. Sharcropping is a bad system because this system made former slaves work for large landowners without money and only if they don’t have a land of their own. Why don’t they go againist it to the President? Maybe there’ll be changes after their agrument. I think when you have you’re right, you shouldn’t be forced to do any thing nad get pay, also get treated equally. But if the former slaves were forced to work just because they don’t have money and a land of their own, then their life didn’t change. They still don’t have their rights and they’re still treated unequally. If I’m one of the former slaves, I would complain and refuse even if I get whippep for not listening to the orders. ALL MEN ARE EQUAL, SO EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY AND HAVE THEIR RIGHTS!! Have their right is not the main point, but getting to use their rights. What’s the point of getting your rights and don’t get to use it? I think another war, Civil War II, should be taken because barely any changes were made after the Civil War…
WOW! Outstanding thoughts, ladies. Nancy, I think that what you said at the end of your last post is really interesting: What’s the point of getting your rights if you don’t get to use them?
One reminder for everyone: when talking (or writing) about history, you always use the PAST TENSE because it happened in the past.
Keep up this brilliant work! The more you are able to discuss your thoughts, the stronger your essay will be!
Also, please try to leave both your name and your class, so I can give the right people credit for their participation.
I agree with all of the above because Life didnt really change for the African Americans at all. Even though they were free they still had to work for the southerners.I think the reason why they didnt work in the north is because there arent many farms and plantations there. I think that it is unfair to treat the African Americans that way because it was the white’s fault for capturing the Africans to America in the first place. They should think about why there was African Americans here in the first place. I think it is very selfish for the whites to treat African Americans as properties and then trying to kill them all so they don’t exist in America.
I also think that it is very selfish that the whites are treating the African Americans as their property because they might have different colored skin but they are still people not objects that you can buy off the market and use. The whites should owe the African American money because if the whites didn’t have the African Americans then the whites wouldn’t have gotten so much money.
I think that “What’s the point of getting your rights and don’t get to use it?” is a very good question because why would people make rights if no one uses them it’s like buying something you think you need but your not going to use it!
After the Civil War ended, the period of Reconstruction in the South brought great hope for change. It was depressing for some of the freedmen not getting there 40 acers of land when they thought they were going to. I think the Civil War brought to America “a new birth of freedom.” By the end of the war, it was clear that Reconstruction would bring far-reaching changes in Southern society and a redefinition of the place of blacks in American life.
When Reconstruction ended in 1877, African Americans in the South faced many of the problems they had faced since Emancipation. Some of these problems were getting worse, and new problems were gaining importance. So even though they now had their freedoms, African Americans still have to face a lot of problems. Many freedmen families was upset because didn’t recieve the forty acres of land and a mule which many believed had been promised to them.
It seems from the comments that most of you are thinking that life DID NOT change for African Americans after the Civil War. If you were an African American in the South during Reconstruction, what would you do? You can think of ideal situations (REVENGE!!!), but also try to think of some realistic options. What could African Americans do in order to “get to use their rights”?
I don’t get why the Freedmen’s Bureau started up anyways…. If the congress knew it was going to waste tons of money…. would they have kept on going with it or not? I wonder what would happen if the Freedmen’s Bureau hadn’t started up…. Would it cause the African Americans to think that they have no more hope left or not? Since the Freedmen’s Bureau was developed by the Congress in 1865, what made or gave the Congress the idea of developing the Freedmen’s Bureau? If the Freedmen’s Bureau hadn’t been developed, would it change history throughtout these entire years? If there was a chart to show if slavery was changed or not, there would be 85% that slavery didn’t change and 15% that slavery did change. The only thing that changed was that slaves were free, but they had no where to go to. Sharecropping was more like slavery, because sharecropping became a system that made whites and blacks who borrowed from larger landowners to keep owing them more money each season. If there wasn’t slavery, what would happen to America’s timeline? I think reconstruction was a bad idea, because it didn’t do much of a difference to slavery. The only reason why some African families didn’t get 40 acres of land and a mule was that scared landowners demanded their land back and so it couldn’t be given to any African person. Slavery isn’t fair, because it doesn’t give blacks their equal rights as human beings. Why would America be called “Land of the Free” if slavery was started and had ended in the Civil War? It just doesn’t makes sense……
Why can’t slavery be stopped right after it started? What caused the whites to think that they had the right to push African Americans around? Don’t they know that America is “The Land of the Free”? What is wrong with them? Slavery was supposed to end as soon as it started, but since the news of slaves arriving started, it hasn’t been stopped until the Civil War had ended. Slavery just doesn’t seem right…..
