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Failure of reconstruction
Failure of reconstruction
Reasons for failure of reconstruction
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The period after the Civil War was very violent in the South. America needed change but that change did not come by. By 1877 Reconstruction was all but dead. The Reconstruction failed because of several malicious things that occurred as a result of lack of political focus on the effort to solve the elimination of the freed slaves newly gained civil liberties failing to initiate long-term racial integration. Some of the cruel things that happened was that there was groups , such as the KKK, corruption between government officials, and the negative image that the blacks were portrayed as by the government officials. The effort to remake the South generated a brutal reaction among southern whites, who were commited to keeping blacks in a subservient position. …show more content…
An example of this can be seen in Document B, in which the KKK attacked Colby because he voted for a Radical ticket and said “ If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote for the Radical ticket?” People like lawyers, Dr.’s, farmers, and other first-class men initiated the attacks because they wanted to prevent African Americans from voting. We can visually see from the image provided in the source (Document B) that people like the first-class men observed the African Americans actions to make sure they didn’t vote, showing that they attempted to interfere with black suffrage and other political rights. It can be inferred from their actions that they wanted to rule the South and end the Reconstruction. Racism was still a potent force in both the South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued, contributing to the overthrowing of the
“... the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” W.E.B. Dubois explains this in his essay North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction? Reconstruction occurred in the eleven states that seceded from the Union. Reconstruction began in 1865 to help bring the eleven states that left the Union this ended in 1877. How exactly did the North or the South make Reconstruction end? Reconstruction occurred in the 12 years after the civil war and was to help bring back the eleven states that seceded from the Union. Both Southern resistance and Northern neglect contributed to the death of Reconstruction. However, Southern resistance was the greater problem.
There was a new Military Reconstruction Act that was passed to make sure African Americans new rights were protected. The carpetbaggers provided aid for emancipated African Americans. In the article “ North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction?” it shows how the carpetbaggers supported emancipated African Americans by the founding of Black Churches, Public schools, and Universities were built for black children. In this case, the northern states tried to help the southern states to keep reconstruction but the KKK took hands in their own
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 best way to predict your future is to create it” (Lincoln). President states the principal of Reconstruction, where to unite the United States, there must be an authoritative action to carry it out. The Reconstruction Era (1863-1877) is a period where Lincoln sought to restore the divided nation by uniting the confederates and the union and to involve the freedmen into the American society. The main objectives were to initially restore the union, to rebuild the South and to enact progressive legislation for the rights of the freed slaves. Thus, the executive and legislature branches had enacted a series of polices to “create the future” for the United States. Although the policies tied down to the Reconstructive motive, there was controversy
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African American people, instead, it actually hurt them because the laws were not enforced, and eventually lead to the organization of white supremacy terrorist groups.
...ights of blacks due to the inequitable laws such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping, and the fact that the Economic Depression of 1873 and the common acts of corruption distressed the economy. The southern states were reunified with the northern states through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction programs, even though Congress did not fully support them and created their own plan. Reconstruction was meant to truly give blacks the rights they deserved, but the southerners’ continuous acts of discrimination including the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping eventually denied them of those rights. Lastly, the negative effects of the corruption and the Panic of 1873 lead to economic failure during Reconstruction. These issues relate to our society because people do still face discrimination and corruption in our economy still exists today.
After the Union victory in the Civil War, the South was still bitter and needed vast societal changes that matched those in the North. Reconstruction efforts were made to to make the regions more similar socially, politically, and economically; because despite the fact that they were on nation, the two societies were very different. There were still unresolved issues in regards to the status of former slaves and what system of labor should replace slavery. After the Union’s victory in the Civil War, reform efforts were made during the Reconstruction era to reunite the North and South and make ideas in the South more similar to those in the North; but this failed because of the South’s preconcieved ideas towards race.
The social history regarding reconstruction has been of great controversy for the last two decades in America. Several wars that occurred in America made reconstruction efforts to lag behind. Fundamental shortcomings of the reconstruction were based on racism, politics, capitalism and social relations. The philosophy was dominant by the people of South under the leadership of Lincoln. Lincoln plans were projected towards bringing the states from the South together as one nation. However, the efforts of the Activist were faded by the intrusion of the Republicans from the North. Northerners were capitalists and disapproved the ideas that Lincoln attempted to spread in the South (Foner Par 2).
The era of Reconstruction had intended to mend the problems resulting from the American Civil War. Unfortunately, southern Radicalists made enormous efforts to prevent this as they believed in white supremacy. These Radicalists did not want to permit African Americans the ability to vote however they were forced to when accepting readmission into the Union under the Fourteenth Amendment. To counter this, these confederates created "Black Codes" to ensure racial segregation and even forged white supremacy organizations. All of these events along with Republican scandals led to the inevitable failure of the Reconstruction era.
When Reconstruction began in 1865, a broken America had just finished fighting the Civil War. In all respects, Reconstruction was mainly just that. It was a time period of “putting back the pieces”, as people say. It was the point where America attempted to become a full running country once more. This, though, was not an easy task. The memory of massive death was still in the front of everyone’s mind, hardening into resentment and sometimes even hatred. The south was virtually non-existent politically or economically, and searching desperately for a way back in. Along with these things, now living amongst the population were almost
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.
...d freedmen’s civic activities. Although theoretically unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment, black codes remained in effect throughout the South, albeit unofficially, due to terror campaigns waged by racist clubs like the Ku Klux Klan. This association of ex-Confederates tormented, brutalized, and lynched freedmen and opportunistic Northerners who had traveled southward to reap the benefits of victory in the war. A Thomas Nast cartoon labeled the Klan as “worse than slavery” (Document I), attesting to its influence. Ultimately, the federal government suppressed the organization through laws that transferred jurisdiction over Klan cases to the federal government. Reinvigorated Southerners responded to these enactments by asserting modified versions of the states’ rights doctrine, as evidenced by an article in a publication entitled Nation (Document H).
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.
The Civil war was possibly the greatest tragedy that this country had ever faced. Years of constant arguing, compromises and cynical ideas about slavery pushed this so called "United Nation" into an atrocious collision between the Northern abolitionists and the Southern proslavery farmers and plantation owners. The nation suffered enormous losses economically and went into a downward spiral. The reconstruction period began with many leaders stepping up to try and fix this crippled country, but it didn't turn out like everyone hoped. Slavery was still the largest issue and the reconstruction halted because of the disagreements the people faced. After many years of working, compromising and passing laws, the task proved itself to be impossible, as the country remained to be separated. The lack of unity was present because most of the amendments, laws and rules passed during reconstruction were created to protect and ensure the rights of African Americans. However the South continued to promote slavery and "putting blacks in their place" until the 1950's.
America has gone through many different struggles and positive changes. There have been so many different revolutionary moments in America. One of these revolutionary moments was Reconstruction after the civil war. Reconstruction had different periods such as Emancipation and Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction, Radical Reconstruction, and the Compromise of 1877. The period of Reconstruction had many goals and accomplishments. Reconstruction did come to an end and just like most revolutionary moments in history Reconstruction was labeled both a success and a failure. Though human equality was the main goal of the Reconstruction period in the South after the Civil War, it proved to be an attempted