Why The North Killed Reconstruction

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“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” These famous words from Abraham Lincoln speak true to America during the Reconstruction of the South. After winning the Civil War, the North wanted to help repair the war torn cities and farms in the South that were left from the war. This happened when the Reconstruction Acts of 1866 were passed because of Congress overriding President Andrew Johnson’s vetoes. Reconstruction is the rebuilding of the South and what to do with the former slaves. The North killed Reconstruction because of the President Grant’s corruption and the Panic of the 1873. Due to the corruption of President Grant, troops were pulled from the South allowing the killing of John W. Stephens, and the bribery …show more content…

According to document C “...many Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873…” Thus shows that Northerners were more concerned with the national economy over the ideals of reconstruction. Additionally, document D also says that corruption of Grant made Northerns not want to follow the terms of Reconstruction. “... the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the power exercise of political duties…”(Document D) This shows how the north did want blacks in charge of government. This meant that they didn’t want blacks to have the full rights of white men, suggesting that they didn’t fully follow the act of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction of the South wasn’t completed due to corruption in the North, and because of the Panic of 1873. These two events change how the South could have been and made it to what it was. The corruption of Grant swung in favor of the Klan and hurt the black people, also with the economic depression it shifted the attention of the North and making them take care of their own needs instead of their wrongfully treated

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