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Austin Evans 9/22/15 Social Studies: 4th English: 6th DBQ: Reconstruction The Civil War was a very brutal time yet what came after was even more tragic. It was called Reconstruction. . Reconstruction means to re-build. After the Civil War, which occurred between the years 1861-1865, most of America wanted to re-build and preserve the Union. The Reconstruction era did not last though. Both the North and the South played roles in destroying the Reconstruction though the South played a bigger role in killing it. The South had a bigger impact on killing the Reconstruction because of things the Ku Klux Klan did and how the southern states were formed their government. One reason why the South killed the Reconstruction was because the Ku Klux Klan was making it difficult for the government to focus on the Reconstruction. This can be supported by the fact that the Ku Klux Klan was murdering people (Tourgee 511). Since the Ku Klux Klan was murdering people the government had to focus more on the Ku Klux Klan instead of the Reconstruction. This led to the government sending in troops, which also supports the idea that the Ku Klux Klan made it difficult for the government to focus on the Reconstruction (Tourgee 511). To add to the stress, the Ku Klux Klan showed a lot of intimidation. It states in Document A, “He was stabbed …show more content…
The southern states also made it difficult since they were creating a government that was only serving white people. Some may say that the North killed the Reconstruction because there was a lot of illegal activities going on in it. Yet President Hayes was not focusing on the Reconstruction causing the South to do worse in that part of the country. The South did kill the Reconstruction and it was not the North's fault. With all of this evidence it can be determined that the South killed the
Yes, Reconstruction was doomed to fail. The first reason for this was that Lincoln started a plan or policy for Reconstruction before the Civil War was over (page 792 of our assigned readings). Lincoln said that "he intended to to deal with the defeated South "with malice toward none" and "charity for all" to "achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves (Page 792 of our assigned readings)."" The first problem with this thought is that who knows how the war would play out? Yes, Lincoln believed that this proposition would help end the war, but was that a good time to begin Reconstruction? Before the war even ended? Lincoln's plan eventually angered many Radical Republicans, and that is how the Wade-Davis Bill was introduced.
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana stated what happens if we do not learn from our past. After the Civil War the United States wanted to build itself back up. The nation was in rubble because half of the country was fighting the other. That left it in a sad and fallen state. The issue of slavery was a long debated topic. They thought they could get over this and start anew. Reconstruction means the actions or process of rebuilding what has been damaged or destroyed. Did the North or the South kill Reconstruction? That issue is still up for debate. In my opinion, the South killed Reconstruction and stopped it dead in its tracks. The South did not respect the African American’s right to vote and would terrorize
The Northern Neglect killed Reconstruction by having a better government.. With a better government they were able to control more. Until President Grant started to get to busy looking for government frauds. "Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant’s administration.”(Danzer Doc. C)
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.
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.
President Abraham Lincoln envisioned a conservative plan for the reconstruction of the south. Under Lincoln’s plan, as soon as ten percent of the voters in a southern state whom have voted in 1860 and had taken an oath of loyalty to the United States, they could then elect constitutional conventions. These conventions, upon adopting new state constitutions and abolishing slavery they would then be readmitted to the union. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln would change polices towards reconstruction of the south.
The United States had a 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. It was 1865, black men were tasting freedom, the confederation was defeated, the south was defeated, but the unchained blacks had no real freedom. " A man maybe free and yet not independent," Mississippi planter Samuel Agnew observed in his diary (Foner 481).
The Reconstruction was undoubtedly a failure . The political and social aim of Reconstruction was to form national unity as well as create civil rights and equality for African Americans. Even though Reconstruction laid the foundation for equal rights in the United States, it did not achieve its primary goals. In the time of Reconstruction, many African Americans still felt the effects of oppression and many were still trapped in an undesirable social and economic class. The Reconstruction was an overall fail despite the fact that it was the shaky groundwork for a fight for equality in the years to come.