I agree with Stacy. If there weren’t slavery, there wouldn’t have the North and South separation and The Civil War. Life for the slaves was horrid and harsh anyways, then what’s the point of keeping slavery? So many times, slaves tried to run away but most of them got caught and some reached freedom using the Underground Railroad. Freedom is very important and it is what the slaves wanted the most. Everyone should be treated equally and so is the salves. Unfortunately, life was not very different for African Americans after the Civil War for many reasons. Like Stacy, I also wonder what makes the White think they can take over and control the African Americans. They’re all human, and they all have feelings and thoughts. NO SLAVERY!! I’M AGAINST SLAVERY!!
Well, if I’m an African American in the South during reconstruction, I will think of getting revenge by I don’t know how but I will risk my life to go against slavery and the Whites till I reach my freedom, till I get my rights. I’ll stay with what I think, no slavery, ending slavery, and go against whites with others who’s on my side. If losing my life can receive the rights for all African Americans, I’m willing to take the risk. African American can all gather together and go against the government in order to receive their rights and not just receiving the rights but also getting to use them.
to me, not much changed for the africans because everything they had ended, and then it started again! it’s quite pointless if what everything president Lincoln ruined because of president Andrew Johnson who was a former slave owner, changed everything back to the way it was! he gave back all the land to the slaves and then the Freedmen’s Bureau had to end because of the money they didn’t have anymore. it’s unfair to africans. i’m pretty sure they enjoyed how they felt after the u.s. civil war by being free and aided by people and learn from schools, it’s amazing how fast things change after the whole entire time it took Lincoln to fix things.
i am against slavery. if you want things done, you should do it for yourself. if you dont like the way they did it, you should just deal with it because you cant complain. they’re not complaining! you shouldnt either!
to reply to ms. fuller’s comment, i think that they could probably (even if others don’t care or if they burn it) write a petition, or do a rebellion to go against everything! they can also try to vote to be president and maybe change EVERYTHING that was once created.
oops! the two comments above are both mine :] !
I know this is weird but, i am the only MALE here. It’s just different. But anyways, i agree with Nancy. I agree with Nancy because if they didn’t have the war, which is called, “Civil War,” the Northern side wouldn’t have won the VICTORY to end slavery. But the thing is, that if we didn’t have the war, some states would still have slavery nowadays I HATE SLAVERY!!!! BUT SERVANT IS OKAY BECAUSE THEY GET PAID MONEY, AND THEY DON’T GET WHOPPED ON THEIR BACKS IF THEY RESTED FOR A WHILE!!!
I really agree with what Nancy said “What’s the point of getting your rights and don’t get to use it?” It doesnt make sense that right after they finished the war and tried to calm things, a new president comes and takes away all the new rights that they just got. I also agree that life did change for african americans after the civil war. They got the 40 acres and a mule, that would have never happened before the war. And yes they got their rights taken away but its clear to see that none of this would have happened before the war.
I agree with michelle that the acres ofland and a mule that were given by the government could change the lives of the african americans, but that only helped some of them because the land was limited. so what the governmentgave out helped some of them but not all of them. it also meant that the government should do more to help african americans. unfortunately, andrew johnson was elected as president and he basically detroyed freedman’s bureau by giving all of the land back to the landowners, which gave chance to those landowners to take advantage of freedmen with the system of sharecropping.
