The Reconstruction Era Essay

Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.

Nicholas Lemann begins his book “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” with the 1873 Colfax, Louisiana massacre where a White League militia comprised of former Confederate soldiers killed black Republican voters. The Colfax massacre was perhaps the bloodiest event of Reconstruction. Lemann views this event as a startup of what would happen later in Mississippi if Federal troops did not defend black voters. Lemann blames Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, for not stopping the White Line activity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Grant had worked hard to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s with Congress passing legislation and Federal troops putting down Klan activity.

The reconstruction of the United States was a period in the history of the United States that began after the extermination of the secessionist war, in 1865, and extended until the year of 1877. The period is marked by the gradual retorning of the states that had separated from the country and formed the Confederate States of America, the status of the Confederation leaders, and the beginning of the process of integrating AFRO-American former slaves. The United States government at the time was dominated by the Republican Party. Republican leaders agreed that remnants of the political power of the former slave masters, much like Confederate nationalism, would have to be suppressed.

As they tried to end segregation, Terrible news struck. Someone bombed the sixteenth street baptist church. There was even a mob afterwards and the shooting of johnny Robinson. It wa a was a war between rih and wrong, Truth and lies, and it meant everything to everyone. Bull Connor struck back, making a gang of deputized white men keep black people from voting.

After a series of race related riots and bloody encounters in southern states, the Grant administration sent in federal troops to restore order, quell the “war of races” mentality, and protect the rights of all people. With the economic depression, the Grant administration gradually changed from a stance of federal intervention to “hands off” oversight. This change led to an incredibly violent 1875 election year as white league and Democrat institutions used terror, intimidation tactics, and illegal voting tactics to retake state governments. In an attempt to hold the lower north states in the upcoming Presidential election, the Grant administration took no direct action to suppress the violence resurgence of white supremacy. In following year’s election, three states returned with disputed voter results for the Presidency and left no clear winner.

The Colfax Massacre, also known as the Colfax Riot, took place in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana, on April 13th, 1873. This occurred during an ongoing feud between opposing political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. On this day in history, a mob of white Democratic rebels, including Union and ex-Confederate soldiers, launched an attack on the Grant Parish Courthouse. This Courthouse was the center of civilian life within the community.

During reconstruction, African Americans wanted to be considered as “real men”, rather than inferior men. Even though African Americans were freedmen now, they were still not treated as equals to white men. African Americans were excluded from railway cars, omnibuses, stagecoaches, and steamboats entirely, or they were assigned to specific sections that they were secluded within. African Americans were permitted to vote, and some even held office. They were determined to exercise their rights as citizens, which they finally were granted, and became as involved as they could.

Spanning from 1861 to 1870, the American Civil War and the resulting Reconstruction period were a time of great change for the United States. In 1861, the southern states of the US seceded from the union due to conflicts in regards to the status of slavery in the US. This newly formed Confederacy waged war upon the remaining Union in order to reaffirm slavery. During this civil war, there were amendmendments to the constitution that abolished Slavery. In 1865, the Confederacy surrendered and the Union won the war.

The Ending of Reconstruction It was the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and people were expecting great things. Reconstruction was off to a great start and people were welcoming the freedmen into the North. Reconstruction was a period after the Civil War where the North was helping build the South back up to what it was before the war. Blacks were even becoming senators just five years after the Civil war. Unfortunately the great Reconstruction era was coming to an end.

The Reconstruction era ending was among the years of 1873 to 1877 under the leadership of Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, and Hayes. There were a few main events that ended the Reconstruction era, one of these being the change from Republican power to Democratic power of the House. A depression in the economy was intense throughout the country in 1873. Focus turned away from the south, northern voters became less captivated in the Reconstruction of the south and more focused on the economy in the north.

This situation contributed to the Colfax Massacre of 1873, in which white Democratic militia killed more than 100 Republican blacks in a confrontation over control of parish offices. Three whites died in the

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.

Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.