Reflection Paper On Reconstruction

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J’Taiya Carr 1/25/15 Chapter 17 REFLECTION PAPER 1 Almost 100 years after fighting to be our own country, America fought itself to stay a country and the aftermath was anything but peaceful. I am not surprised this happened since America has shown it will fight for what it believes in and the freedom they believe they deserve. The era of reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877, consisting of the government fighting to fix the country so America could rise from the ashes and become a great nation again. The United States experienced twelve brutal years of extreme racism, poverty, betrayal, tyranny, and radical change. If Lincoln had it his way, Reconstruction would have been short, sweet and to the point but the country was not allowing that. I do not know how he expected such a thing considering the South was still acting rebellious and racism was dominant all over the country. There would be no agreements without strong laws being made and enforced by the government. Now, many northerners wanted the South to be punished and completely reformed of …show more content…

As a new president was on the horizon, Republicans had Rutherford B. Hayes run for president, while Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden. The campaigns did not get horribly nasty, which showed a bit of progress, but still dirty laundry was aired and fingers were pointed. Despite all of this, both parties came to an agreement, which helped Hayes become president. He promised to remove the last federal troops from the south and let the Republican governments there diminish. In return the Democrats would accept the Reconstruction amendments, accept Hayes, and stop their opposition with Republicans in the South. I believe it was a great compromise and a smart move because things were already way out of hand. Now, civil rights were not granted in society and the US would have a long way to go before they were truly reformed, but things were better and the Civil War seemed to be truly

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