Civil War Reconstruction Essay

The North and South, from 1861 to 1865, lost over six hundred thousand men in an armed and gruesome conflict over the issue of slavery. Despite the North winning militarily, the death rates for both sides were relatively equal. Following the South’s surrender at Appomattox, a time of Reconstruction ensued. Southern beliefs and behaviors, along with the Grant Administration’s growing indifference about freedman issues, influenced Reconstruction politics across the country. White Southerners scored a resounding victory in the Reconstruction Period by passing restriction laws against Negroes and intensified the Southern atmosphere beyond its original Pre-Civil War environment.

1. “How did Lincoln and Johnson each approach reconstruction?” Johnson did not have Lincoln’s moral sense and political judgement when it came to reconstruction. “As wartime president, Lincoln had offered amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates” (464). Lincoln had proposed that when ten percent of a rebellious states voters had sworn loyalty (taken an oath), then the state would be restored to the Union as long as it had approved the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery.

During the Civil War, President Lincoln and his associates began to plan the Reconstruction of the Union. Problems Lincoln faced were how to reintegrate the conquered southern states back into the Union and what was to be done with the Confederate leaders and the freed slaves. After General Lee surrendered, Lincoln was asked by one of his Generals how the defeated Confederates should be treated, and Lincoln replied, “Let em up easy.” (Thomas, 2008) In keeping with that theme, Lincoln led the moderates regarding Reconstruction policy.

The civil war started on April 12,1861 at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. It all started when the union soldiers got bombarded at Fort Sumter.. One of the main reasons for the Civil War was the disagreement between freedom and slave states. The north against the south was another name for it.

The Radical Republicans were able to pass 3 new Reconstruction acts: first was to divide the South into five military districts. The second required former Confederate

Venturing into the woods, smoke everywhere, bombs flying over your heads, people around you being shot down one by another. This was just the beginning of the Civil War, the harshest war in American history, especially for the Texans. It all started because Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and didn’t want slaves. But, why did the Texans fight? They wanted to keep slavery, protect states’ rights, and overall, for the love of their state, Texas.

There are many different points and views that each side of the Civil War had on the war. There were many things that the Union and the Confederacy disagreed with and agreed with. Two things they disagreed on are how the Civil War started and the main reason for this war, slavery. One thing they agreed on is the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln issued in 1863. Both sides of the Civil War have different views as to how the War started.

During the Civil War in the 19th century, one problem the war solved was to protect and keep the Union together. The war successfully stopped the South from seceding. That was the main purpose of the war before the question of ending slavery was the main goal of the war. Abraham Lincoln voiced that he did not want war when he was first elected, but when the slave states wanted to secede peacefully, Lincoln didn’t take that lightly. He felt that secession in any form is an exercise of power (Hakim 16).

How would you feel if you were let out of a cage just to be locked in another room? This feeling was felt by many of the blacks after they were freed in the 1850's. These blacks were mostly ex-slaves or their children. There were about 476,000 free African Americans at the time. A little less than half of these lived in the Northern part of America.

Following the end of the Civil War, the United States of America set its sights on restructuring the South. Idealistically, the North was to serve as a model and guide the redevelopment of southern society - purging it of slavery, introducing manufacturing, and creating new markets. Realistically, however, this was not the case. The Civil War was fought on the grounds of abolishing slavery, providing rights for blacks, and redeveloping the South’s economy, yet the years following its end saw very little change. Due to a lack of enforcement from the North and the federal government, the Reconstruction proved to be a dramatic failure.

Most understand that America was built largely on the backs of African slaves and that a civil war was fought over the right of white people to own slaves. This war began when the southern states decided to secede from the rest of the United States in order to keep their slaves; these formed their own country, the Confederate States of America, and created two flags of their own. This is one of the darker parts of American history that many would like to gloss over. The end of the civil war led to both the abolishment of slavery, and the end of the Confederacy as the involved states returned to the union. At the time the war ended, the flags of the Confederacy were mostly retired, but some of the men who had fought for the Confederacy refused

But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.

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 Political Spectrum The people on the left side of the spectrum are people like Liberals and Revolutionaries, depending on how far left you go. They favor change. During Reconstruction groups like the Radical Republicans, White Unionists, and Black Freedmen were on the left side of the spectrum.

The Civil War allowed the United States to make the changes necessary to unify the country. In addition, it began one of the most transitional periods in the United States’ history. This period, the Reconstruction, brought about many political, social, and economic changes, which were both beneficial and disagreeable. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Panic of 1873, and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan are just a few examples of heavily impacting events for the United States. During the Reconstruction period there were numerous political transformations in the country.