Causes Of Reconstruction Dbq

For the greater part of the nineteenth century, black people were slaves for white men. The Fourteenth Amendment was placed into effect to protect the rights of the black community after emancipation. It stated that, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” would be supported under the doctrine. However, this article failed to uphold the rights of the newly freed slaves. The blacks, ridiculed and scorned by the public, were greatly suppressed by the white backlash. The states put into effect laws that would suppress the blacks even further, even though they were protected under the Amendment. The states made stipulations on rights the African Americans were granted, like the right to own land, vote, and even hold certain jobs. Voting was a major controversy for the newly freed slaves, they wanted the chance to be heard through politics. Nevertheless, they were still denied the simple right to vote in many of the states if they could not meet the prerequisites for reading or could not pay a voting tax. They made contracts for them to work for white men, just as if they were slaves and nothing changed. Black people were still waiting for their salvation under this new piece of legislation, but were unable to grasp it through the government. African Americans stood for their newly given rights under the Constitution and were denied by the people who put

Reconstruction (1867-1877) under Congress was a fast tightening of a noose in the South. Congress no longer trusted Andrew Johnson’s loose plan for Reconstruction, so they began closing in on their plans. Radical Republicans made many lasting impacts in this period. Under Congress, the 14th and 15th Amendment was created, guaranteeing rights to African Americans. A newly created Freedmen’s Bureau help create many schools and colleges, lasting up to modern times. African Americans held power in office, although they were quickly brought down by the Ku Klux Klan’s terrorism. The main path Reconstruction took was based on the government’s plans. There

The reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 - 1877, had some feats but largely was a failure at accomplishing its goals. It succeeded in readmitting the Southern states to the union, but failed in integrating them fully; the Nation still remained divided by political lines. It helped to rebuild a war ravaged South until the North lost interest in the South and it gave former slaves and people of color more rights and political representation than they ever had before, but the South passed various codes, tests, and laws to limit the black resurgence and keep the old power structure. By 1870 the reconstruction successfully readmitted all the southern states that seceded under Andrew Johnson's plan, however all the states restored their conservative governments within 9 years of readmission (reconstruction map) because of Andrew Johnson's leniency to the South. After the division of the South into military districts in 1867, the governments established were under control of the radical Republicans and gave blacks the power to vote and participate in the government.

Reconstruction developed in 1865 and discontinued in 1877. What happened before Reconstruction was that the civil war fought by the Northern and Southern whites because of state rights, trading and slavery. During Reconstruction, the newly freed African Americans emerged and that was when Reconstruction started. Life changed for newly freed African Americans as the result of Reconstruction because it meant that they could start their worthwhile lives. The impact of Reconstruction on African American were socially and economically a failure because they were mistreated and were in control by the rich white people however, Reconstruction was successfully politically because African Americans were involved with the government.

Although the reconstruction did unify the United States and passed the 14th and 15th amendments, reconstruction failed on many other vital issues. The radical republican legislation that promised freedom and equality for all was far from a reality for black Americans. Legislation failed to protect former slaves from white supremacy, and persecution. The entire social and cultural backbone of the south needed reform in order for African Americans to enjoy the freedom and equality that this nation promised, unfortunately this change did not come during the reconstruction. In 1877 president Hayes removed federal troops from the south, almost immediately former confederates and slave owners returned

When Reconstruction began in 1865, the country was in desperate need of unification after the end of the Civil War. The fate of a becoming a unified country was left in the hands of Andrew Johnson after the sudden assassination of President Lincoln in April of 1865, just as Reconstruction was set to begin. President Johnson had a similar plan for Reconstruction as Lincoln, with the main goal being getting the South back into the Union without too much dispute. However, President Johnson did not have a good relationship with congress from the beginning and had different views on Civil Rights than Lincoln. Johnson would have to fight against a group called the Radical Republicans, which

After the end of the civil war Congress ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution, which prohibited slavery, guaranteed all citizens equal protection under the law, and gruaranted equal rights to all men. During this period of reconstruction, which was enforced by the Federal government, men of color took advantage of voting rights, educational and economic opportunities, to gain political office, economic power and basically restructuring of the society of the South. Obviously this was unacceptable to the disenfranchised southern democrats.

In the same way, the issue of racism was more opposed to people and was more openly abused in the past compare to present. African Americans were mistreated, and were slaved for a long time, and they did not have any rights until the 18th century. In 1865 and 1866 Southern states passed a laws called "black codes" which was meant to limit the rights of black and segregate them from whites; however, during the 1865 African American believed that the process of reconstruction would bring equality. The main object of reconstruction was to help African Americans become equal citizens, but reconstruction failed to help them, because the Southerners were not willing to accept the laws that were placed to give rights to the African Americans.

