Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The reconstruction era success and failures
Reconstruction era informative essay
Reconstruction era informative essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Reconstruction is defined as “the reorganization and reestablishment of the seceded states in the Union after the American Civil War” (Merriam-Webster). After the Civil War, the North was faced with the task of fixing the devastating destruction in the Confederate states. Although the Union’s victory freed about four million slaves, the win started a new set of challenges. Now, it was time to reunite the states.
As an attempt to fix the South, various Reconstruction plans and propositions were proposed. Before the war ended, Abraham Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction of 1863. It was considered a “compassionate policy for dealing with the South” (“Reconstruction”). The proclamation stated that Southerners could become
…show more content…
United States citizens if they took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and Union. The new citizens were also required to accept and follow the Thirteenth Amendment of emancipation. Although, those who held official Confederate offices were excluded. Soon after, Lincoln also issued the “10 Percent Plan.” Lincoln’s plan said that if at least 10 percent of the voting population took the oath, then a state government could be formed and the state could rejoin the Union. However, some people thought Lincoln’s 10 Percent Plan should be more strict. In July of 1864, the Wade-Davis Bill was proposed by Radical Republicans. The new bill required 50 percent of white men to take an ironclad oath of allegiance before a state could call a constitutional convention (“Presidential and Congressional”). Similar to the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, the bill required the state to abolish slavery. It also agreed that Confederate officials should be banned from serving at state conventions. Lincoln, however, pocket-vetoed the proposal and stopped the Wade-Davis bill from becoming a law. Later that night, Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson became the Union’s new president. Before gaining presidency, Andrew Johnson served as Lincoln’s vice president. In speeches, he detested “slavocracy” and promoted “Southern aristocracy” (“Presidential Reconstruction”). His views rarely mattered as vice president but gained importance as he stepped into office. Johnson thought that the Southern states should decide what was best for themselves. He also believed African-Americans were not fit to control their own lives or vote. Johnson even went so far as to tell a group of blacks to emigrate to another country. As a form of Presidential reconstruction, Andrew Johnson gave amnesty and pardon, and he returned all property, except slaves, back to Confederates who pledged loyalty and abolished slavery. However, Confederate officials who owned large estates had to apply for a Presidential pardon. With this, many Confederate officials returned to power, and some sought out Congressional superiority. Radical Republicans, on the other hand, believed blacks deserved the same opportunities and rights as whites, as promised in the Declaration of Independence.
The Radical Republicans also thought Confederate leaders deserved to be punished for their position in the Civil War. A few leaders, like Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner and Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens strongly opposed Johnson’s policies. Although some Americans thought the federal government played too big of a role in state affairs, Radicals said that extraordinary times call for direct intervention (“Radical Reconstruction”). In Congressional reconstruction, the view was that blacks should have an opportunity in a free-labor economy. A federal agency, the Freedmen's Bureau, was created to help slaves transition. However, many of its attempts were destroyed, causing the majority of slaves to depend on plantation work. The Radicals in Congress proposed the Civil Rights Bill. Andrew Johnson did not agree with the bills and vetoed both of them. Moderate Republicans were disgusted by Johnson’s racism. The Moderates joined the Radicals to overturn Johnson’s veto, marking the first time a major piece of legislation was overturned. Therefore, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act as a way to limit the President's powers and prevent him from removing Radical Republicans from …show more content…
office. The Civil Rights Act was a step at an active federal judiciary that would enforce rights. Congress now began focusing on amending the Constitution. In 1867, Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment, which “defined a citizen as any person born in or naturalized in the United States” (“Slavery and Civil”). The second half of the Amendment said a state could lose representation if suffrage was denied. Congress also passed the Fifteenth Amendment to prevent the government from denying citizens the right to vote because of color, race, or previous siding. The Republicans essentially offered the South the choice of accepting blacks or losing congressional power. The Republicans even introduced the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that took away the vote and hold office by Confederate leaders. The Act is also known as the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. The Act divided the South into five military districts, and each district had a commander with the power to use the army to protect blacks. In the first two years, the Congressional Reconstruction caused many Southern states to rewrite their Constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. Although