Question

discuss some of the more significant changes brought about during the reconstruction era. elaborate on major changes in at least two of the following areas: political, legal, social, cultural, and economic. Then, choose the change that you feel was most significant and explain why you chose that change.

Answer 1

RECONSTRUCTION ERA

The Reconstruction era was the period after the American Civil War from 1865 to 1877, during which the United States grappled with the challenges of reintegrating into the Union the states that had seceded and determining the legal status of African Americans.

Reconstruction Era brought significant changes , some changes is mentioned below:

POLITICAL CHANGES:
Reconstruction was an era of unprecedented political conflict and of far-reaching changes in the nature of American government.

At the national level, new laws and constitutional amendments permanently altered the federal system and the definition of citizenship.

In the South, a politically mobilized black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican party to power, while excluding those accustomed to ruling the region.

Between 1866 and 1869, Congress enacted new laws and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, guaranteeing blacks' civil rights and giving black men the right to vote.

These measures for the first time enshrined in American law the principle that the rights of citizens could not be abridged because of race. And they led directly to the creation of new governments in the South elected by blacks as well as white - America's first experiment in interracial democracy.

SOCIAL CHANGES :
Reconstruction era brought important social changes to former slaves. Families that had been separated before and during the Civil War were reunited, and slave marriages were formalized through legally recognized ceremonies. Families also took advantage of the schools established by the Freedmen's Bureau and the expansion of public education, albeit segregated, under the Reconstruction legislatures. New opportunities for higher education also became available with the founding soon after the Civil War of black colleges, such as Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The number of African‐American churches grew significantly and became social and political centers as well as houses of worship. Black ministers assumed a leadership role in the community and were among the first elected officials. The most fundamental concern of blacks through all of the changes, though, was economic survival.

According to my point of view, The most significant change during the Reconstruction Era is Clear that post-war reconstruction brought important social changes to former slaves. Families that had been separated before and during the Civil War were reunited, and slave marriages were formalized through legally recognized ceremonies. Most notably, freed slaves took advantage of new opportunities for higher education. The Freedmen's Bureau, which was established on March 3, 1865, instigated much of this education expansion. According to A History of American Education, the bureau's chief focuses were to provide food, medical care, help with resettlement, administer justice, manage abandoned and confiscated property, regulate labor, and establish schools for the distressed refugees of the Civil War. The Bureau helped to build over 1,000 African American schools, created teacher-training institutions, and founded and financed several black colleges. Before the Civil War, such opportunities were nonexistent in the slave states of the South.