1. The federal government attempted to use many laws to protect the rights of
the newly freed slaves, such as the Civil rights Act of 1866, which gave African
Americans the right of citizenship and forbade other states from passing their
own discriminatory laws. This brought on the Black codes, which restricted much
of the African American lives dictating where they were legally allowed to go
and designated places they should be in. The fifteenth amendment was also
passed, which states that no one can be kept from voting despite their
“race”, color or past servitude. It seems to nt wanted to lay down the basic
rights for the African Americans of the time, but didn’t want to give them to
much freedom by restricting everything that they did. It seems it was much like
probation to me, giving them a little slack to see what they would do with it,
but still not really trusting them. I think the restrictions on African
Americans was a good thing however, with all of the hatred and discrimination
against blacks that was going on at the time. Restricting what they could do and
segregating them from the whites was probably the best thing. This separation
probably saved many of the newly freed slaves lives, the separation most likely
reduced the amount of disputes and violent eruptions between the two races of
people. In the end, although the laws may have seemed like they failed or
brought grief to the newly freed slaves, I feel the laws saved lives, and yet
gave the African Americans a new feeling that they were a part of their country
and mattered because they able to vote. I happen to think the laws passed to
protect the rights of freed slaves were a success.