Civil War And Reconstruction

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.

In hindsight it is sometimes claimed that Reconstruction was a failure. Although there was some good that came out of the Reconstruction it was mostly just a relentless uphill battle against Southerners and immoral politicians that were here to delay change and keep racism alive. Reconstruction brought the Ku Klux Klan who displayed great resistance, and poverty that swept the South once the blacks were freed. The freedom of these black slaves led to discriminatory legislatures such as the Black Codes and the Jim Crow laws to keep the blacks constrained from actually being free. The South was then encountered with corruption and high property taxes, as a rebuild was in order to reestablish the war torn part of the nation.

A revolution is a dramatic and sudden change in an organization in the social order that is replaced by a new, more favorable system. When Historian Eric Foner called the Reconstruction period “America’s Second Revolution”, his characterization was correct. Reconstruction can be viewed as a revolution because the previous social order, slavery, was replaced suddenly by a more favorable one, freedom for African-Americans. There was a long period of politicization for incorporating free African-Americans into white society. Reconstruction also revolutionized the preconceived notion that the states had autonomous power.

Between 1860 and 1877, the era of reconstruction in America had been ineffably prominent with societal and constitutional change. Between achievements such as the Freedmen’s Bureau of 1865, helping recently freed slaves, to the 14th amendment establishing a set equal rights, multiple advancements to the country had been created. While the dilemmas of the reconstruction period were often caused by the Northern versus Southern ideals after fighting a bloody Civil War, or tackling racial inequality, the question of constitutionality of the era’s laws were regarded as the essential piece to the time’s strife. Moreover, there was often argument if whether the federal government, morally and constitutionality, was privileged to decide on laws not explicitly stated in the Constitution. Supporters of federal government heavy ruling often debated with those in support of sovereign states, leading to deeper issues then who was creating rules. Important topics of the era like allowing state government to decide on race issues such as black suffrage, or the enforcement of the Black Codes started at the root of power. With these adverse differences in who should first hold and manifest the power of the nation, great revolutionary debates, ideals, and attacks transpired. These various constitutional and social evolutions catalyzed into a revolution regarding the state and federal power in the nation.

Over the course of America’s existence, it has acquired many successes and failures. Over time there have been a large number of accomplishments that have made the world a greater good, but there have also been phases of turmoil and tragedy. The Reconstruction period after the Civil War is a prime example of a complete failure. The Reconstruction period consisted of many goals and ideas that Americans planned to achieve in their country after being torn apart from the Civil War. One of the main objectives was to rejoin all of the states to the union to help rebuild the South and help African Americans come back into society. It soon came to an end and was a complete failure since Southerners would not abide by the laws of rights to former slaves and the introduction of segregation soon began.

Reconstruction is a time period after the Civil War ended in 1877. We view it as something that resembles a transformation, shifts in the southern U.S. after the Civil War. This was when slavery inequality, some political, economic, and social issues were, in some ways, balanced. The categories of issues that arose throughout this “restoration” were aspects such as involving the Confederacy into the Union, abolishing along with figuring out what to do with our free blacks, and addressing conflict between the Confederate leaders and a group of people, which we characterize as “the North.” During reconstruction, there was a challenging goal of incorporating former slaves into our nation as free citizens like everyone else. It looks like this “era” attempted to take out the unfairness of slavery; however, it was successful to a degree. Reconstruction, itself, was successful in fulfilling its goal to a degree because the Freedmen’s Bureau attempted to help former slaves with simple things such as housing, although it “lost its touch” due to deficiency of needed funds along with personnel, and trouble dealing with pressure that was advancing from the so-called white southerners.

Before we decided on the topic of Reconstruction, we initially wanted to do the Civil War, but decided it was too broad and general. Which led us to something a lot simpler; The Battle of Gettysburg, but because it was a battle there wasn’t an actual compromise, only a conflict. That’s when we finally decided on the topic of Reconstruction after the Civil War.

