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Reconstruction after civil war
Reconstruction of civil war
Reconstruction of civil war
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In 1860, the southern states decided to secede from the North, South Carolina was the first, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, constituting Confederate States of America. Thus causing the beginning of the American Civil War. The country was now divided into two, north and south and considering that north was stronger economically the south had no choice but to surrender. However, the consequences of the war were terrible and the south was completely devastated. But Lincoln wanted a peaceful reconciliation with the South and was about to change the situation of African-Americans. We find ourselves with three very important facts: Slavery was abolished, African Americans became US citizens, and African Americans gained the right to vote. …show more content…
President Andrew Johnson initially maintained a posture similar to that of Lincoln. Congress passed in 1867 Laws Reconstruction, for which most of the South was divided into five military districts, the right to vote is guaranteed the male population black, and former Confederate political leaders were forbidden to take part in the governments of the various states. The policy adopted by successive governments in this period of Reconstruction caused great resentment in the South. Southerners were unable accepting any form of government in which blacks and Northern delegates have an important role and tried to alter federal government’s outbreaks of violence and, through intimidation, orchestrated mainly by the Ku Klux Klan. By 1872 the federal government had suppressed the Klan, but white Democrats were using violence and fear to regain control of their state governments. Reconstruction ended in 1877, when in all southern states new constitutions and federal troops were withdrawn entirely from the region were
The Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. Perhaps the most influential war in American history, the Civil War was fought between the northern states and the southern states of America over slavery. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected as the president on March 4, 1861, South Carolina Seceded from the Union. Other states followed in suit, forming the Confederate States of America with its capital at Montgomery, Alabama, its president Jefferson Davis. As controversy flared higher as a result of this event, the Confederates took Fort Sumter. Soon, the Union joined the war. The northern states were referred to as the Union army, with leaders including Ulysses S. Grant. The Southern states were referred to as the Confederate army, their prominent leaders including Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. It was the start of a war that would shape American history.
The souths conditions after the war were horriable, as if there wasnt a south to even begin with. After the civil war the land was in ruins and destroyed by the north, William Techumseh Sherman had burned everything from the Mississippi to the Georgia coast committing rampant war crimes along the way and even burned Atlanta to the ground! Confederate currency was useless, which led to banks being pointless even though they were already ruined. Then there wasnt any law or authority, many slaves ran and became free which lossed in total at least two billion dollars worth and governments bassicly vanquished.
In the fall of 1867, local black leaders, ministers and Republicans mobilized large numbers of voters in the South. Southerners in Alabama united to “claim exactly the same rights, privileges and immunities as are enjoyed by white men”. 265 African Americans were elected as delegates to state conventions. However, democrats controlled the North and racial prejudice was a major concern. Blacks tried to pursue their dreams of equality, but whites wanted to keep as many features of slavery as they could. The end result of the Reconstruction was violence, brutality and election fraud.
The Civil War was fought hard and caused mass destruction not just physically but socially. After the South failed to be victorious, the North immediately acted upon reconstructing what was lost. Reconstruction began very strong and promising until Abraham Lincoln died and the new president Andrew Johnson overrode his 10% plan. A turn in the original plan failed to achieve the political, economic, and social effects it originally intended.
April 1865 saw the end of the Civil War, and with it came the need for some sort of policy to reunify, restore or “reconstruct” the political, economic, and social relationship of the southern states with the rest of the Union. The period of this process of bringing the states of the Confederacy back into the Union is called Reconstruction.
