Assignment | Reconstruction or the civil rights

Running head: VOTING RIGHTS AFTER 1877
Women’s Suffrage Movement after 1877
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

1VOTING RIGHTS AFTER 1877
The Second Reconstruction or the civil rights movement began after Reconstruction was
withdrawn from South. With the introduction of the fourteenth amendment, equal protection of
the laws in 1868 was ensured and the fifteenth amendment gave all male, the equal rights to vote
irrespective of their races in 1870. Troops deployed in North started assembling in the South to
ascertain the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Slavery in the continent of
America was anticipated to end, as a practice carried out for ages. At this time, over two lakhs
slaves were relieved by the arrival of news in Texas that Civil War had come to a close, two
months ago. Finally, after a prolonged period of exploitation and misery, the Thirteenth
Amendment was brought to put end slavery1. Soon after the prohibition of slavery, there was turn
of events with some new codes coming into action which restricted the freedom of the
immediately freed slaves. Thus, to improve the scenario, a series of reconstruction acts were
passed which distinguished the earlier confederacy into military districts to ensure the
availability of rights to the slaves liberated from the bondage. Reconstruction soon ends eroding
the basic rights for African Americans which compelled thousands of them to migrate out of the
country with the onset of the new President.
Rutherford B. Hayes who was a Republican got elected and took charge as the President
in US with an agreement with the democrats, which included the withdrawal of federal troops
from South2. The military troops, who were deployed in order to provide protection to the freed
slaves, soon were asked to come back. The negotiation was made by the Democrats in South
1 Bateman, David A., Joshua D. Clinton, and John S. Lapinski. "A House Divided? Roll Calls, Polarization,
and Policy Differences in the US House, 1877–2011." American Journal of Political Science 61, no. 3
(2017): 698-714.
2 Bloom, Jack M. Class, race, and the civil rights movement. Indiana University Press, 2019.

2VOTING RIGHTS AFTER 1877
which included a few compromises. This unified the black states in the South as a whole to
manage affairs on their own. As a result, the Democrats had complaints to make after having
been betrayed by their own people.
Until the civil war, the rights to vote were reserved with white males of 21 years or
above. After over a decade, the African Americans were free citizens who could now go on to
claim their rights to cast their votes. The civil wars reshaped the attitudes of African Americans
greatly as they witnessed the evils of slavery from the closest quarters. However, while the male
African Americans were in the pathway to gaining their rights to have their votes casted as
citizens, the ‘black codes’ still discriminated them from the rest3. These codes were informal but
posed strong opposition to normalization of situation. Such codes despised off marriages
between African Americans and whites as being offensive. They considered the blacks as
belonging to an inferior race and hence out casted them from society.
At this time, when the black males were gaining their rights to vote, the women could see
opportunities for placing their cause. There were powerful forces curbing the rights of women to
vote or move forward with their cause as it was assumed that the women’s suffrage would loosen
the traditional family values. The Catholics and conservative churches thought that an attack was
being made on the traditional beliefs and practices with the women taking their demands
forward. They laid out instructions made in the Bible which stated that the authority in a house
Bynum, Victoria E. The Free State of Jones, Movie Edition: Mississippi's Longest Civil War. UNC Press
Books, 2016.
3 Cole, Leonard A. Blacks in power: A comparative study of black and white elected officials. Vol. 4983.
Princeton University Press, 2017.