Hi everyone this is not off topic i am just saying hi
i agree with all the comments above, but i also think that some part of the African American’s life have changed. i am not saying that life for African American didn’t change, but there are parts of their lives that have change. One big reason was freedom. i know that many people say that they didn’t get freedom, but lets pretend we are African Americans. After doing all the work for the plantation, the slaves was finally free. They don’t have to be controlled anymore. A slaves biggest hope is not just doing working on plantation or not to get whipped. Their biggest hope was to be free. Now that they are free, they have government support and if a white man whipped an African American, it would be illegal. they all have hope in their hearts to be free and now that they are free, it would affect a lot.
WOW, I love reading all your comments. Your thoughts and arguments are well presented. Good thinking!! You are also very respectful to each other’s comments and questions. Thanks for extending your learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Nancy, your question of one’s rights is crucial and still applies in our society at this time. I am wondering, “After the civil war, should our government build support systems or structures for the slaves in order for their rights to be exercised as what they’re intended to be? If so, what are some possibilities?”
Say….anyone know about the Battle of Antietam? I’m thinking about putting it somewhere in my essay if I can.
While i’m at it, does anyone know what that thing was called when President Andrew Johnson passed that thing that gave the plantation owners back their land. Some people say that’s sharecropping but I’m not sure.
Well, I hope the Americans won the Battle of Antietam…..
I think what Larry said was true but I still think freedmen having their freedom is no difference than not having it because they still have to face many problems before the Civil War. There’s no land giving to them, black schools were burned down, and they were still hated by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Jobs were hard to fine and they have no money and land. Land is what they wanted the most and it’s also somehting really hard to get for the freedmens. Southern whites used all kinds of rules and tricks to keep blacks from voting. This is just so not fair!! Why is there Civil War? It’s to help the African Americans gaining their freedom and reaching close to their freedom. But so far did this war didn’t help change anything. Well, as what Laryy had stated, the Civil War did change something witch is the Freedmen’s Bureau. It is a successful program because the government were finally going out their own way to help the slaves. It was started by congress in 1865 as a temporary agency. With the Civil War over, blacks fought and worked for their country. What did they deserve in return? I think no one has more rights than anyone else. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said they are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of course we have the right to be alive. As you can see, if slaves still live in the kind of life before the war, then there’s no point of the Civil War…
Well Johnathan, base on the information I’ve got so far, I think the thing when President Andrew Johnson passed gave the plantation owners back their land was the Sharecropping. I remember I’m the one who told you Sharecropping. This is what it said on the paper: President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and a former slave-owner, gave the land back to the southern plantation owners who had owned it before the war. And without land of their own to work on, many former slaves had to work for the same people who had enslaved them just a few years earlier. I think the land should now belong to the freedmen because they’ve risked their lives in the war, worked days and nights in the field, plantation working. The land should be their payment the slaves should get. I think President Andrew Johnson is being unfair because he’d once been a Democrat and a former slave-owner so of course he’ll be on the side for slavery. If only there’s a better president, maybe the land problem will be solved equally and fair. Do you think when your forced to do something you don’t want to is having your freedom, having your rights? Well, I don’t think so because you’re forced to do it. I will hated when I’m forced to do something. I would be happy and fine to do things I think I should do and are willing to do. Forcing is a good example of not getting your rights and freedom. Do you agree with me? Yes or No? Why?? Can someone tell me without land, without law and order, without civil rights backed by guarantees, what did “freedom” mean? I think it means nothing. It also means that Civil War didn’t change life for the African American.
I have a question…what is the Battle of Antietam? All I know is that it is a battle that has to do with America and Americans.
After the civil war, our government should build support systems and structures for the slaves in order for their rights to be exercised as what they’re intended to be. I think this way because then the slaves can use their rights and people who died in the war will die with pleasure. Their death is worth it, it’s for all the other slaves and it’s for freedom and equal rights. Anotehr possibility is that if the support systems weren’t set up, African American won’t dare praticing nor using their rights. From what I’ve read, African Americans who tried to pratice their rights get harass and physically attack by the groups such as the KKK. Whites will get the same treatment if any of them support black voting rights. I’m wondering right now, what makes the whites think that the slaves are happy with their treatment?