Many of the southerners then went toward his plan since they thought it could help them get more resources, and invented the black codes. Because the South happily took advantage of his arrangement, many Radicals of the Congress found it very devastating and planned on making their own Reconstruction Act. There were many Moderates as well, and they were the ones who controlled the party. They thought that Johnson was right when it came to the choice of whether they would include the Negros’ opinions on what the laws would be, yet they agreed that with the Radicals that African Americans should have the right to put a little bit of insight on the constitution and government. This determined that it should be upon the Congress to see if the Reconstruction Act was rational, not President Johnson. So first in 1866, the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which guaranteed the rights of former slaves. Johnson then vetoed the act since he opposed the federal protection of the former slaves. The congress then repassed the act, making it the first major law that has been approved over the President’s
The Civil War fragmented the United States by not only state borders, but by ideals and beliefs such as how much power the federal and state governments should hold, slavery, and other key issues at the time. By the end of the war, the Union had the responsibility to bring the former states of the Confederacy back into the union, rebuild both their economies and state governments, and address the large population of newly freed slaves. From period of 1865 to 1877, the period of Reconstruction in the south was only furthered slowed by resistance from portions of white population in the south who wished for their way of life to remain the same as their where before the war. During the years of Reconstruction, the whites’ resistance slowly began
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.
After four hard-fought years of the deadliest war on American soil, the Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln, defeated the Confederacy, led by President-elect Jefferson Davis. The victory of the Union resolved the matter regarding the freedom of slaves, but along came the concern of the future status of four million newly freed slaves. The United States was divided, and in response, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. Even with the best efforts put into the Reconstruction Act of 1867, it ultimately failed in its quest and ended ten years after in 1877. What remained was the issue regarding the status of African Americans and the South’s economy.
The reconstruction of the United States after the civil war was a challenging task. It was such a challenging task that some said that the reconstruction itself was a war. The largest obstacles were the fact that the Northerners demanded punishment to the Southerners and the Southerners wished to continue their lifestyle. My proposition is a way of reconstruction that I believe would have caused the least amount of damage and would have helped unite the United States in a sufficient manner. I propose that the slaves are emancipated, and granted the same equality as white citizens, but they may not vote or hold any high political positions. I also believe that in order for a state to readmit to the Union 1/10 of the population must swear
History has a way of repeating itself. We are part of a world where equal rights are still being debated today. During the Reconstruction era from 1865-1877, there were many attempts made to rebuild and restore the remnants left by the Civil War. At the forefront of Reconstruction was the main priority of eradicating slavery. This was accomplished initially by the 13th Amendment, with the 14th Amendment naturalizing all citizens, regardless of race and the 15th Amendment extending the right to vote to all African Americans. This amendment gave all African Americans a political platform and allowed them the ability to vote for fellow African Americans into political office. They also had some amount of social services that were provided by the
After the Civil War the Reconstruction Era occurred in the southern United States. The Reconstruction Era deeply impacted the south in a negative way for minority. African American were unjustly treated by the white Americans, their rights were limited and or taken away. As a result, they fought hard to obtain equal treatment as citizens. Blacks tried to fight segregation in many ways like at the ballot boxes, in the courtrooms, and through organizations like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th and 15th, which gave African Americans the status
By the year of 1860, the North and the South was developed into extremely different sections. There was opposing social, economic, and political points of view, starting back into colonial periods, and it slowly drove the two regions farther in separate directions. The two sections tried to force its point of view on the nation as a whole. Even though negotiations had kept the Union together for many years, in 1860 the condition was unstable. The presidential election of Abraham Lincoln was observed by the South as a risk to slavery and many believe it initiated the war.
Following the Civil War, government efforts to allow Southern states to reenter the Union created a social and political upheaval in the South. In 1867, the South was divided into five districts under federal jurisdiction and military protection. In the following years, blacks, with strong federal support, made tremendous economic, social, and political strides. Black and white Republicans worked together to create public education systems and sponsored infrastructural improvements in the South. The newly formed Freedmen’s Bureau also worked to reconnect families – one of the strongest desires of freedmen after the Civil War. Furthermore, Reconstruction gave blacks a real taste of political power; a small number of blacks were even elected into government. Post-war amendments radically transformed the South as well: slavery was abolished, blacks were granted citizenship, and they were promised
In the years leading up to the Civil War, there was great conflict throughout the United States. The North and South had come to a crossroads at which there was no turning back. The Secession Crisis is what ultimately led to the Civil War. The North and the South disagreed on slavery and what states would be free states. The South despised Lincoln's election and rose up in revolt by forming the Confederate States of America.