which laws enacted immediately after the civil war were designed to maintain the social structure of slavery?

Question

black codes
compromise of 1877
plessy v. ferguson
reconstruction act

Answer 1

The laws enacted immediately after the Civil War that were designed to maintain the social structure of slavery were the Black Codes. These were a series of laws introduced by southern states to restrict the rights and freedoms of African Americans, effectively continuing a system of racial oppression. These laws included restrictions on voting, property rights, labor contracts, and movement, essentially creating a new form of legalized discrimination and subjugation.

The Compromise of 1877, while not specifically designed to maintain slavery, effectively ended Reconstruction and led to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, giving rise to Jim Crow laws and further entrenching racial segregation and discrimination.

Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark Supreme Court case in 1896, established the "separate but equal" doctrine, allowing for racial segregation in public facilities and further perpetuating the social structure of slavery.

The Reconstruction Act of 1867, on the other hand, was enacted to promote racial equality and reestablish civil governments in the former Confederate states. It was designed to dismantle the social structure of slavery and provide African Americans with equal rights and protections under the law.