The American Civil War ultimately preserved the Union and freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet, it left a legacy of economic and social problems that required postwar solutions. The goal of Reconstruction from the end of the Confederacy to 1877 rested on the physical, economic, and political transformation of the South. However, Reconstruction was complicated by the legacies from both the South and North of the Civil War. During Reconstruction, a lack of political focus failed to solve the sectional differences, and the elimination of the freed slaves' newly gained rights with the Black Codes allowed for the same Southern leadership to come back into power. To reassert white supremacy in the postwar South, former Confederate …show more content…
Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and found ways to oppress the rights of blacks. The failure of Reconstruction was based on the Republicans divisions between the moderates and radicals on the severity of Reconstruction policies and its commitment to Black enfranchisement in the South to maintain power within the federal government allowed the development of a two-party platform which led to the reestablishment of ex-Southern leaders in the South. The opposition by President Jackson also hindered the ability for Reconstruction initially to enforce its agenda in the South. Within a decade, the emergence of the Democratic party defeated the Republicans in the newly established governments and reestablish political power for themselves by fighting the adoption of new constitutions at the polls “through calculated abstention aimed at delegitimizing the process, and, in some places, with extralegal violence and intimidation.” Reconstruction fell apart in 1873 when northern Republicans abandoned it for new political issues and facing a power struggle with Democrats, “they stood behind
The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century. Post Civil War (After the Civil War – The period after the Civil War) - President Abraham Lincoln and Congress were determined to rebuild the nation. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union by readmitting the southern states that had seceded, as well as provide African Americans with more rights. Period of Conflict -
Who Killed Reconstruction? “The blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” said a Boston newspaper in 1873 saying that the Africans-Americans were too dumb to be in Congress or any political office. Three years later, was the 100th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. With the irony of the election of 1876 had officially crushed the African-American dream. In 1877, the Reconstruction efforts finally ended, so people were wondering who killed Reconstruction.
The Civil War, shows that although the south lost, they were able to surviving without slaves and the economy could still function as a whole. After the civil war major reconstruction was needed. Southern states could not survive with the same social standards, but for now, blacks were free in the south. This also meant that the south would have to rely on other things besides slavery to boosts their economy. “For Blacks, it proved a hollow triumph.
The Compromise of 1877 officially ended the Reconstruction Era by pulling out the last of the troops located in the South who monitored the progress of the newly enacted amendments. The Southern Democrats’ civil rights laws promised by the Democrats were betrayed as they resumed oppressing black Americans socially, politically, and economically. Segregation and institutional racism perpetuated through a multitude of laws, anti-black politicians in positions of power, and forced, unscrupulous labor were factors that continued to keep black Americans inferior to the white man in the years following the Reconstruction (Compromise of 1877). The supreme court case known as Plessy vs. Ferguson gave legal right to a separate but equal policy in education
After the war, White confederate generals and politicians got their voting and political
What were the goals of Reconstruction? Why weren 't all of these goals achieved? Was Reconstruction a failure? Support your answers with details and examples. Reconstruction - the federal government plan to solve the issues formed from the end of the Civil War – can be divided into 2 parts: physically rebuilding the South and reconstructing the Southern Society.
Rebuilding the south won’t be easy when it comes to reconstruction after the Civil War I will do the following things. The three things are as follows: my first reconstruction assignment as Northern General is to rebuild hospitals for the sick and needy that was bombed during the war. This is important because hospitals are needed. The second thing is to fix on the churches that were damaged and the ones that were used as headquarters during the war for opposing sides. This is important because everyone need God on their especially during this trying time.
Reconstruction was a period of time dedicated to rebuilding the nation after the Civil War. The war ended with the South being defeated and their economy being devastated. Many Southerners struggled after the war with rebuilding their land and lives. The President and Congress had to decide the terms for which the former Confederate states would be permitted to join the Union. President Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the country was found in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played 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).
One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.
The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans
At the end of the Civil War, America faced difficult choices regarding the restoration of the defeated South and the future of the freed people. President Lincoln committed ending slavery and he was persuading southerners (mostly white plantation owners) to abandon Confederacy. However, most white southerners were believed that blacks would never be superior as white folks. This result in most white’s southerners expected to keep African Americans in a subordinate role and initially used black codes and violence towards that end. Such as the Ku Klux