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Successes and failures of the reconstruction era
Reconstruction era in the us after the civil war
Essays of reconstruction in the usa
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The name Ulysses S. Grant is one that is well recognized in American history. Grant was born in 1822, and he later came to be one of the most influential people in the history of the country. Grant is revered for having been a reputable commander of the Union forces during the American Civil War. After serving in the military, Grant was later elected to serve as the 18th president of America. Through his presidency, Grant saw the country through the reconstruction era, and he led efforts to reconcile the North and South and also tried to protect the civil rights of the newly freed slaves. After his presidential term had ended, Grant spent his last days penning his memoirs, which were well received by the public after his death becoming a financial …show more content…
Whereas many other commanders were afraid to pursue forward in battle, Grant was not. Grant was a great strategist, and his precise organization and leadership helped the Union to win the war against the Confederate forces. I also agree that Grant was an exceptionally brave commander better than General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate forces and that’s why he outmaneuvered his counterpart to deliver victory to the Union. Furthermore, the South had enough resources to enable them to win the war, and if they were weaker from the time the war started, then it does not make sense why other commanders before Grant were unable to defeat them (White, 2016). The only explanation to this is that Grant was a much better commander than his predecessors, a master tactician who executed his strategies well to win the …show more content…
When Grant became president, the country had just come from one of the worst civil wars in humankind history, and there was a need for healing because there was still a feeling of animosity between the Northerners and the Southerners. Some people were not very receptive to the idea of reconstruction. Furthermore, other people were of the opinion that soldiers who participated in the Civil War should not be granted pardons. Grant had to tackle the difficult challenge of trying to unite Americans together and at the same time he also hard to fight the Southerners and prevent them from re-enslaving black people. White explains how Grant desperately used the government’s resources to put up a spirited fight against white racists insurgent groups like the Ku Klux Klan in order to protect the civil rights of African Americans (White, 2016). I agree that Grant was a great and compassionate president. Although Grant was raised in a family that did not support slavery, he married into a family that owned slaves, and for many years he was ambivalent when it came to the topic of slavery. But when he assumed a position of leadership, he understood that his role had changed, and he was no accountable for protecting the civil rights of many citizens, and he did exactly that. Grant was a great advocator for the rights of African Americans. I support White’s argument that Grant was
President Abraham Lincoln demanded a decisive victory. He was tired of his military leadership’s inability to decisively engage and defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Allowing the war to drag on was to the Confederacies advantage. Lincoln was so frustrated that he relieved General George B. McClellan for failing to defeat Lee at Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside, who proved to be very conservative in battle against General Lee. Knowing that General Lee was a student of Napoleonic warfare, Burnside feared that Lee always had a large Corps in reserve waiting to flank should he be decisively engaged from the front.
Lee had supreme confidence in his army, and believed that it could accomplish whatever he asked of it. This confidence sometimes led him to ask too much, such as in the case of Picket’s charge during the battle of Gettysburg. In Lee’s mind he was first and foremost a Christian, and a gentleman. These facts, although not bad, certainly caused Lee to be less aggressive, and to fight the war in a very old-fashioned manner. This was not so with Grant, who seemed to believe in a more modern type of total warfare. Perhaps because this war, as many contend, was the first modern war, it was impossible for the South, and it’s leaders to adapt to the situation.
The Civil War, beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, was a notorious event in American history for many influential reasons. Among them was the war 's conclusive role in determining a united or divided American nation, its efforts to successfully abolish the slavery institution and bring victory to the northern states. This Civil War was first inspired by the unsettling differences that divided the northern and southern states over the power that resided in the hands of the national government to constrain slavery from taking place within the territories. There was only one victor in the Civil War. Due to the lack of resources, plethora of weaknesses, and disorganized leadership the Southern States possessed in comparison to the Northern States,
With the end of the Civil war, many blacks felt that they would start reaping the benefits that had been denied from them for years. Being able to vote, own land, have a voice in political affairs were all goals that they felt were reachable. The era of Reconstruction was the “miracle” they had been searching for. But the South wasn’t going down without a fight and blacks would have to wait at least 100 years for Freedom Summer to arrive to receive the “miracle” they wanted. 100 years it took for equality to become more than just a word but a way of life for blacks. But they did enjoy some privileges that weren’t available to them.
