CONCEPTS OF FREEDOM IN U.S.   Term Paper ID:28656 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses period 1865-1915 as an "Experiment in freedom." Civil rights struggles of Indians, African-Americans & women. Issues of race, gender, class.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses period 1865-1915 as an "Experiment in freedom." Civil rights struggles of Indians, African-Americans & women. Issues of race, gender, class. Paper Introduction: An Experiment in Freedom: The United States, 1865-1915 Introduction Perhaps the most significant phrase in the president's address is the statement that America is "meant to be an endless experiment in freedom." America began its history as a colony as a place where people sought freedom from persecution. And it fought the American Revolution because it sought to rule itself based on democratic ideals. However, when the Founders drafted the Constitution in 1789, thereby creating the United States of America, many residents still were not granted the rights of individual freedom originally conceived only for white males. Consequently, the history of the United States from the period following the Civil War until 1915 was largely a continuing history of the development of the United States Constitution and a consta Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The CivilRights bill bestowed full citizenship on African Americans, defined allpersons born in the United States as national citizens and enumeratedvarious rights, including the rights to make and enforce contracts, to sue,to give evidence, and to buy and sell property (Out of Many, 488).Nonetheless, many white Southerners, especially the planter elite, believedthat the Civil War did nothing more than rob them of slave property. All against the Indian Tribes, who sought onlythat the federal government uphold its own treaties. In the fall of 1873, at the height of this postwar boom,the country fell into a deep economic depression triggered by a severefinancial panic (Out of Many, 5 7). Race and Freedom Although President Lincoln insisted that the purpose of the WarBetween the States was the preservation of the Union, in fact, by 1863, theCivil War, begun in 1861, had evolved into a struggle for African Americanliberation (Out of Many, 484). However, the transcontinental railroad, which signified so stronglythe continuing expansion of the American frontier, was also responsible forthe longest and most severe economic depression the country had seen upuntil that point. In the 183 s the federalgovernment had designated what was to become the state of Oklahoma asIndian Territory, reserving it for the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Out ofMany, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles) that had beenforcibly removed from their lands in the East (Out of Many, 514). The Fourteenth and FifteenthAmendments, which granted citizenship and the vote to freedmen, bothinspired and frustrated women's rights activists because the government wasenfranchising black men but not white or black women (Out of Many, 49 ).However, even in a case such as this, where an excluded group was seekinginclusion in the rights that should be granted by the Constitution, theradical National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) used racist and elitistappeals. For example, white Southern plantersused Klan terror to dissuade former slaves from leaving plantations ororganizing for higher wages (Out of Many, 485). And although the period from 1865-1915 was oneof the most tumultuous in American history, characterized by the abolitionof slavery, the development of a transcontinental railroad system, thesettlement of Indian Territory and the struggle for woman suffrage, it didindeed represent America's constant quest for democratic freedom. "The Incorporation of America, 1865-19 ." Out of Many. However, the fact remained that slavery was a result of themore fundamental racist belief that blacks were inferior beings to whiteswho were not fit to inhabit the United States unless in an inferior,servile position. However, when theFounders drafted the Constitution in 1789, thereby creating the UnitedStates of America, many residents still were not granted the rights ofindividual freedom originally conceived only for white males.Consequently, the history of the United States from the period followingthe Civil War until 1915 was largely a continuing history of thedevelopment of the United States Constitution and a constant revision ofthe definition and understanding of the concept of freedom. AfricanAmericans, unable to achieve full emancipation in the South, appealed tothe government for the right to stake claims there. Other would-behomesteaders, known as "Boomers," constantly invaded the district in 188 s. However, as white settlement of the continent continued, the Americangovernment repeatedly amended its agreements with the Tribes until theywere required to cede the entire western half of their territory for theresettlement of tribes from other regions, including the Pawnees, Peorias,Ottawas, Wyandots