Reconstruction is believed to have led to various revolutionary changes that were witnessed throughout the public life in America. In the years between 1860s and early 1870s, the congressional Republic emphasized on what was considered as "the trumpet of freedom," as it had been referred to by the Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull, in the process they successfully adopted a constitutional amendments and legislation strategic program that aimed at pledging citizenship, the citizen’s civil equality in addition to what was believed to be the political rights towards freedom. The far-reaching phrases that were associated with the Fourteenth Amendment that was aimed at guaranteeing the notion of equal citizenship in addition to the Fifteen Amendment that ensured equality in voting rights were argued to have contributed immensely towards access to a meaningful freedom change 1 . Republicans realized the need to mobilize the African-American voters to win the elections and further control the local government. Despite the fact that the black’s votes helped transform the South’s political landscape by helping the Republicans to clinch power, most of the power holders were majorly white men who in one way promoted various types of programs that benefited the blacks marginally 2 . There has also been an agreement that the Republican Reconstruction programs that were established highly successful. The Republican out rightly adopted effective programs that were established and which could have afforded the African Americans an easy access to landownership and further guaranteed the blacks freedom through giving them the legal and political rights. The meaning of freedom for African Americans between 1865 and 1920 led to a meaningful access to freedom change over time.
Emancipation and Congressional Reconstruction policies were believed to have a greater impact especially among the South communities where it transformed the citizen’s public life and their private relationship massively and as a result, led to the development of autonomous institutions in the African-American community. Further, it helped in the establishment of vibrant bi-racial democracy, significantly transformed the state’s legal system and lastly, it helped nurture the African American’s assertiveness critical to freedom 3 . It is evident that the analysis has specific merits regarding emphasizing the existing relationship between the property ownership and the substantive freedom 4 . However, on the other hand, it is clear that it miserably failed to appreciate various forms of radical consequences of the freedom law. For instance, research has it that among the case-bound society that was believed to have emerged from the slavery, the rule of law in addition to the civil and political equality aspect was argued to have a dramatic effect. African Americans played a critical role towards the success changes that were experienced. This helped them build their rights as free men and women, asserted their independence of the whites and further develops community institution. Further, the African Americans were successful in grasping their citizenship rights where they had the opportunity to register and voted massively shocking the southern whites. Historians believed that African Americans were the core forces behind the success of the Republican coalition and as a result of this; certain remarkable black politicians emerged actively taking the critical role in the political processes thus shaping the political direction in the region 5 .
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The political power successfully gave the African Americans the enormous power to have a voice in the local criminal justice system which played a critical role regarding influencing their daily activities. Further, the activism in addition to the black leaders’ assertiveness made the Reconstruction specifically at the grassroots highly profound. For instance, African Americans in Washington County, Texas made use of their legal and political rights at the grassroots level to achieve a high level of freedom 6 . Washington County blacks successfully asserted their rights as free persons and thus created autonomous community institutions, for instance, schools and churches. However, the law of slavery prohibited these activities because they feared that literacy would introduce the insurrection seed; therefore, the pre-war legislator made educating the slave illegal hence banning schools for slaves. Further, autonomous African-American churches were also prohibited, and this was through enacting statutes which were specifically against a handful of slaves or even free blacks from meeting at any place without having been supervised by a white. However, despite the established regulations several unsupervised black religious meetings were held secretly where they could not be reached by law. In the year 1865, Afro-Texans-General Gordon Granger proclaimed that the slaves in Texas were free and entitled to what he considered as “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property 7 ." Therefore, the majority of the Washington County African Americans stood up for their new tights as free men and women hence creating community institutions.
Further, African-American churches that operated within an underground existence during slavery grew tremendously following the war. The congregation members mustered their resources and as a result constructed a modest church and further repaired the dilapidated structures that were purchased from the whites. They also started developing small schools for themselves. Three of the main leaders including; Benjamin Watrous, Charley Childs, and Matthew Parker, played a critical role establishing African-American schools. African-American leaders were argued to be closely identified with their neighbor’s issues and aspirations. Despite the strong federal presence, many blacks were still murdered by whites between the years 1866 and 1869. Studies have established that violent assaults were so many that the federal officials could not accurately tally. Some of the planters assured their slaves that they were free and worked with them for wages but other held the old violent slavery 8 .
Between the years 1865 and 1867, the ante-bellum elite was reported to have taken advantage of the Reconstruction policy that was established by President Andrew Johnson to acquire control of the local government and further, the White also took advantage of the law to curb the freedom of the Black Americans. Further, it was reported that most African Americans crowded in huge numbers at the Bureau office in Brenham specifically to file their complaints against some of the employers perceived to have cheated them. It was believed that the Washington County African Americans for instance clearly understood the freedom law and further understood how to make use of it to their own advantage. Additionally, it was established that Washington County blacks retaliated against the whites who had attacked them. African Americans were also reported to have frustrated several planters’ efforts that were aimed at creating rules and regulations for work directed at slaves. This was done successfully by refusing to obey the directives that were given by their employers. Frustrated, the planters opted to seek help from despised Freedmen's Bureau. Further, African Americans took advantage of the chronic labor shortage to advocate for their rights and to force the planters to accept and implemented the developed sharecropping arrangements which they believed would have given them a greater freedom from the supervision of the whites.
