Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement

Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement

The reconstruction era of 19th Century provided a platform for the civil rights movement that followed in the 20th Century and created history The aim of the reconstruction plan was to provide economic and racial equality to all the American citizens by abolishing slavery and ensuring the basic human rights to all citizens . However , due to the social and political structure of the period , many were skeptical of these policies and so the reconstruction program failed . Nevertheless , the spirit of freedom still lived among the blacks

and so the failure of reconstruction plans inspired them even more to speak up for their rights which in turn resulted in the civil rights movement that followed during the 1950s and 1960s . Reconstruction gave the black people a taste of freedom which they never had before and this gave them hopes of a better future . With the failure of the reconstruction plans their hopes were once again dismissed . And perhaps this gave them determination to fight those who were opposed to their freedom . Consequently , the black leaders became more assertive and aggressive during the 1950s and 1960s and this led to the introduction of the various legislations during the 20th century which demanded more rights to the black population

The reconstruction plans were introduced after the end of the American civil war in to pacify the people of the southern states Therefore , various liberal promises were made to the black population of the southern states . The major issue of the civil war was the question of slavery , which was the point of contention between the planters and the emancipators . Hence , after the end of the civil war , it was expected that the racial and economic inequality would end due to the various measures that were taken by the provincial governments (Fredrickson 1975

Keeping this in view various reconstruction plans were introduced . They led to the different legislations to provide political and economic rights to the blacks . In fact , these legislations became a model for the leaders of the civil rights movement in the 20th century . For example there is reference to introduction of plans such as President Lincoln 's declaration of Amnesty and Reconstruction which was issued in 1863 Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 , and Johnson 's Plan which gave political rights to the southerners and assured amnesty to the white people . This attempt of Johnson shows that he was interested in protecting the interest of only the white population . His racist policies were a cause for the failure of the reconstruction . In fact , such racism inspired the leaders of the civil rights movement to demand for racial equality . The second phase of reconstruction included reconstruction by the Congress Washington 's birthday speech of 1866 , the civil rights act , the fourteenth amendment , a supplementary freedmen 's bureau bill , the congressional election of 1866 , the reconstruction acts of 1867 , second reconstruction act of 1867 , third reconstruction act passed in July 1867 , and the legislations that were passed from...