Congress seemed in control, Johnson stood in the way. To solve their problem, the Congress sought out Presidential impeachment. The United States House of Representatives had articles of impeachment, and nine of them were because of Johnson’s removal of the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, which was a violation of the Tenure of Office Act (“President Andrew Johnson”). During the Reconstruction period, many northerners packed up and headed south, hoping for economic gain by working on plantation. These northerners were called “carpetbaggers” and were considered to be exploiting the South’s misfortunes. Most carpetbaggers supported the Republicans and would help develop the new southern governments. Along with the carpetbaggers, “scalawags” also provided Republicans in the South. Scalawags were white southerners who considered it more advantageous to support the Reconstruction policies than to oppose them. Another form of post-Civil War migrators were the “Exodusters.” Exodusters were blacks who moved west to form their own communities because they believed the West was a promise land. However, “Redeemer Democrats” despised the carpetbaggers, scalawags, and blacks who supported them (“Redeemer Democrats”). The southern Democrats sought to “redeem” their state from the “corruption.” Most Redeemers had been Whigs before the Civil War. By 1890, the Redeemers lost control of the party and were taken over by more racist Democrats. In the South, there were many attempts to go against the Reconstruction mandates. The most well known being the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK was founded in 1866 and was present in almost every southern state. The Ku Klux Klan served as a white southern resistance that intimidated and harmed white and black Republican leaders (“Ku Klux Klan”). Although Congress tried to minimize Klan terrorism, they fulfilled their goal of white supremacy by the 1870s. The South also passed the Jim Crow laws as a way to keep blacks out of white lives. The laws mandated segregation of parks, schools, restrooms, libraries, buses, drinking fountains, restaurants, and trains. The South was plastered with signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” to show who was allowed where (“Jim Crow Laws”). Under reconstruction, blacks faced harsh conditions. Many whites still seeked to punish freed slaves, and they suppressed African-Americans with harsh laws called the Black Codes. The Codes varied by state, but all punished slaves nonetheless. Some states demanded written evidence of employment or else the slave has to work on a plantation. In South Carolina, blacks had to pay special taxes if they were not servants or farmers—and even got taxed for owning a dog. Blacks also could not own guns and were banned from parks, schools and other public buildings. Riots tried to stop the Black Codes from going into effect, and the black casualties were high as a result. Due to the economic disarray after the abolition of slavery, conflict arose between landowners trying to establish a labor force and blacks searching for jobs. Many former slaves had developed the expectation of being giving land as payment for their work as slaves. Because of this, the sharecropping system developed as a way for blacks to rent and own land. The blacks then had to give a portion of their crops to they landowner at the end of the year as payment (“Sharecropping”). Before Andrew Johnson left office, Ulysses S. Grant disagreed with the President and joined the Radical Republicans. When he won the election of 1868, people hoped he would end the turmoil. However, Grant provided no help. He simply allowed Radical Reconstruction to lead itself in the south, occasionally using force to encourage it. Grant ran the country as he did the Army, and he even brought in his men as White House staff. Although Ulysses was known for his honesty, he accepted bribes in office. He even let himself be seen with speculators like Jay Gould and James Fisk. By the time Grant realized their plans to ruin the economy, his actions were too late, and businesses were already struggling. Grant, surprisingly, ran for reelection but was criticized by Liberal Republican reformers. He considered them “narrow-headed” (“Ulysses S. Grant”). Another scandal of Grant’s presidency was the Crédit Mobilier Scandal. It was a profitable deal for congressmen because they approved federal subsidies without thinking of expenses. During this scandal, Union Pacific Railroad employees created the company “Crédit Mobilier” and hired themselves, allowing them to get paid more than they should have. A congressional committee investigated the scandal and found that two of its members were involved: Oakes Ames of Massachusetts and James Brooks of New York. The scandal also hurt the careers of the current vice president (VP) Schuyler Colfax, incoming VP Henry Wilson, and James Garfield (“Crédit Mobilier”). However, Garfield denied the claims and was elected president. The Crédit Mobilier Scandal showed corruption in the government. As time passed, it became obvious that the problems of the South were not being solved by harsh laws. Some Southern state governments officials appeared corrupt and inefficient. The nation was tired of trying to force democratic and liberal values on the South. In May of 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act, which restored full political rights to most former Confederates. Soon, Southern states starting elected Democrats into office, which intimidated blacks from voting. By 1876, only three Southern states were still ruled by Republicans. After the election of 1876, southern Democrats met with newly elected Rutherford Hayes to negotiate the acceptance of the election.
