Reconstruction Dbq

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Recommended: Reconstruction era after the civil war

The federal Reconstruction efforts from 1865 through 1878 were mostly resisted because most southerners treated the blacks the same as when they were slaves. Many blacks were killed when they were set free because people believed they should stay slaves. There were also groups that threatened the blacks and killed them for supporting Republican beliefs. Finally, the employers of freed blacks watched over them like they were slaves even though they were free. Once the slaves were set free in the south in 1865, they were hated and treated similarly to how they were treated while they were slaves. In a 1880 testimony to the U.S. Senate by Henry Adams, he describes that even once he was set free,”They would not let [us] live as man and wife together”(Adams). …show more content…

In an article on the Ku Klux Klan and the reconstruction, it is shown that in the 8 months leading up to the election,”1000 people were killed in Louisiana…”It is also suspected that the KKK used,”Fraud and voter intimidation…” to make the African Americans mainly vote against republicans. The KKK was a group that used violence and threats to spread their ideas and force them upon people. The reconstruction was supposed to help bring everyone together and make everyone equal which the KKK went against by hating against anyone of color or anyone who was a republican supporter. Therefore, the KKK resisted the reconstruction by making groups of people lower than others. In a testimony of a former slave named Thomas M. Allen, Thomas describes his experience with the KKK. On the day of the election for the constitution, Thomas M. Allen received a letter from the KKK that told him that,”if [you] do not change your course before the election for the ratification of the infernal constitution, your days are numbered, and they will be but few…”(Grand Cyclops). The Grand Cyclops was the name given to a leader of the basic level of organization called a Den. This threat to Thomas M. Allen was an attempt to get him not to vote with the “radicals”(Republicans). They even threatened to kill him if he didn’t make a change. Just like when Thomas M. Allen was a slave, he was threatened and told what to do which means that the KKK was going against the reconstruction of the southern

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