History of the South and the West

History of the South and the West
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History of the South and the West
The New South
The post-Civil War America was accompanied by various political, social, and economic transformations, especially in the Southern States. African-American slaves were freed but still faced a multitude of challenges after the Civil War. An ordinance that guaranteed recently African-American slaves land was passed during the Reconstruction Era (Perrone, 2019). Democrats reestablished themselves in the South, suppressing the voting rights of Black people. The New South had succeeded in reinventing itself socially, politically, and economically but failed in some areas.
           The successful social reinvention of the South was the freedom for the former African American slaves. The federal laws offered protection for the freed Black people’s civil rights, especially in the South (Perrone, 2019). The African Americans were also empowered economically through General William Tecumseh Sherman’s “forty acres and a mule” ordinance that provided them with arable land and mules to assist them in farming. Under President Abraham Lincoln’s administration, the federal government also offered aid to elevate the living standards of former slaves by providing healthcare, education, legal housing and food, oversight, and employment contracts with private landowners in the South. Reconstruction of the South also allowed African Americans to run for local offices. However, very few Blacks managed to serve in the federal offices. The policies were expected to make the Reconstruction Era a success by empowering Black people socially, politically, and economically.
           The Radical Reconstruction of the South is considered a failure because of specific challenges that faced African Americans after gaining their freedom. After the assassination of Lincoln, President Andrew Jackson revoked General “forty acres and a mule” and returned the land given to blacks to their original White owners (Roberts, 2021). The South also adopted Jim Crow laws that segregated African Americans from White people. Most Jim Crow laws primarily focused on Black disenfranchisement by blocking them from participating in political activities especially voting. The people who could not vote could not run for public offices or serve on the jury. Jim Crow laws also maintained that White and Black people had “equal but separate rights” (Haskell, 2021). White Democrats gradually took control of the Southern states and blocked black people from occupying political positions. The White supremacists worked with Democrats in the South and utilized assassinations, violence, and intimidation to suppress African Americans. For example, the Klu Klux Klan, a White supremacist group, projected violence, and intimidatio...