Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

1216 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Success and failure of reconstruction

As a state, America has gone nevertheless countless governmental adjustments across her lifetime. Heads have come and gone, all of them possessing disparate goals and strategies for the future. As past seizes its sequence, nevertheless, most all of these “revolutionary movements” come to an end. One such movement was Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period era in America encompassing of countless heads, aims and accomplishments. Though, like all things in existence, it did come to an conclude, the emerging consequence has been labeled both a accomplishment and a failure. When Reconstruction started in 1865, a broken America had just finished clashing the Political War. In all respects, Reconstruction was generally just that. It was a …show more content…

It was the point whereas America endeavored to come to be a maximum running state after more. This, nevertheless, was not an facile task. The recollection of large demise was yet in the front of everyone’s mind, hardening into resentment and from time to time even hatred. The south was nearly non-existent politically or frugally, and hunting desperately for a method back in. Alongside alongside these things, nowadays living amongst the populace were nearly four million preceding slaves, who had no believed how to make a living on their own. They had been freed by the 13th correction in 1865, and in the upcoming came to be a outstanding concern to countless governmental leaders. Still, it was no hidden that something had to be done. So, as normally happens, governmental heads materialized on the period, every single grasping their own design of Reconstruction, …show more content…

The Reconstruction Deed in the end bypassed by congress had two main points to it. First, army were needed to move in and seize up residence in the confederate states of the south. Secondly, each state that wanted back into the coalition was merely allowed to do so after and if they modified their 14th amendment. They had to concur that all men born in the U.S. were residents, and that because of that they were guaranteed equal treatment by the law. Later, in 1870, black men were additionally conceded the vote…but this should come

Show More
Related

  • Reconstruction Essay

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the Civil War, the victorious Union enacted a policy of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states. Reconstruction was aimed at creating as smooth a transition as possible for the southern states to re-enter the Union as well as enacting economic and social changes. However, several factors brought about its failure, and as a result the consequences can be seen in the race problems we still have today. In 1862, President Lincoln had appointed temporary military governors to re-establish functional governments in occupied southern states. In order for a state to be allowed to re-enter the Union, it had to meet the criteria, which was established to be that at least 10 percent of the voting population polled in 1860 must denounce the Confederacy and swear allegiance to the Union again. However this was not good enough for Congress, which at the time was dominated by Radical Republicans who fervently called for social and economic change in the south, specifically the rights of blacks. They were especially concerned with guaranteeing black civil and voting rights, and criticized Lincoln for excluding this in the original plan for Reconstruction.

    Read More

  • Reconstruction: The Impact of South Resistance

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Who Killed Reconstruction Dbq

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    Reconstruction began in 1865 and ended in 1877. Reconstruction is known as the rebuilding of the U.S. following the Civil War where they would allow southern's back into the union.The military then organized for new elections, which were three groups and they were; freedmen, carpetbaggers, and

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    They passed the Reconstruction Act, which was the desperate act to establish newly freed slaves. The African Americans were only reconsidered for their voting right after the Republican majority congress implementing of radical Reconstruction plan. Despite the congress trying to provide equal rights among the freed slaves, southern states other hand was equally reluctant. Congress hardened on Confederate states to implement the mandatory including of the African American in the election process, guaranteeing their voting rights. “Congressional Reconstruction embodied the most sweeping peacetime legislation in American history to that point. It sought to ensure that freed slaves could participate in the creating of new state governments in the former Confederacy” (Shi and Tindall 591). Congress was desperate to provide political rights to freed slaves. As a result of that, they passed the military Reconstruction Act. The military Reconstruction Act guaranteed the right to vote for the African American make, encouraging them to participate in conventions. “The South Carolina constitutional convention -which included 58 men who were once enslaved” (Hillstrom 55). Many states have started eliminating discrimination against freed slaves, and providing equal rights as every white citizen. As more and more state law was more soft towards them, many African American populations were engaging in the election process electing their own people to represent them. “…every former Confederate state elected at least some black delegates, and most states elected African Americans in about the same proportion as their population. A few states even elected a majority if black delegates” (Hillstrom 55). Although, many states were electing African Americans, there were still wide discrimination against elected black officials, in which case Congress has to provide

    Read More

  • The Successes and Failures of Reconstruction

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reconstruction could be considered one of the largest projects ever undertaken. The mess that was the south, left in the ruins of a bloody war, called for drastic measures. The inquisition that begs to be asked is whether or not this venture was a success. Unfortunately, the answer isn't as simple as "yes" or "no". Although many promises were broken, the much-debated goals of Reconstruction are still present in the minds of today's leaders as we continue to rebuild our country.

