What was the reasoning behind a desire for immediate black suffage during the Reconstruction era?

why would someone be for immediate black suffrage? (as opposed to for gradual suffrage)|||The reasoning is political. Four million African Americans were suddenly freed by the 13th Amendment (Dec. 1865). About half were males. The entire U.S. population at the end of the Civil War was ~ 34 million. The 14th Amendment of 1868 and then the 15th Amendment of 1870 assured that black men could vote. Radical Republicans were in control of Congress right after the war. It was assumed that Africans would vote Republican - since that was the party opposed to slavery during the Civil War - and they did. The four presidents from 1869 to 1885 were all Republicans. The U.S. Congress was usually Republican in the post war years to 1901 except for a brief period in the mid 1870's when there was a financial panic and a depression. Southern whites were solidly democratic in those days while blacks favored the Republicans. Quite the opposite of today. As Reconstruction ended, Southern whites increasing intimidated blacks and limited their voting rights by various means.





American women were particularly upset that African males recently released from slavery having little education could vote while women could not. They were justified in their outrage. It seems unbelievable today that women (black or white) could not vote until 50 years after African-American males received the vote.|||Reconstruction, the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, was one of the most revolutionary episodes in American history. The war had opened the door to far- reaching changes in American society. Suffrage seemed like a logical next step. I am not sure how they could have managed gradual suffrage. It was an intense political time and trying to decide who received suffrage would have been extremely difficult.





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