First and foremost, the South performed atrocious activities that slaughtered reconstruction. The KKK and people who supported racial dominance focused on blacks alongside Carpetbaggers, Northerners who went to the South after
Southern Resistance made the process of Reconstruction worse. They sent groups of terrorist into the North which caused the government to focus more on the safety of the people, than reconstructing the South. (Background Essay) The KKK was just one of the groups that the North was worried about other White Southerners and Carpetbaggers. The only reason the North was losing faith in their own government was because of the terrorists groups in the South. Also the KKK was attacking the government because they thought the government wasn’t legit. (Doc. B Para.2) The government gave everyone freedom of religion, speech, and equal rights. (Doc. B Para.1) President Grant was always trying to look out for everyone in both the North and South. “Weary of the ‘Negro Question’ and ‘sick of carpet-bag’ government, many Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873.” (Gerald Danzer Doc. C) What he meant by this was the Northern Neglect was tired of the Southern Resistance acting like the 13th and 14th amendment was never made and they still had a lot of racism in the Southern Resistance.(Doc. C
The South won in Reconstruction in many ways. Rebuilding the South was one of its major focuses. Several canals, bridges, and railroads were rebuilt with Reconstruction funds. The Republicans in Congress agreed with southern legislatures on how important business was. For this, a large amount of money was gathered to help the South’s reconstruction. Even though slavery was abolished with the passing of the 13th Amendment, it still existed in the South in the forms of “Black Codes” and cults like the Ku Klux Klan. In conclusion, Lincoln won the war for the North, but President Johnson won Reconstruction for the South by allowing them to create their own laws to keep the former slaves down and keeping their Southern lifestyles.
The south caused reconstruction to fail because they resisted anything the north pushed there way. In the south, the KKK was killing anyone that was a congress member, supported reconstruction, or wanted African Americans to be free. The south created a group called KKK to kill any black or anyone associated with anti-slavery. Southern's would beat or kill any african american that wouldn't vote for a democrat. White men were pressuring former slaves into casting a democratic vote so that slavery could continue.
Along with this, designing their government allows for increased stability, and possible success rate. Such a thing is very delicate and somewhat tricky,and while I’m not one to question the capabilities and skill of the South, in this situation, lending a helping hand and steering them on the right path seemed like the best solution. Another negative example is, "As soon as blacks gained the right to vote, secret societies sprang up in the South, devoted to restoring white supremacy in politics and social life. Most notorious was the Ku Klux Klan, an organization of violent criminals that established a reign of terror in some parts of the South, assaulting and murdering local Republican leaders."[3] Because of the Reconstruction, hate groups formed all across the Southern states. As aforementioned, the Ku Klux Klan was the most notorious, and still lives on today. Due to the way the Reconstruction was handled, this seemed to be an inevitable. I believe that if, perhaps, a tighter rein was held on the Southern States, groups such as these could have been snuffed out before they became a larger issue. Overall, even though there were many mistakes Reconstruction was a success. Yet, this does not mean it was perfect. Even now, many years later, things aren't perfect. Especially with the recent events, it's very clear that the old Southern mentality still stands, as strong as ever. While African American citizens do have more rights, they, and other people of color, and still abused quite often today by those who are meant to protect us; However, that is a topic for another time. The biggest way the Reconstruction could have been
The North’s neglect and greediness caused the reconstruction to be a failure.The corrupt government, terrorist organizations, unfocused president, and ignorance were also part of the ending of the reconstruction. President Lincoln didn’t want the civil war he wanted to keep the nation together. When Lincoln went into office he wasn't planning on getting rid of slavery nor starting a civil war. Before the reconstruction era was the civil war. Many good things and bad things came from the civil war. The civil war was a war between the North and the South. The war for the north was to end slavery, but for the south it was about rights and liberty. It wasn’t until afterwards that Americans started to notice the good and the bad. Not as many people
The Civil War was an important war over the freedom of slaves in the U.S.. The Civil War is well known for being caused by the issue of slavery, but it is really a combination of different events and actions that caused tensions to rise throughout the country. The economic and political issues in the U.S., along with certain actions caused the Civil war, which is one of the United States’s worst wars. All in all, the Civil War was one of the most devastating wars for our country as a whole, and the process of rebuilding would take years and is no easy job.