Due to Congress and President Johnson not being able to agree on anything, Congress decided to vote to impeach the president. However, the vote to impeach the President failed; President Johnson then backed down from trying to control reconstruction and let congress continue in the way that they wanted. Later in the 1870s a new presidential election occurred, Samuel Tilden ran against Rutherford B. Hays. The democratic side won most of the votes. However, the Republicans refused to accept defeat. As congressional commission debated over the outcome of the election trying to declare a winner. Rutherford Hayes stated that he would end Reconstruction if he was elected. Because of the Compromise of 1877, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina became Democratic once again, successfully making Rutherford Hayes the President and then the ending of the Reconstruction

During Radical Reconstruction the government tried to distance African-Americans from slavery by providing new social opportunities. These included the Southern states ratification of the 14th Amendment, increased education, and stabilising family units . In 1865 to 1866, before Radical Reconstruction, former slaves were often subject to Black Codes which, based on slave codes, established black “subordination to whites” . Hence, their removal and the further attempts to provide opportunities for freedmen was essential in creating life outside of slavery. Education was one such success, providing African-Americans with opportunities to learn skills outside of labour. One prominent example of the government’s investment into education was South Carolina, which under the work of Cardozo and Smalls, made education mandatory within their state and helped create over 3000 schools . The effect was clear, black literacy rates doubled during the decade of Radical Reconstruction and freedmen began expanding their skillset beyond physical labour . Whilst the social milestones of education and other civil opportunities in the South were a crucial step, ultimately, their progress was limited by the refusal of the government to provide an economic basis for African-Americans to live. Most Republican politicians after the 14th and 15th Amendments were uninterested in providing freedmen with the facilities to be equal. This is seen in the quick rejection of Thaddeus Stevens’ Land Redistribution proposal to give 40 acres of land to all males . Whilst education did provide opportunity, a refusal to provide land reinforced a “dichotomy between former master and former slave” . Hence, even though Radical Reconstruction did improve the social standing for African-Americans, overall the government’s failure to

In 1876, Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden were competing for the presidency of the United States. Tilden was winning by a landslide. Already winning the clear majority of the popular vote, Tilden had also amassed 184 of electoral votes, just one short of a majority. To arbitrate the returns, Congress established a 15 member electoral commission. By a straight party vote 8-7 the commission awarded the distributed electoral votes as well as presidency to Rutherford Hayes. Angered Democrats threatened to filibuster, to prevent the electoral votes from being counted. This must have worried the Republicans quite a bit for they met with Southern Democrats February 26 in Washington. In Washington, the two parties came to an informal understanding,

Tilden received 184 electoral votes of the 185 needed to become president. Hayes only received 165 votes and lost the popular vote by approximately 300,000 votes. Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, with 20 votes uncounted. However, the election results were disputed because of confusing ballots in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. Under normal procedure, disputed votes would be recounted in front of Congress by the president of the Senate. The result was the Compromise of 1877, in which Democrats agreed to let Hayes become president in exchange for a complete withdrawal of federal troops from the South. Republicans agreed, and shortly after Hayes was sworn in as president, he ordered the remaining federal troops to vacate South Carolina and Louisiana.

Reconstruction was a failure because negroes still faced restrictions such as what they were allowed to do without the permission of whites. Some examples of the negroes needing permission from the whites would be they couldn't rent or own a house in certain places and if you failed to follow the rule then you would be ‘immediately ejected’ (Document D). Also negroes were required to be in the regular service of white persons, and that said person is responsible for the negro (Document D). Although negroes were not slaves anymore the wrongs of all the whites were not ended and they were not quite free yet. The government left their freedom in worse condition than before reconstruction (Document E).

Jayla Buie September 22, 2014 AMH2020 Election of 1876 The contested election of 1876 has been pronounced by Historians, as one of the most hostile, controversial, and most disputed presidential elections in American history. Representing the Republicans was Samuel J. Tilden of New York and Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio representing the Democrats. With Hayes being outpolled in the popular vote, Tilden wins. With the recounting and passing of the Electoral Commission, Hayes wins the election of 1876 and becomes president of the United States.

For years prior to the Election of 1860, the Northern and Southern states of America were growing apart. Problems decades earlier such as the South’s lack of railroads were coupled with more recent arguments concerning the future of slavery in America and whether it should be allowed in new territories. Following closely on the heels of many of these divisive problems was the Election of 1860, in which Abraham Lincoln won without carrying a single Southern state. Although it was not his intention, Lincoln’s victory in the Election of 1860 proved to be the final straw for the South, and quickly caused the secession of seven Southern states, ultimately leading to the deadliest war in American history, and the end of slavery in the United States.