Question

Describe the efforts of Radical and moderate Republicans to grant additional rights to African Americans

Answer 1

Radical and moderate Republicans both tried to help African Americans during the era of Reconstruction (12 years after the Civil War). This includes:

1) Creation of the Freedmen's Bureau- This federal agency helped newly freed slaves receive an education, helped them to sign labor contracts in which they would get paid for their work, and find housing.

2) 14th amendment- This constitutional amendment ensured that any citizen born on US soil was automatically a US citizen. Along with this, the equal protection clause was established. The goal of this clause was to ensure that all citizens were treated equally under the law.

3) 15th amendment- This gave African American men the right to vote in national elections.

These efforts were somewhat successful. However, the creation of new Southern governments that used legal loopholes limited the positive effects of the aforementioned actions. Black codes, literacy tests, poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws were all actions taken by state governments to limit the rights of newly freed African Americans.