Washington County whites or instances realized that their world was shaken and in the year 1867, the Congress passed the Reconstruction Act that gave the Black Americans the right to vote. The majority of the Black Americans were eager to get registered despite having been threatened by their employers to be fired when they get registered. The Black Americans were so eager to acquire citizenship and further were also determined to have their voice heard pertaining the governance of their communities, therefore; they registered in large numbers. As result of this, the Black Americans took active roles in politics 9 .
Later, Gaines demanded that the African Americans be allowed to have the party’s nomination in Washington County's seats in the general assembly. During the election, one seat was grabbed by an African American, Wilder of Chappell Hill. Despite losing his seat to Setgh Sheppard, Gaines continued to play an active role influencing local Republican politics pressing hard for African American to have a prominent role in politics. As a result of this, the African-American leaders were active in politics and thus became even more assertive playing a role in the party affairs. The white Republican leaders realized the major role played by African-American leaders and voters 10 . The white Republicans who were believed to have successfully won the respect of African Americans were able to position themselves strategically within the party. In the year 1876 after the creation of county commission with broad authority, two seats were grabbed by African Americans. During most of the election years, the blacks held numerous successful political meetings to nominate delegates for county office position in the Republican county convention. Therefore politics became a major part of the African American life and further demonstrated a greater passion for a political discussion. However, it was established that the law was ineffective when it comes to fighting against political terrorism; therefore, the Black Americans were forced to use extralegal means to ensure that they protect the democratic process.
The African Americans were given the opportunity to take an active role in the political discussion, the power to question potential political candidates, the power to significantly influence the nominations and lastly to cast their votes to determine a sheriff, justice or even a country judge. Further, research had shown that African Americans political participation had massive tangible consequences 11 . For instance, the African Americans active political participation resulted in numerous opportunities that were available in the public sector employment, therefore, offering sources of income to the black that were initially meant for the whites. Further, in the Washington County, it was argued that the Republican officials also had appointed the African Americans o various positions such as cattle dip inspectors, the deputy assessor in addition to a jailer.
African Americans benefited greatly from various policies that were enforced by the Republican. For instance, despite numerous complaints that were filed by planters about the existing labor shortage, the use of vagrancy prosecutions was prohibited as a means to compel the African Americans to work on the set terms of the planters. The Republican officials, therefore, rejected various calls to enforce vagrant laws hence allowing the blacks workers to make use of their leverage against the white planters to obtain favorable terms 12 . In addition to this, it was reported that the Republicans also stopped the act of apprenticing the black orphans to the white planters and in its place they allowed the relatives of these members to raise and care for them 13 .
In conclusion, it can be argued that the meaning of freedom for African Americans between 1865 and 1920 led to access to a meaningful freedom change. This can be seen from numerous political changes that took place where the African Americans took an active role. There was a vibrant political culture that changed the public life of the blacks. Political participation became a major symbolic importance among the African American. Initially, the African Americans had no specific rights that could be respected by a Whiteman, but after some time they were now considered free men and citizens. Various jobs were created for the African Americans where Republicans opened public works jobs such as black artisans and as a result hired them to construct bridges and the jail. Further, it has been established that the Republicans played a critical role in improving the delivery process of social services for all the African Americans. For instance, the Republican had opened a pauper relief program that targeted the African Americans and also the whites, and this was believed to have reversed the long-held practice where the white elites controlled the local government, and as a result, they provided relief services to the white paupers. In addition to this, the Republican also successfully adopted policies considered highly sensitive to the elderly, handicapped, the windows and even the orphan’s needs. Critics have it that, the approach employed by the Republican failed miserably since it not give the black substantive economic basis for freedom rather, it left a majority of them highly vulnerable to the white planters domination. Throughout the 19th century, the black laborers and sharecroppers thus existed between slavery and freedom. Therefore, most of these blacks had to remain poor and dependent on the white landowners working as slaves. Therefore, despite massive furry in the Congress, it was argued that potential changes among the lives of black Americans were insignificant.
Bibliography
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1 Earle, Jonathan. The Routledge Atlas of African American History . Routledge, 2016.
2 Finkelman, Paul. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass Three-volume Set . Vol. 3. Oxford University Press, 2006.
3 Painter, Nell Irvin. Creating black Americans: African-American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present . Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.
4 Holt, Thomas. Black over white: Negro political leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction . Vol. 82. University of Illinois Press, 1979.
5 Smallwood, Arwin D., and Jeffrey M. Elliot. The atlas of African-American history and politics: From the slave trade to modern times . McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1998.
6 Lowery, Charles D. Encyclopedia of African-American civil rights: from emancipation to the present . Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992.
7 Earle, Jonathan. The Routledge Atlas of African American History . Routledge, 2016.
8 Rockman, Seth. "The Future of Civil War Era Studies: Slavery and Capitalism." Journal of the Civil War Era 2 (2012).
9 Harris, William C. The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi . LSU Press, 1979.
10 Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century Five-volume Set . Oxford University Press, USA, 2009.
11 Foner, Eric. "Thaddeus Stevens, Confiscation, and Reconstruction." Appears in The Hofstadter Aegis: A Memorial. Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, eds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York (1974).
12 Kaczorowski, Robert J. "To Begin the Nation Anew: Congress, Citizenship, and Civil Rights after the Civil War." The American Historical Review 92, no. 1 (1987): 45-68.
13 Moneyhon, Carl H. Republicanism in Reconstruction Texas . University of Texas Press, 1980.