    Read More

  • Essay About Reconstruction

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Was The Reconstruction A Success Or A Failure

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reconstruction is the period of rebuilding the south that succeeded the Civil War (1861-1865). This period of time is set by the question now what? The Union won the war and most of the south was destroyed. Devastation, buildings turned into crumbles and lost crops. The South was drowning in poverty. To worsen the situation there were thousands of ex-slaves that were set free by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13 Amendment. "All these ex-slaves", Dr. Susan Walens commented, "and no place to put them," The ex-slaves weren't just homeless but they had no rights, unlike white man. The government and congress had to solve the issues present in the south and the whole nation in order to re-establish the South. These issues were economical, social and political. The United States had presidential and congressional reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure, a great attempt to unify the nation. It was a failure due to the events that took place during this period.

    Read More

  • Why Did Reconstruction Fail?

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Reconstruction in America After the Civil War

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    America has gone through many hardships and struggles since coming together as a nation involving war and changes in the political system. Many highly regarded leaders in America have come bestowing their own ideas and foundation to provide a better life for “Americans”, but no other war or political change is more infamous than the civil war and reconstruction. Reconstruction started in 1865 and ended in 1877 and still to date one of the most debated issues in American history on whether reconstruction was a failure or success as well as a contest over the memory, meaning, and ending of the war. According to, “Major Problems in American History” David W. Blight of Yale University and Steven Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania take different stances on the meaning of reconstruction, and what caused its demise. David W. Blight argues that reconstruction was a conflict between two solely significant, but incompatible objectives that “vied” for attention both reconciliation and emancipation. On the other hand Steven Hahn argues that former slaves and confederates were willing and prepared to fight for what they believed in “reflecting a long tradition of southern violence that had previously undergirded slavery” Hahn also believes that reconstruction ended when the North grew tired of the 16 year freedom conflict. Although many people are unsure, Hahn’s arguments presents a more favorable appeal from support from his argument oppose to Blight. The inevitable end of reconstruction was the North pulling federal troops from the south allowing white rule to reign again and proving time travel exist as freed Africans in the south again had their civil, political, and economical position oppressed.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Reconstruction Essay

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Mason Grosvenor believes that Reconstruction should be harsh. Grosvenor has two main arguments to support this belief, manifest destiny and the potential for the reoccurrence of a similar event to the war if Reconstruction was carried out in a lenient manner. Grosvenor argues that the country, pre-Civil War, was never truly a single unified country, but rather a group of peoples with vastly different values held together by a constitution which they had outgrown, saying, “[n]o chemical union had ever taken place; for that the white-hot crucible of civil war was found necessary.” Furthermore, Grosvenor believes that the succession of the South demonstrated this divide while simultaneously violating the doctrine of manifest destiny through

    Read More

  • Success of Reconstruction

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.

    Read More

  • The Civil War: Reconstruction

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves. Although Reconstruction failed in many aspects such as the upraise in white supremacy and racism, the reconstruction era was a time the United States took a lead in the direction of race equality.

    Read More

  • Differences Between Presidential And Congressional Reconstruction

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aside from the presidential reconstruction, the Congressional Reconstruction was also taking place. The Congressman disagreed with both Lincoln and Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction. Their main two goals was to integrate African Americans into society by granting them citizenship and the right to vote, and the second goal was to destroy the political powers that former slaveholders had in the South. They first implemented these ideas by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws. Although the black codes came about and Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, Congress had the power to override his veto. This shows that even though the President is the leader of the nation, the Constitution guarantees that Congress has some measure of influence over the President and may chose to block his procedures, Check and Balances. With success, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the country. All citizens were entitled to equal protection under law and be given their rights. The Congress agreed that if the Confederate states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment they could come back into the Union. Having not followed the Congress request, Congressed passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This forced the Confederate states to undergo Reconstruction as the Congress wanted. To ensure that Southerners could not change their state constitution in the future, they passed the Fifteenth Amendment and the last congressional Reconstruction law, another Civil Rights

    Read More

  • Failure Of Reconstruction Essay

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reconstruction, a period during the US History where the Union government, who won the Civil War, reconstructs both political and social systems of the south so that the Northern industrialization will be assured its dominance over the south as the union restores. The southern economy, which depended upon cotton and various crops, had the necessity of “cheap labor” which led to the usage of black slaves. In fact, these “crop planters” who owned a vast amount of money and land became the industrial power of the South disabling the enaction of higher taxes in the south due to their political power. Moreover, the goal of reconstruction was to eliminate wealthy planters in the south to deconstruct the power of the agricultural industry in the federal government. As a matter of fact, because the “black slaves” had an immense effect on the growth and size of the agricultural economy, the reconstruction gave “fundamental human rights” to the black

    Read More

  • Who Killed Reconstruction

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

Open Document