Horray!! Done with my ss. Stopping by to thank Ms. Fuller, Mrs. Tam, and other students who participate in this blog because all the comments here helped me with my ss. I did use some thoughts and ideas given by other student posted in the comment, please don’t mind me…
I still didn’t get the answer to my question…..
Why was Andrew Johnson became a vice president the first place since he “owned slaves”? During the time Abraham Lincoln was president why doesn’t he notice how evil Mr. Johnson is. By the way during the civil war did Andrew Johnson helped the south by sending messages across to the south to let them know where the north are heading to attack or did he send somebody to send those messages?
I agree with Wendy “Why was Andrew Johnson became a vice president the first place since he “owned slaves?” because a president who once own slaves can’t make a fair decision. It is not fair to the African American. For example, if your parent likes boys more than girls, do you think they will treat their son better than their daughter? Well I think so because they don’t like daughter in the first place. I know this example is no good but it’s the only example I can think of so far.
But on the opposite side, if the president is against slavery and hate the south, then he won’t make a fair decision too. What kind of person will make a good decision which both make the south and the north happy? This is a very hard question. Who can help me out???
Easy….get a Mexican. They’re neutral right?
Or, President Johnson could have been bribed. The works of politics are astonishing.
Hum, a Mexican? Maybe they are neutral. Who knows…
Hi Ms.Fuller. I was thinking about the question that you say in the blog. so what will you do if u were an African Americans in the Reconstruction time, how will you help south do get everyone have the same right. but i tell you what i will do. If i was an African Americans on the time of Reconstruction i will try to tell the congress or the person to can help me get the same right. I don’t care if people don’t let me try to get my own rights. It doesn’t matter if i sacrifice me life to try to get my rights because if i stand out for my people more and more people will agree with me and stand with me, supporting your rights. If we all stand together and work as a team we can get the thing we want. To make the dream of us to come true we all have to support each other and tell each other not to give up. Giving up wont help us just get the right of us. Sacrifice our life is nothing because if we cant get our right it will still happen to people in the future and it can affect us all. So i can tell you that i stand out and support our people to get the right we want.
WOW ; you guys wrote a LOT.
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well i think President Johnson only gave the land back to the slave owners because he was a slave owner so he needed his land back to. He also wanted to get his slaves back (i think he’s just lazy) and you would think that he would be on Lincoln’s side, since he was the next president, shouldn’t he be the south’s president since he was FOR slavery?
I think President Johnson was being racist to African AMericans because he used to own slaves. Sharecropping was just a scam and the African Americans were caught in this sick little economic scam. Because of sharecropping they could have enough cotton (or whatever else they might be selling) to make cloths (or support family) or not enough cotton to sell for money. The Black Codes were racist laws and the Afican Americans were getting segregated from the white people. I think President Johnson planned all this before he became president.
I think that the white people were very racist to the african americans. To me I think the reason they made sharecropping to take away the rights and hope and heart of the newly freed african americans. They would rent the share of land to the african americans in exchange after the cropping season the would have to pay the rent for the time and then give more then half of there crops to the owners of the land. The owners of the land would go to sells the crops at a very high price, to the buyers. Then they would go back to the african americans and tell them that they hadn’t made enough crops to pay for the rent. So the african americans would be in debt, and after every cropping season was over the african americans would have a new and bigger debt. So usely buy the end the african americans were always in debt to the land owners.
dot dot dot getta mexican……
T.T
Why did soldiers fight in the war and risked their lives if they have no pay back nor freedom or rights? I think it’s so not worth if for people risking their lives for freedom, for rights, for the end of slavery because they had nothing in return when they deserve something in return. In return was tears and death. Unfortunately, life was not very different for African Americans after the Civil War. They were walking circles in the old lives. Can someone tell me without land, without law and order, without civil rights backed by guarantees, what did “freedom” mean? What’s the point of having the Civil War? What’s the point of getting your rights if you don’t get to use them?
i think that the reason that whites gaved blacks their rights to let them get so hjappy about it then crush their hopes and dreams, which is very cruel thing to do to someone. I think if the tables were turned and the blacks would’ve did that to the whites they probably would of started a new war.
