Racism In The South After The Civil War Essay

732 Words3 Pages
The South was a society built on the harassment of blacks and power over lower classes. Before the war there was three classes: wealthy whites, poor whites, and the black race. The rich whites lived comfortable lives, owned a lot of land, and had many slaves. They were racist power-hungry people. The poor whites lived as farmers and merchants and just like the wealthy whites, they were racist. The lowest class, the blacks, were used as slaves. They had no rights and were the targets of racism. After the war things changed dramatically for the upper class and only slightly for the lower class. Rich whites no longer had slaves or power. They had lost most of their money and land, but sadly they were still racist. Most of the poor whites had died…show more content…
In his plan the south had to accept the end of slavery and at least ten percent of the population in a state had to swear their allegiance to begin building their government. Radical republicans did not agree with this and stated that at least fifty-one percent of males took the oath, anyone holding office swears past loyalty, forces the south to reject all war debts, and former confederate soldiers could not hold office. Congress attempted to pass this as law but Lincoln pocket vetoes the bill. Sadly, before Lincoln could pass his bill he was assassinated. When Johnson came to power as president he decides to pardon all rebels except the wealthy, forces the south to reject war debts, and ratifies the 13th amendment. Doing this causes the south to pull away slightly and create the black codes. From these attempts to reconstruct the south the “Panic of 1873” occurs and stemming from it shows the plans of what both parts of the country wants. The south pulling for a society of share cropping and agriculture while the north is hoping for the south to turn to industry and a sturdy infrastructure. With all the pushing a pulling for different societies the KKK emerge from former confederate soldiers, scaring government and killing

More about Racism In The South After The Civil War Essay

Open Document