and Miamis (Out of Many, 514). Although the American Indian hadinhabited the continent long before the British colonized it, thegovernment had never recognized Indians as participants in the UnitedStates. Forexample, in 1868, the Ku Klux Klan devoted itself to terrorizing andintimidating African Americans and their white allies, intimidating votersand silencing political activists. And if democracy means that a people will be governed only byinstitutions that represent their own will, then democratic institutionswill undergo constant change as the will of the people changes despitetheir basis on the bedrock principle of individual freedom. And it fought the American Revolution because itsought to rule itself based on democratic ideals. Douglass, Frederick. And even after the passageof the Ku Klux Klan Act in 1871, when the federal government cracked downon the Klan and broke its power temporarily in parts of the formerConfederacy, no organization made any truly serious efforts to stop Klanterror in many parts of the South (Out of Many, 483). Works Cited Bruce, Blanche K. In the wake of the Civil War, communities throughout the Southstruggled over the meaning of freedom (Out of Many, 484). The settlement of No Man's Land and Indian Territorydemonstrates the varying American interests in a crucible. In 1866 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and sent the FourteenthAmendment to the states for ratification (Out of Many, 485). And the sometimes violentclashes began to reinforce the feeling of many Americans that the nationwas not the equal-opportunity democracy it claimed but rather a class-basedsystem characteristic of Europe (Out of Many, 5 8). And as Frederick Douglass stated at a speech to theAmerican Anti-Slavery Society in 1865, "while the black man is confrontedin the legislation of the South by the word "white," our work asAbolitionists, as I conceive it, is not done" (Documents Set, 224). The primary reason for the collapsewas commercial overexpansion, particularly speculative investing in thenation's railroad system (Out of Many, 5 7). A nation and a nation's institutions are only as strong as herpeople are. The definition of the relationship between blacks and whites and thebeginning of political rights for blacks was not the only major racialconflict that characterized this period. Consequently, both rural and urban areas grew dramatically overthe next several decades (Out of Many, 5 5). "Reconstruction, 1863-1877." Out of Many. Moreover, many black male field hands refused to engage in anywork that did not directly increase their share of the cotton crop (Out ofMany, 485). Turneradvocated that the frontier of the Great West symbolized Americans' never-ending quest for freedom. Such an experiment is necessarilyan experiment in freedom because only when every individual governed by aninstitution has a chance to be represented by that institution is everyindividual truly free. And it remains an incomplete experiment because thework started then continues to be done today. As demonstrated by the period from 1865 through 1915, thehistory of the United States has been an experiment in exclusion andinclusion, discrimination and tolerance. As factories bean to closeacross the nation, the unemployment rate soared to about 15 percent and thedepression in the North soon began to replicate the economic relationshipsin the South, except instead of a battle between black and white, theNorth's struggle was between labor and capital. To live up to the statementthat the country was intended to offer "no limit to our reaches, noboundaries to what we can do, no end to our hopes," the whites in powerwould have to examine their fundamental beliefs about their position in theworld and in America in relationship to the position of non-whites. In theSouth before the War, white skin had defined a social bond that transcendedeconomic class, giving even the lowliest poor white a badge of superiorityover even the most skilled slave or prosperous free African American (Outof Many, 488). The railroads, seeing the potential for lucrative commerce, pushed forsettlement of the region. In arguing for a Sixteenth Amendment that would secure the votefor women, the NWSA urged "American women of wealth, education, virtue andrefinement" to support the vote for women and oppose the FifteenthAmendment (which enfranchised black men) "if you do not wish the lowerorders of Chinese, Africans, Germans, and Irish, with their low ideas ofwomanhood to make laws for you and your daughters" (Out of Many, 491). And not until the "Second Reconstruction" of the twentieth-century civil rights movement, when many of the black codes were finallyrefuted in fact, would the descendants of slaves finally begin to enjoy thefull fruits of freedom (Out of Many, 483). Consequently, in the end, Reconstruction was only partially successfulprimarily because the federal government failed to take the steps necessaryto empower Southern blacks politically and economically sufficient toensure full emancipation (Out of Many, 5 9). In fact, neither did the Indians. Still, even