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.
In conclusion, Reconstruction failed for the freedmen for a variety of reasons. I believe the main reason for this failure was the inability for the two political parties to agree on what they wanted to achieve. Did they want total freedom for the freed slaves, only partial freedom, or just the rebuilding that issue coupled with unpopularity, the freedman’s culture being rooted in the south, and the freed slaves’ inability to find work outside of the south resulted in a process that took over a century to work successfully. I feel that it is very unfortunate that President Lincoln was killed so shortly after the end of the Civil War. I believe that since Reconstruction was Lincoln’s idea he would have carried it out more successfully than his successors did.
“Although political violence continued in the South…the tide of public opinion in the North began to turn against Reconstruction policies.” Some may think this meant the North was killing Reconstruction but the North can’t help the South if they’re going to keep rebelling and trying to take over. They can’t help people who don’t want to be helped. “In the fall of 1873, even the staunchly [firmly] pro-Grant and pro-freedman Boston Evening Transcript ran a letter…arguing that “the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties.” In the North’s defense, this was kind of true, since most blacks were uneducated and the Black Codes prevented them from many rights which were needed as politicians. Like the right of assembly. My thesis is correct. Though the North did have some actions that may have impacted Reconstruction in a negative way, most of them were for a reason and made sense.
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
Reconstruction was a nasty period in History. Reconstruction took place after the civil war. In the civil war there was lots of devastation. Buildings and houses were being destroyed so people needed something called Reconstruction. Reconstruction was something people really needed after the civil war because they needed to rebuild a community. Some people didn't want reconstruction because they liked destruction. Then also after the civil war slavery was abolished, as well some people don't like that either. South killed Reconstruction because South resistance had KKK, and South was murdering people.
Andrew Johnson, who became President of the U.S. in 1865, had his own Reconstruction plan, but it turned out to be unsuccessful largely because of the unfair ways in which blacks were treated. According to his plan, pardons would be offered to all southern whites except wealthy Confederate supporters and the main Confederate leaders. Conventions were to be held by the defeated southern states and new state governments were to be formed. These new governments had to make a vow of loyalty to the nation and abolish slavery in order to rejoin the Union. However, this plan did not offer the blacks a role in this process; he left the responsibility of determining the black people’s roles to the southern states. Under his plan, new state governments were organized throughout the South during the summer and fall of 1865. These states governments passed a series of laws known as the Black Codes. These codes allowed employees to whip black workers, allowed states to jail unemployed blacks and to hire out their children, and forced blacks to sign labor contracts that required them to work a job for a full year. The Republicans in Congress believed that Johnson’s plan was a failure, not only because of the Black Codes that were passed, but because when Congress reassembled in December of 1865, numerous newly ele...
Even before the war ended, President Lincoln started to think about reconstruction because he already thought about how the war would end. He wanted to build a strong Republic in the South. To end the war, he made a proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction for those areas of the Confederacy were ere was ran by Union armies. What Lincoln did was when ten percent of the population would sign a loyalty oath, he would reinstate that state into the union. In order to get this ten percent he wanted the knowledgeable blacks to vote. Voters the were able to elect delegates to give changed state constitutions and create new state governments. All southerners except for high line Confederate army officers and government officials were granted full amnesty. Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property which excl...
In 1865 the beginning of the end of the Civil War was in effect called “Reconstruction”. The purpose of Reconstruction was to make the United States a unified nation once again. Reconstruction was a success in the sense of the southern states ratified the constitution and chose not to secede. The southern states also agreed to pledge loyalty to the union and ratify the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments. On the other hand, with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, by pulling the troops out of the South white slave owners regained power and the south slowly went back to the ways of the “old south”. The end of Reconstruction was influenced by specific causes such as: the northerners exhaustion with fighting the south and trying to punish the Klu Klux Klan, Radical Republicans being struck down by the Supreme Court, and white unionists, carpetbaggers, and scalawags being pushed out of the South by the Klu Klux Klan (Reconstruction (1865-1877)).
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.
Professor Eric Foner of Columbia University states, “I've spent half of my life living in the North and half living in the South. As I grew up in the North, I never really thought about Reconstruction and would probably have said that it had eventually succeeded. However, after living in the South and witnessing firsthand some of the remaining negative effects of Reconstruction, I have to admit that it failed. It was considered a failure because there were all these charges of corruption.” He said that it was considered a failure because of the violence which took place and the inability of the governments to put it down. And increasingly, racism reestablished itself in the North. After this moment of equality, the idea of what we call social
Norther neglect caused the end to reconstruction because of no focus on Reconstruction. In the 1780’s northerners were not focused on reconstruction but on the scandals in grants administration and the panic of 1873. They began to became unconcerned about southern affairs. Affairs like the equal rights talk and corruption in the south. Being unconcerned their opinions were beginning to swing against Reconstruction. During grants precedence grants focus would be split between Reconstruction and corruption in his presidency. Trying to stop this corruption he might have had more focus on the scandals in his administration. Meanwhile Reconstruction would fade into the background. while this is happening the people would lose faith in the government
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.
The Compromise of 1877 was brought on by the disputed election of 1876. The Democrats had clearly won but this was disputed by a few large states. This election was between Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Congress created a commission to try and resolve this dispute and the commission voted in favor of Hays giving him all of the electoral votes from the disputed states, which in turn gave Hayes the victory. This led to a series of compromises from the Republicans to the Southern Democrats which included: “The appointment of at least one southerner to the Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements, federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and most important, withdrawal of the remaining federal troops from the South” (Brinkley 363). These compromises are what jump started The “New South”. The compromises were supposed to help create a more Republican South but in turn did the exact opposite. The South went in a different direction. The “New South” had a lot of effects on of different subjects. The economy in the south grew tremendously, the politics changed and were predominantly democratic, and the African Americans were losing all of the things they had gained through reconstruction. These changes where exactly what Southern Whites wanted and in some cases it is what the Republicans hoped would happen. The “New South” was a reality by the end of the 19th century and changed the South by growing economically, becoming Democratic politically, and having even worse race relations.
With the end of the Civil war in 1865, the new nation of the United States now faced challenges on restoring peace within the Union. The North, having won the civil war, now faced the task to implement reconstruction of the South. They came in contact with the questions of: What should happen to the freed slaves, should the freed slaves have rights, what should be done to the Confederate leaders, and how should the South be reconstructed? There were many different ideas and views on how Reconstruction should be handled, but only one succeeded more successfully than the other. Although they bear some superficial similarities, the difference between presidential and congressional reconstruction are clear. The president believed that Confederate