The Democrats agreed to accept Hayes’ win, as long as federal troops were withdrawn from the region. Congress passed the Compromise of 1877, allowing Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina to be Democratic again, ending Reconstruction.
The federal government that had supported harsh penalties Southern leaders now accepted new and humiliating discrimination against blacks.
Historians judge Reconstruction as a period of political corruption and conflict. Although the slaves were freed, the North failed to address their needs or provide protection from violence. Even though Reconstruction-era governments made progress in rebuilding the South, the South sought to bring down radical regimes. The failure of Reconstruction pushed the equality and freedom of blacks out of focus, until the 20th century when it would become a national issue (“The End
of”).
Reconstruction began in 1865 and ended in 1877. Reconstruction is known as the rebuilding of the U.S. following the Civil War where they would allow southern's back into the union.The military then organized for new elections, which were three groups and they were; freedmen, carpetbaggers, and
The Reconstruction was the process of trying to rebuild the South after the devastating effect of the Civil War. Some interesting facts during the Civil War were first, in 1869 the first college football game took place, second, African American universities became a reality, and last, in 1870, Hiram Revels was elected the first black Senator. In the end, Reconstruction died, but we’ve all been asking the same thing; North or South: Who killed the Reconstruction? Answering this question, I believe the North killed the Reconstruction by a lack of focus on it, the racism on African Americans, and being sick of assisting the South.
After years of a cruel war that pitted brother against brother, the United States of America entered into a period of time called Reconstruction. Reconstruction was an act implemented by Congress to help rebuild the majorly devastated southern states. Another of its goals was help newly freed slaves successfully merge into life as a free people among many hostile whites.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, it was followed by an era known as Reconstruction that lasted until 1877, with the goal to rebuild the nation. Lincoln was the president at the beginning of this era, until his assassination caused his vice president, Andrew Johnson to take his place in 1865. Johnson was faced with numerous issues such as the reunification of the union and the unknown status of the ex-slaves, while compromising between the principles of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. After the Election of 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, a former war hero with no political experience, became the nation’s new president, but was involved in numerous acts of corruption. Reconstruction successfully reintegrated the southern states into the Union through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction Plans, but was mostly a failure due to the continued discriminatory policies against African Americans, such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and sharecropping, as well as the widespread corruption of the elite in the North and the Panic of 1873,
As soon as Johnson was made president he began to disagree with Congress, particularly those Congressional members of his opposing party. Later, he even broke ties with his own party citing the fact that he wouldn’t endorse a new amendment to the Constitution granting blacks the rights of citizenship. Congress did not approve of President Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction. The Wade Davis Plan returned power to the same people who had tried to break the Union by granting them amnesty. The Congress mainly opposed this plan because it contained no provision to protect the free slaves. The Freedman’s Bureau Act was intended to help former slaves to shift from slavery to emancipation and assured them equality before law.
President Johnson tried to enforce Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan. That as soon as ten percent of the population of any southern state took an oath of loyalty to the union and adopted a constitution that abolished slavery they would be readmitted to the union. The radical republicans in congress totally disagreed with Johnson. Many of the southern states in 1865 under presidential reconstruction adopted what was known as black codes. These codes restricted blacks from any participation in the rights of citizenship. Blacks were confined to an inferior position, they were not legally slaves anymore, but they had no rights of citizenship.
