African American were free during Reconstruction
In order to determine if African Americans were free during Reconstruction, we need to identify serval pieces of evidence. Some evidence that support that the African Americans were free during Reconstruction is the Thirteen amendment itself. The sole purpose of the thirteen amendment was to make sure slavery was banned in the U.S. Also, the Radicals goal during Reconstruction was to help the African Americans get equal rights. In the year Eighteen Sixty-Seven on the Nineteenth of March, Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican, declares that the freemen will have protection, land, money and the right to vote, As a matter of fact, the Fifteen amendment states that African American are allowed to vote anyway. African Americans were no longer beaten by Caucasian men and they were reunited with their families. Finally, the Fourteen amendment states that all rights of citizens will be protected by the government.
Here some sources to support that African Americans were free:
Source 2. 13th Amendment
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Source 3. 14th Amendment
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Type link in URL for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html
Here some sources to support that African Americans were free:
Source 2. 13th Amendment
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Source 3. 14th Amendment
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Type link in URL for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html