Grant viewed the Battle of Cold Harbor as a means to complete his Overland Campaign, and ultimately, be the driving force for Union victory of the Civil War. Grant chose the Army of the Potomac to be the decisive operation and General George G. Meade acted as the commander. Though both Generals were experienced leaders, they had different skills, abilities and opinions that not only led to a dysfunctional command climate, but also was a major reason for the Union loss of the Battle of Cold Harbor. Grant viewed his command position as a strategic role with subordinate Meade making the tactical decisions, but Meade did not view...
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.
"If wars are won by riches, there can be no question why the North eventually prevailed." The North was better equipped than the South, with the resources necessary to be successful in a long term war like the Civil War was, which was fought from 1861 1865. Prior, and during the Civil war, the North's economy was always stronger than the South's, boasting of resources that the Confederacy had no means of attaining. Compared to the South, The North had more factories available for production of war supplies and larger amounts of land for growing crops. Its population was several times of the South's, which was a potential source for military enlistees. Although the South had better naval leadership and commanders, such as Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, they lacked the number of factories and industries to produce needed war materials. Therefore, the North won the American Civil War due to the strength of their industrialized economy, rather than their commanders and strategies.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
...ights for African Americans as well as a political rights for the people, his goal was to abolish slavery and felt that “all men created equally” should uphold for everybody, everybody that was man at least. Johnson the president, in the beginning proved to be loyal to his radicals by chastising the confederacy making sure there would be repercussions for their actions. Also his amnesty plan to reinstate the south states was far harsher than that of Lincoln's. Johnson’s sanctions deprived confederacy officers, people in high power, and anyone who owned valuable assets could be subject to confiscation. The purpose was to shift political power in south and reward it to freed blacks and white southerners who stayed neutral during the war. Hahn states in his article that, “During reconstruction, black men held political offices in every state of the former confederacy”
Throughout my life, I tried to please whites in both the North and the South through his public actions and his speeches. I never publicly supported black political causes that were unpopular with Southern whites.
The Union was at a disadvantage during this battle even though the fight was being brought to them. They were heavily out numbered with only 500-600 soldiers compared to the compared to the confederates with 1500-2500 soldiers. Forrest was also interested in making the Yankees prisoners so he ordered Capt. Charles...
was worried about fixing the corrupt government. The northern government as well as the businesses and people were frauds or corrupt.(Document C) “Northern voters grew indifference to the South. Weary of the ‘Negro Question’ and ‘Sick of Carpetbag government.” The negro question is if the black men would ever be freed. The carpetbag Government were Northerners who went south to help freedmen and Reconstruction. (Hook Exercise:Reconstruction). The Panic of 1873 was a national crisis. Later Northerners turned on reconstruction.(Document C). (In the picture on Document C) It shows President Grant face in a barrel, on the barrel are rings and the rings show the illegal activity going on. (President U.S Grant) “I hope i shall get to the bottom of this.” At this moment of time Northerners have completely turned their backs on the south. They weren't focused and the south was soon going to go back as it once was if the north wasn't willing to help. Republicans in the south were getting brutally murdered and the north did nothing absolutely nothing to stop the kkk.(Document
...f wearing down the north's patience. The south's idea of northerns as "city slickers" who did not know how to ride or shoot was wrong. Many of the men who formed the Union forces came from rural backgrounds and were just as familiar with riding and shooting as their southern enemies. Finally, the south's confidence in its ability to fund through sales of export crops such as cotton did not take into consideration the northern blockade. France and Britain were not willing to become involved in a military conflict for the sake of something they had already stockpiled. The help the south had received from France and Britain turned out to be a lot less than they expected. In conclusion, while all the south's reasons for confidence were based on reality, they were too hopeful. The south's commitment to a cause was probably what caused their blindness to reality.
Grant was taking a different direction than the other black people. Instead of working in the fields as supposed to, he decided to find a good education to serve his people. At that time it was very difficult for him because he was humiliated by white people and this made him felt inferior. Being a black person at that time was not easy. As Grant said “I hurried to my room with the satchel of papers that I had brought from school to work on that night” (page 10). This shows that he was a teacher and an educated person. Also he said “And I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach...” This demonstrated that he had to do what white people tell him to do, not what he think should be good for a black people to succeed in life. As Nelson Mandela once said “I was angry at the white man, not at racism. This shows that white...
James A. Garfield was an outstanding man of many endeavors who went from driving boats down the canal to become a general of the union army to the twentieth president of the United States of America (The American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans). James A. Garfield was against slavery and had great plans for reconstruction, but sadly they were cut short. His term only lasted in the first year, as Garfield was shot by an office seeker and died many months later (The American Heritage Book of the Presidents and Famous Americans).