Reconstruction is the period of rebuilding the south that succeeded the Civil War (1861-1865). This period of time is set by the question now what? The Union won the war and most of the south was destroyed. Devastation, buildings turned into crumbles and lost crops. The South was drowning in poverty. To worsen the situation there were thousands of ex-slaves that were set free by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13 Amendment. "All these ex-slaves", Dr. Susan Walens commented, "and no place to put them," The ex-slaves weren't just homeless but they had no rights, unlike white man. The government and congress had to solve the issues present in the south and the whole nation in order to re-establish the South. These issues were economical, social and political. The United States had presidential and congressional reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure, a great attempt to unify the nation. It was a failure due to the events that took place during this period.
Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in South. Martial law was also implemented in the South. Eventually, the North hoped to admit the territory in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed the African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote. Despite this, Reconstruction was unfortunately cut short in 1877. The North killed Recosntruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.
Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.
During the time of reconstruction, the 13th amendment abolished slavery. As the Nation was attempting to pick up their broken pieces and mend the brokenness of the states, former slaves were getting the opportunity to start their new, free lives. This however, created tension between the Northerners and the Southerners once again. The Southerners hated the fact that their slaves were being freed and did not belong to them anymore. The plantations were suffering without the slaves laboring and the owners were running out of solutions. This created tension between the Southern planation owners and the now freed African Americans. There were many laws throughout the North and the South that were made purposely to discriminate the African Americans.
Beginning with the 'black codes' established by President Johnson's reconstruction plan, blacks were required to have a curfew as well as carry identification. Labor contracts established under Johnson's Reconstruction even bound the freedmen to their respective plantations. A few years later, another set of laws known as the Jim Crow laws directly undermined the status of blacks by placing unfair restrictions on everything from voting rights all the way to the segregation of water fountains. Besides these restrictions, the blacks had to deal with the Democratic Party, whose northern wing even denounced racial equality. As a result of democratic hostility and the Republican Party's support of Black suffrage, freedmen greatly supported the Republican Party.
The Civil War is arguably the darkest point in American history, as it is the only point in which thousands of Americans are being killed by their fellow countrymen. However, the period following was just as dark from a more political, social, and economic point of view. This period of time taking place from 1865-1877 is usually known as Reconstruction because the south is "reconstructing" from the damages of the war. However, many historians argue that this period of time is improperly named and should be called restoration. As this argument goes on, I would say that both terms are correct, and in fact both reconstruction and restoration are needed to describe the time period following the Civil War.
Aside from the presidential reconstruction, the Congressional Reconstruction was also taking place. The Congressman disagreed with both Lincoln and Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction. Their main two goals was to integrate African Americans into society by granting them citizenship and the right to vote, and the second goal was to destroy the political powers that former slaveholders had in the South. They first implemented these ideas by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws. Although the black codes came about and Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, Congress had the power to override his veto. This shows that even though the President is the leader of the nation, the Constitution guarantees that Congress has some measure of influence over the President and may chose to block his procedures, Check and Balances. With success, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the country. All citizens were entitled to equal protection under law and be given their rights. The Congress agreed that if the Confederate states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment they could come back into the Union. Having not followed the Congress request, Congressed passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This forced the Confederate states to undergo Reconstruction as the Congress wanted. To ensure that Southerners could not change their state constitution in the future, they passed the Fifteenth Amendment and the last congressional Reconstruction law, another Civil Rights
Senators Sumner and Stevens called the black voting rights and the end of military occupation of the south. Congress passed by two bills by overriding President Johnson Veto of the civil Rights act. Civil Rights Act granted black people full citizenship. The act also extended the life of the freedmen's Bureau. President Johnson's attempt to Veto these two bills force some moderates to ally themselves with Radicals against his plan.
Black codes were state laws passed in the south during reconstruction. The law deliberate to restrict the civil right of African Americans. The approval of the code provoke the U.S. Congress to pass a law to the Civil Rights Acts to protect African American citizen in the south.”President Andrew Johnson opposed the 1866 measure enacted during his administration. However, the radical Republican-led Congress was able to overturn presidential vetoes to determine Reconstruction policy”(“Black Codes” 1). This quote shows how the republican were able to overturn the president’s veto towards the black codes because they felt the need to establish the black codes cause they feel unsafe without