Compare And Contrast Presidential And Congressional Reconstruction

Page 1 of 8 Running head: PRESIDENTIAL TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES1 Presidential Triumphs and Failures During Reconstruction EraTrent M. AndersonDaymar CollegeAuthor NoteTrent M. Anderson, Associate’s Degree Business Program, Daymar CollegeTrent M. Anderson, is now in Bachelor’s Degree Business Program, Daymar College PRESIDENTIAL TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES2AbstractThere were two Presidents who had the difficult issues to be dealt with during the Reconstruction Era. During the Reconstruction Era there were three main plans. Abraham Lincoln offered his plan for reunification of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. The citizens of the South had to take an oath of loyalty, and once 10% of the state had taken the oath

In chapter 16th “Reconstruction,” the author gives a comprehensible perspective of the historical era that made a major difference in America today. Many northerners populated the main question of how to restructure the nation as one which led to numerous complicated questions as to how, what, whom and under what circumstances would America readmit the union. In the chapter, the author introduces a variety of changes such as presidential, congressional reconstruction and most importantly the old south. Along with discontinued slavery and established constitutional amendments. Rebuilding the south economically and politically was just as difficult as on the battlefield, extremely long and very complex.

The federal government was trying to achieve many diverse goals with Reconstruction; which can mostly be summed up by they were trying to make the nation whole. The main goals of reconstruction included the following: abolishing slavery for good, to establish blacks into society and help them build their lives as US citizens with full rights, extending suffrage, to define citizenship, protecting those citizens, as well as destroying the Confederacy, and having seceded states rejoin the Union. After the abolition of slavery, even more problems throughout the nation arose and previous problems remained. The federal government initiated the Reconstruction Era to help solve those problems.

Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction: After the war had ended the North needed to take the task of reconstruction of the south. Even before the war had ended Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863. This was an oath that southerners had to take which said “Southerners could be pardoned and reinstated as U.S. citizens if they took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the Union and pledged to abide by emancipation.

With the established black codes or laws that limited African American rights these black codes were curfews, vagrancy laws, labor contracts, and land restrictions. In 1866, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act that outlawed the black codes, with congress overriding his veto, Congress decided to build equal rights into the Constitution. White rioters went on rampages against African American with act of stabbing, shooting, and hanging hundreds of blacks, President Johnson continued to oppose the equality of African Americans thus beginning a power struggle between congress and the President causing his near future

After the Civil War The Reconstruction had been a failure in bringing the south back into the Union in the way it had used to be before the Civil War. However, the Reconstruction had also successfully been able to restore the unified nation and its acknowledgment to the thirteenth amendment, Fourteenth amendment, and the Fifteenth amendment. Therefore, the Reconstruction's failure wasn’t a very fair assessment, but it had been successful in restoring the United States and the bringing of freedom to the African American slaves.

In 1858, President Lincoln wanted to end slavery, he wanted America to become one thing, or the other. Unfortunately, Southerns didn't agreed to Lincoln's decision, which is why Southern States seceded from the Union and later on caused the Civil War. The Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865, causing many damages to both the North and South. However, Southern States were severely crippled after war, and southerners daily lives came to a half since the war caused the destruction of their homes and towns. All of this was very difficult for the South to recover since their economy was based on agriculture.

Maceo Cardinale Kwik Reconstruction Reconstruction was the twelve years after the civil war. Those twelve years were full of readjustment fixing the ruin the United States had fallen into. The problems that had the United states in disarray were how to, rebuild the South, reunite the states, and ensure the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans. The civil war left the South in shambles, and newly freed slaves struggled to adjust to their new freedom. Most Southerners hated reconstruction and everything else about the North.

President Johnson was a supporter of state rights so he was not going to say or do anything. To him, the power to decide what to do with the newly free African-American was in the hands of the states. But when the Congress had a majority of Republicans after the election, it decided to overrule the southern states and with that, the period called Radical Reconstruction began. First, there was the Civil Rights Act in 1866, passed despite Johnson 's veto. There was no doubt anymore that freedmen were citizens and were to be treated as such. "

North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction? One may believe the Reconstruction was a period from 1865-1877 in which the United States government put into effect a program that would repair the damages in the South caused by the Civil War, return the eleven Confederate states to the Union, and grant rights to African Americans? Reconstruction in America came shortly after the end of the Civil war. It lasted twelve years, starting under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln and ending under Rutherford B. Hayes leadership, due to the Compromise of 1877. Over the twelve year period the program managed to achieve some good things, such as the thirteenth amendment that ended slavery, fourteenth amendment which gave African Americans citizenship and

Though many people believe the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, it didn’t. The reason being, the south was classifying themselves as their own country lead by Jefferson Davis. As the country restored, the southern states gradually rejoined the Union. Now that the former slaves were freed, they had to start a new life, luckily they had an aspiring attitude. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

Black Code in the United States were some of the many laws enacted in the former federal state after the American

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.

The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

Reconstruction a Failure or Success? Throughout the years, America has gone through many different political changes. Many presidents selected with different plans for our future. Sadly, many of those objectives have failed or came to an end.