The main issue between the states that seceded from the Union and those that remained in the former unity was that of state's rights, of which the right for citizens to own slaves was of primary concern. It is often argued that one or the other was the main reason for the conflict, but they both played a major part because the people of the Northern United States and the Southern states of the nation lived such different lives. It is true that people in the North had owned slaves until very recently in the nineteenth century, but that time had passed and Northern states had rescinded the rights of humans to own other humans (especially in the chattel sense because people still had servants who were essentially slaves though they were paid a miniscule wage), as if it ever was a right. The Civil War commenced, and it was found that cause and the better ability to kill (Northern soldiers died at a rate two times that of Southern soldiers), was superseded by industry and ingenuity. Since the states in the South had been devastated by the War, it was deemed that the victorious but beneficent North would attempt to reconstruct the South into a more compliant neighbor. Thus, carpet-baggers were sent South to establish some order, and laws were enacted by the US Congress to ensure the rights of all people in the region. This paper discusses the reconstruction of the South while paying specific attention to the political, social and economic realities that came to

After the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, there were three different approaches to southern reconstruction. The Lincoln Plan, as outlined by Abraham Lincoln before his death, would: (1) improve the economic and political status of blacks (2) allow southern states to re-enter the Union after 10% of whites had taken oaths of loyalty (3) grant blanket pardons to Confederate veterans after individual pleas to the president, and (4) not allow a loss of property except slaves. At the time, Lincoln’s primary objective was to end the war and bring southern states back into the Union. Ultimately, his dream of abolishing slavery was realized with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863; however, his long term goal of rebuilding the South was put to a halt after his assassination, and successor Andrew Johnson.

The abolitionist movement in the 1820s became much more significant as economical demands grew. The cotton production was at an all time high years before the Civil War, as a result, in order to make more profit from it slavery spread, as labor was necessary. Significant figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Truman and William Lloyd garrison were among the participant in the movement that gained great amount of followers. They were also responsible for organizing Underground Railroad, in which provided escape for slaves.

The largest threat to African Americans with after the Civil War and Reconstruction was the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was founded in 1866, and extended into almost every southern state by 1870. The organization became a vehicle for white southern citizens to deny Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies whose ideas, that tried establishing political and economic equality for African Americans. The KKK flourished in some regions in the South where, African Americans were a minority of the population. The KKK also targeted any individual or organization that would support minatory groups. Even at its height, the KKK was not a well-organized organization or had a clear leader. The organization’s members where all types of people ranging

The Civil War, which was caused by the secession of the Confederate states, lasted four long years. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have lost their lives during the bloody battle. However, after the war has ended and reconstruction took place, there were some very major events that took place that helped changed and bettered the United States, as well as bring the Nation back together.

I chose to take a course in Civil War and Reconstruction, because of my love of history which comes from my father. During my childhood my dad would take me to different historical sites in Minnesota and around the country. The most important visit was our trip to Gettysburg and seeing the monument to the First Minnesota. I feel like I first realized the importance of the Civil War, not just as a historical event, but as something more tangible. My dad especially likes learning about the Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862. It is because of him that I decided to take this course.

The Civil War officially started on April 12, 1861, when the confederate troops attacked federal garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Three days later on April 15, President Lincoln issued proclamation calling for troops to put down the rebellion. Generally, slavery was the primal cause of the civil war as Frederick Douglas said in the McPherson’s book, “The simple way, then, to put an end to the savage and desolating war now waged by the slaveholders, is to strike down slavery itself, the primal cause of that war.” Generally, the Civil War was caused from the different views of slavery between the North and South. Later on, Southern states decided to secede and caused many slaves to escape from South to North, which then triggered the war even worse. In the beginning of the war, North was not really agree with the idea of African American people fighting in the war. However, it came to a point where the North was lack of soldiers and powers. The decision to include African American to the troops then was inevitable. While the majority of black troops in the South were slave, in the North, the black troops were free blacks. In fact, the presence of African American did change the war map. Black troops proved their determination and willingness to fight in the war, which was reflected from the Massachusetts 54th and 55th

In order to understand and explain the causes and outcomes of the Civil War and Reconstruction along with describing how they apply to the 20th century, I had created a Civil War folder to ensure my understanding for this objective. How I created this was by researching the topics that were needed to fulfill this project. However, in able for me to do that, I had to put on my creative thinking cap in order to create a decorative and intriguing presentation. The final product turned out to be more spectacular then I had expected originally. The project was filled with information that the folder needed more space. What I learned about this content was the causes and outcomes of Civil War along with Reconstruction. This semester was very clear