American Promise 1860-1900

American Promise 1860-1900

Introduction

Reconstruction (1863-1877)

There was much talk about freedom for the Blacks or Negroes during this era. The slaves were freed by military authorities where the whites did not free them. Many of the slaveholders had trouble with freeing of black people who worked on their lands. They thought that everything has turned upside down.This was the time when nation had entered in Reconstruction phase which was status of the defeated South and freedom for ex-slaves. In the midst of racial discrimination, there emerged a small group of women who sought for gender equality. In 1866, Congress passes the Fourteenth Amendment which dashed women's expectations. This included that any voter excluded on the basis of race or gender shall be punished according to law. A woman named Susan B Anthony was an outspoken member of the suffragist movement. In 1952, she started her career and worked against abolition of slavery became tired of laboring under males. She was against men who controlled the reform movements and regularly dismissed the opinions of women. She also fought for improved labor conditions which attracted many conservatives to oppose women's political rights. In 1869, Republicans passed Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution which prohibited states from depriving any state the right to vote due to race, color or any other factor. However, there were disappointments seen in the Women suffrage due to fifteenth amendments voting rights for women. Although, the women fought hard to include the word sex, the amendment denied the rights on the basis of race to suffrage women. Therefore, there were issues in the early feminist movement in the fifteenth amendment.Business and Politics in Glided Age (1870-1895)

This was the time of the rise of industrialization in the United States and the interplay between business and politics in the Gilded Age. There was a considerable amount of male dominance where men had huge authorities over their wives and families. There was another notion demonstrated by the Democrats that black men threatened the womanhood of southern. There was killing and mutilation of black men and it became prevalent in the society. During this time there was a brave black woman Ida B Wells who launched an anti-lynching movement. She claimed that Negroes who acquired some dignity and were growing could not be tolerated by white men and that's how they kept them terrorized. She collected information on lynching which her research found had grown to 200 percent between 1882 till 1892. Further black women were treated inhumanely by white men was another stance she took and this led to reprisal. After which she was given warning by the vandals not to continue with her endeavors or she shall be killed as well. This increased her stance more on lynching. Although, at that time Wells was not able to get any legislation passed for anti-lynching, her voice brought the issue to the notice in the higher ups.In 1869, Stanton and Susan B Anthony formed National Women Suffrage Association which was the first independent ...