Sorry I typed some words wrong
After I read some of the comments that were written by many people, I figured out one thing that I think many people would make mistake on. Many people said that life didn’t change, but they didn’t explain why. Well, they did but some just said that life was harsh and that they were still harsh. Just because it was harsh, that doesn’t mean that it is the same thing as the life before. Don’t get the wrong idea because I do think that life didn’t change a lot and I even wrote about that in my s.s essay. I even wrote that life didn’t change because life wasn’t harsh, but I don’t think that is related to the topic. The question is how did life change after the civil war, but many people mistake it as was life still harsh for the African American and was their life better than before? Well at first I kind of did that thinking too. Many people say that life didn’t change because it was still harsh, but that is not very true. After the Civil War it was illegal to kill the African Americans even if they work for you, but before the Civil War, it was illegal. They were free, even if they were controlled; they were controlled in a different way.
ANOTHER COMENT I WANT TO MAKE IS THAT I FELT SORRY FOR THE POEPLE WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES FOR THE CIVIL WAR. I KIND OF AGREE WITH NANCY ABOUT THE COMENT THAT THE AMERICANS RISKED THEIR LIFES FOR NOTHING. I THINK THAT IS TRUE AND I WOULD LIKE TO ADD ON THAT. WELL I DONT THINK IT WAS ANYBODIE’S FAULT ON THIS PROBLEM BECUASE AT THAT TIME WAR WAS RAGING AND NO BODY WOULD THINK ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTERWARDS. AT THAT TIME BOTH SIDES WERE ANGRY AT EACH OTHER AND WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY YOU ARE AGRESSIVE. YOU WOULD THINK THAT WHO EVER WINS THE WAR GETS TO RULE. An EXAMPLE IS LIKE A FIGHT. WHEN YOU CANNOT STAND ANOTHER PERSON, YOU WOULD WANT TO TAKE THE PERSON OUT AND BEAT THE DAYLIGHT OUT OF HIM. YOU WOULDNT THINK TOF WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU WINS, OR MAYBE YOU WOULD THINK THE PERSON WOULD BE SCARED OF YOU IF YOU WIN. WELL I THINK THAT IS WHAT THE SITUATION IS OF THE CIVIL WAR. LET’S SAY YOU DID WIN THE PERSON YOU CANNOT STAND IN A FIGHT, BUT DO YOU THINK THAT HE WOULD LIKE YOU OR IGNORE YOU? NO I THINK THAT THEY WOULD BE EVEN MORE MAD AT YOU AND THE PERSON WILL SEEK REVENGE. THAT IS WHAT THE SOUTH PROBLABLY THINKS BECUASE THEY DONT WANT THE BLACKS TO BE AS GOOD AS THEY ARE.
Wow, Larry, I feel like you are really thinking deeply about history. It’s great! I can see your thinking process in these posts and I think you prove that history is definitely complicated.
I think that Larry raises some important points that can be applied to even bigger historical topics, or history in general. What do wars accomplish?
I also think Chantel did something really interesting in her post… she thought about how things would change if history had happened differently. She wrote, “I think if the tables were turned and the blacks would’ve did that to the whites they probably would of started a new war.”
I can’t say it enough… you guys are doing great thinking! I love it! I can’t wait to read all of your outstanding essays!
Many people thinks that Freedmen’s Buearu didn’t help the African Americans but I don’t get why because didn’t it helped the African Americans. I read that Freedmen’s Buearu help the African Americans after the Civil War. For example, creating hospitals for people who got injured or hurt when fighting in the Civil War. A lot of people put Freedmen’s Buearu as one of their reasons for the opinion, “Life for the African Americans didn’t change after the Civil War.” I know that Freedmen’s Buearu didn’t last long, I’m guessing for about a year, but it is still a good change for the African Americans after the Civil War.
Reply to Nancy:
It did help but it soon close down because they didnt have enough money and the president gave back all the land to the original owners. The African Americans had to find a new way to live but they can only do plantations because most were former slave. They couldn’t go to the north and work because I think that the north did not have much farmlands.