The Importance of the Judicial System in the Rise Essays

The Importance of the Judicial System in the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow Lauren A. Gonder Athens State University, Culture and Globalization, Dr. Malcolm Cort The Importance of the Judicial System in the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow The Jim Crow era was one of struggle, not only for the victims of the violence, discrimination, and poverty, but by those who worked to contest segregation in the South. The judicial system resolves cases based on legal precedent and in terms of the rights of the Constitution CITATION Mas \l 1033 (Massey, 2016). Most of the time, the court plays catch up to public opinion and changing traditions. The decisions of the courts, in some cases, force social change when the public and major organizations are separated CITATION Mas \l 1033 (Massey, 2016). After the Jim Crow era, it was crucial for the United States and the judicial system to break the deadlock between Jim Crow and the people in order to move forward into a justly and justifiable society. The state as a large-scale structure can and does play an important role in social change. Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee in 1865 at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. The Civil War marked the deadliest period of fighting in U.S. history CITATION Ame99 \l 1033 (Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow, 1999). While the Northern economy boomed during the controversy, the Southern economic infrastructure was devastated by the war. Southern whites were sorrowing over their losses while the blacks celebrated in victory hoping they would finally be recognized as equals. The reconstruction of the South was difficult and less rewarding for the former slaves than they hoped CITATION Ame99 \l 1033 (Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow, 1999). Everyone had a different view on how to bring the rebel states back to the Union, though there weren't any specific guidelines explaining the process. In the end, a fundamental belief in the right to property and lack of concern for the blacks led to few essential adjustments in regard to race relations in the South. The situation would remain this way until the Civil Rights movement in the 20th century. President Abraham Lincoln had little opportunity to implement the reconstruction program devised during the war. During this time, Lincoln passed the 10 percent plan laying out the terms for readmitting the rebel states to the Union. This plan offered full pardons and amnesty to all Southerners, except high-ranking Confederate civil and military officers, who reestablished their allegiance to the United States by taking the oath of loyalty and accepting the abolition of slavery CITATION Ame99 \l 1033 (Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow, 1999). Any property that was commandeered would return to its owner, apart from slaves. In the 1860 election, when the percentage of loyal Southerners in any state reached 10%, that minority could create a new state government and send a representative to the U.S. Congress. By this point, Lincoln had said little regarding the former slaves other than they would not return to oppression. After Lincoln was shot in 1865, five days after General Lee surrendered, Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson had complete control of the reconstruction policy for 8 months while Congress vacationed for the summer, and during that time he implemented a plan that appeared to strip the Southern aristocrats of their wealth and power CITATION Ame99 \l 1033 (Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow, 1999). President Johnson kept Lincoln's program of amnesty, but excluded officials of the Confederacy and very wealthy Southerners from receiving a pardon without a direct request to Johnson himself. He was determined to fundamentally alter the structure of the Southern society. Suddenly, the reconstruction policy changed, and members of the South's old elite reiterated their sway, and many won state and federal elections, which returned them to positions of power. Unexpectedly, President Johnson began pardoning aristocrats and leading rebels allowing them to take office. As a result, many former Confederate officials traveled to Washington to claim their newly acquired seats in Congress, but Radical Republicans refused to accommodate their Southern colleagues or recognize the new state governments CITATION Ame99 \l 1033 (Reconstruction and the Rise

columbian exchange essays

columbian exchange essays The Columbian Exchange The Columbian exchange began one of the largest exchanges of many different varieties of food, animals and disease. Many which were different and from different regions of the world that had never been transported before. We take for granted that everything we have is from here and it has always been here. But through The Columbian Exchange for example, the potato that had not been grown outside South America became Irelands main staple by the 1800s. The horse which was an import from Europe changed the Great Plains and the lifestyle of Native Americans, before the horse they had had to stalk bison and run them off cliffs or trap them. Tomatoes which were exchanged became an Italian trademark. Coffee and sugarcane which came from Asia became extensive Latin American crops. Before the exchange there were no oranges in Florida, no bananas in Ecuador, no rubber trees in Africa, no cattle in Texas, no burros in Mexico, no chocolate in Switzerland and even the Dandelion was brought by the Europeans. For almost every purpose the Europeans brought their baggage meat, milk, leather, fiber, power, speed, and even manure, they brought everything! Disease was another dimension of the Columbian Exchange, with catastrophic consequences for Native Americans who for centuries were an isolated population and thus lacked adequate immunities for diseases introduced by Europeans. Eruptive fevers, like smallpox and measles, proved deadly and often wiped out over half of entire tribes. Deadly epidemics, or rapid spreading of diseases, swept over the Caribbean islands. Smallpox wiped out whole villages in a matter of months. . . . In the first century of Spanish rule (1500-1600), Indians in Central and ...