One reason the North killed Reconstruction was because they were racist. Freedmen politicians were portrayed as corrupt “fat cats” and caused nothing but chaos and bedlam in the legislatures they served in (Harper’s Weekly, 1874). This showed that the North thought negatively about African Americans. Also, the Boston Evening Transcript stated that, “blacks need a [period of probation and instruction; a period…long enough for the black to have forgotten something about his condition as a slave and learned much of the true method of gaining honorable subsistence and of performing the duties of any position to which he might aspire,” (Richardson, 2001). This quote proved that the North was not ready to fully embrace African Americans as equals, and that there was still some racism that existed among Northerners. So, if the North was not racist, the North may have been more positive Reconstruction, and, in turn, spend more time working on Reconstruction.
The South won in Reconstruction in many ways. Rebuilding the South was one of its major focuses. Several canals, bridges, and railroads were rebuilt with Reconstruction funds. The Republicans in Congress agreed with southern legislatures on how important business was. For this, a large amount of money was gathered to help the South’s reconstruction. Even though slavery was abolished with the passing of the 13th Amendment, it still existed in the South in the forms of “Black Codes” and cults like the Ku Klux Klan. In conclusion, Lincoln won the war for the North, but President Johnson won Reconstruction for the South by allowing them to create their own laws to keep the former slaves down and keeping their Southern lifestyles.
It was a goal of President Abraham Lincoln’s for Reconstruction to be a very smooth and successful period of time. “With malice toward none, with charity to all,” Lincoln said in his second inauguration speech. He was referring to not only the conflict between black men and white men, but also the hard feelings between the north and south. The southern states had entered the Civil War with such confidence and dreams of independence that many were now humiliated at the idea of having to receive aid from the federal government. President Lincoln’s assassination also put in the country in further turmoil.
President Abraham Lincoln envisioned a conservative plan for the reconstruction of the south. Under Lincoln’s plan, as soon as ten percent of the voters in a southern state whom have voted in 1860 and had taken an oath of loyalty to the United States, they could then elect constitutional conventions. These conventions, upon adopting new state constitutions and abolishing slavery they would then be readmitted to the union. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln would change polices towards reconstruction of the south.
Who do you think killed Reconstruction? The South or the North? This is a very controversial topic since both the North and the South’s actions impacted the progression of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Act took place after the Civil War. It was the rebuilding of the United States after what was left of the Civil War. Reconstruction was a time in America consisting of many leaders, goals and accomplishments. Though, like most things in life, it came to an end, the result was both a success and a failure. The South killed Reconstruction. They weren’t interested in equal rights and they showed much violence towards the North and African-Americans.
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.
The election of Lincoln, secession of the southern states and the Confederate States of America Constitution set the stage for the bloodiest and saddest war in American history. Before the Civil War even began the nation was divided into four very distinct regions; Northeast, Northwest, Upper south and the Southwest. With two fundamentally different labor systems, slavery in the south and wage labor in the North, the political, economic and social changes across the nation would show the views of the North and the South. The civil war was based on the abolitionists' ideas of emancipation and liberation of slavery the North wanted the war in order to create a society without slavery. The North's aggression to control the south lead to the where were it was no longer tolerable for the South. With the election of the anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln, the southern states decided they had to take drastic action in order to protect their own interests. The south had been waiting for an excuse to secede form the union, the election of Lincoln by the North was their chance. The Northern abolitionists' states were mainly responsible for the Civil war in many political, social and economic aspects.
After the conclusion of America’s Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln pitched the idea of “Reconstruction,” which would bring the southern states back into the Union. President Lincoln, according to many radical Republicans, was too gentle on the south. The government was divided on how to solve the issue of readmitting the southern states back into the Union. In addition to that, the government was not certain on what rights to enumerate to the newly emancipated slaves. These issues became more difficult to solve after President Lincoln was murdered. Lincoln’s successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, was a Tennessee Democrat that lacked respect of the Republican Congress. The legislative and executive branches of the American government had a greater disparity in ideas of how to bring America back to one Union. Although there was a great disparity in ideas between the executive and legislative branches on how to successfully reconstruct the nation, the nation eventually came to a solution that allowed the nation to once again form as one nation.
I would like to begin this assignment with a brief explanation of the points and reasons that relate to the topic of how and what the reasons were on why Southern whites were in favor of limiting rights and freedom to the black population of the United States , such reasons and ideas included the organized anti-black intimidating terrorist group The Ku Klux Klan , the introduction of the Black Codes formerly known as the Jim Crow laws and President Lincolns ideas such as the emancipation proclamation and the 10% loyalty oath and lastly sharecropping during the reconstruction era. To begin this essay first will be a brief explanation about the Reconstruction era .
In theory, Lincoln’s plan of Reconstruction seemed an efficient way to redeem the South of its devastation. He was willing to give them a break and do far more for the former Confederates than they deserved. Reconstruction proved to be a failure because Southerners regressive and resistant to change. Because of conflicting viewpoints between Andrew Johnson and congress, the false promises of the Reconstruction Amendments and South’s reign of terror on African Americans these efforts were dismantled.
Reconstruction is known as the period after the Civil war. The whole country was separated in two, people didn’t know what to do, the south was completely destroyed, and there were a lot of decisions to be made by the president. It lasted four years, and there was over half a million casualties between the union (North) and the confederate states (South). The north was declared the winner of the war after General Lee surrender in the Appomattox court house on April 9, 1865. The causes of the war was the secession of several southern states, they argued that it was up to them and it was in their rights to decide whether they should make slavery legal or illegal in their own boundaries. But the Union had other things in mind, the union wanted to decide whether or not the states were going to have slaves. This was just to make sure the country was equal on slavery and non-slavery on both sides, but states thought the union was abusing their power and being too strict on them, and that is when they decided to secede. The first state to secede was south Carolina, then they were followed by six other states, among those states were Florida, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. These states got together and created the confederate states of America in February 4, 1861, and the president was Jefferson Davis, they also made a government similar to the one of the U.S. Constitution.
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,
The south was in economic and social chaos after its defeat in the war. 1865-1877 was a time period of reconstructing the south, however, it left an everlasting impression that kept the south behind for years to come. The political apprehension the south felt was due to the fact that there was no more authority and the new states had to deal with the northern states. The question was how the newly reelected Lincoln was going to bring these states back to the Union.
In conclusion the election of Lincoln as president in 1860 caused a civil war because it was falsely perceived by the south that Lincoln would threaten the state’s constitutional right to slavery. This false idea was due to a rift between the northern and southern states in both an economic and ideological manner. That is the north was based on industry and generally was opposed to slavery. But the South was an agricultural society which ran on slavery and, due to Nat Turner’s Insurrection and John Brown’s stand at Harper’s Ferry, was fearful of the north’s involvement in the governing of states as well as being opposed to this on the basis of state’s rights. The election of Lincoln caused the south to succeed from the union causing civil war.
As a nation, America has faced some troublesome times through her life span. As history goes on, people never forget about the Reconstruction era. Reconstruction was refers to the efforts made in the United State between 1865 and 1877. As the saying goes, ¨All good things must come to an end¨ which is exactly the case. The reputation Reconstruction has is labeled both a success and a failure.