after Lincoln proclaimed theemancipation of the slaves in 1863 and Congress passed the ThirteenthAmendment, which outlawed slavery in the United States in 1865, whitepeople and black people continued to engage in violent political encountersin most Southern communities (Out of Many, 484). "Commonwealth and Empire, 187 -19 ." Out of Many. Thus,Douglass maintained that the South, through "unfriendly legislation," couldmake liberty under the Thirteenth Amendment "a delusion, a mockery, and asnare" (224). Freed peoplewanted more autonomy and many black women refused to work in the fields infavor of staying home with their children and tending garden plots (Out ofMany, 484). Thus, many white Southerners responded to allReconstruction era legislation by regarding African Americans more thanever as inferior to themselves (Out of Many, 488). In the end, ManifestDestiny won and in 1889, Congress opened the land for settlement (Out ofMany, 515). And eachof the major events of this period forced the American people to questionnot only what it meant to be an American citizen, but also what it meant tobe human. Conclusion Blanche K. In 1893 Frederick Jackson Turner presented an essay at the ChicagoWorld Colombian Exposition in which he stated: "American development hasexhibited not merely an advance along a single line but a return toprimitive conditions on a continually advancing frontier" (Documents Set,283). Bruce was the first African American to serve a full termin the United States Senate following his election in 1874. Up untilthe late 18 s, all five tribes had reestablished themselves as successfulsovereign republics in Indian Territory. "Organization and Principles of the Ku Klux Klan, 1868,"Reconstruction, 1863-1877, Documents Set. The "Organization and Principles"statement of the KKK is illustrative of the two-sided face of racism. An Experiment in Freedom: The United States, 1865-1915 Introduction Perhaps the most significant phrase in the president's address is thestatement that America is "meant to be an endless experiment in freedom."America began its history as a colony as a place where people soughtfreedom from persecution. Theprinciples claimed that the KKK was an "institution of Chivalry, Humanity,Mercy, and Patriotism" whose purpose was to "protect the weak, theinnocent, and the defenseless, from the indignities, wrongs, and outragesof the lawless, the violent, and the brutal" (Documents Set, 23 ).However, the KKK was in fact an organization that preyed on the sort ofpeople it actually claimed to be. Gender and Freedom The battles over the political status of African Americans proved animportant turning point for women as well. In 1876, Brucemade the following statement to the Senate: "I have confidence, not only inmy country and her institutions, but in the endurance, capacity, anddestiny of my people." Bruce was referring to the African-American people,but in fact, he could have been speaking for the entire United States ofAmerica. "Conquest and Survival, 186 -19 ." Out of Many. The decade following the end of the Civil War also saw enormouschanges in the North's economy due to the industrial boom that had begunduring the Civil War (Out of Many, 5 4). Racism, therefore, was one of the major forces that droveReconstruction and eventually undermined it (Out of Many, 485). America remained anexperiment in freedom because it still needed to address the political andindividual rights of so many of its citizens. One of theprimary reasons for this boom was the development of the transcontinentalrailroad system, which both symbolized and advanced the new industrialorder. "Speech in the Senate, 1876," Reconstruction, 1863-1877, Documents Set. The federal government subsidized the construction of the system,demonstrating its commitment to the rapid settlement of the Westernfrontier. Emancipation wouldforce whites to redefine their world, including what it meant to be freeand who deserved the rights of such freedom (Out of Many, 484). Thus, by 1873, American'sindustrial production had grown 75 percent over the 1865 level. Thus, the change in the political relationship betweenSouthern blacks and whites impacted directly on their economicrelationship. Class and Freedom If the civil rights struggles of women, blacks and Indians werestruggles of sex and race, then the economic situation in the Northdemonstrated that the American experiment was not free of class struggleseither. Moreover, the opening ofthe unassigned far western district of Oklahoma known as No Man's Land tonon-Indian homesteading signaled the impending end of Indian sovereignty(Out of Many, 514). However, as America continuedits expansion into the areas of the continent not settled by whites, itincurred increased tension with the Indians. Thus, although the warhad destroyed slavery and the Confederacy, it did not resolve the politicaland economic status of newly emancipated African Americans (Out of Many,484). "Speech to the American Anti-Slavery Society,1865," Reconstruction, 1863-1877, Documents Set. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.