Congressional Era Of Reconstruction During Post Civil War Reconstruction

In addition to being divided on the issue on how to bring the Southern states back into the Union, the nation later became divided on the rights that should be bestowed upon the emancipated slaves. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Democratic Vice President Andrew Johnson took control of the executive branch and his background foreshadowed the “political drama” that would take place. President Johnson was a Senator from Tennessee before he entered the Vice Presidency and he had racist leanings and he opposed political rights for the freedmen. Additionally, Johnson was open about his sympathy for the South and he was determined to control the path of Reconstruction. The first example of conflict between Johnson and the Republican

Presidential reconstruction, alongside Lincoln and Johnson had a political goal of re-entering the south into the Union. Politically, the south needed to swear loyalty oaths to the Union before being allowed to participate and hold any offices. Johnson’s plan specifically did not offer a role to blacks in the political world. Socially, those in the north did not want to see these southerners rejoin so quickly with ease, and made sure others knew. The plan was to rejoin the south to the Union, regardless of their crimes. Economically, they wanted to see the Union together again to repair the country and thrive as a whole. Congressional reconstruction had different goals. First off, politically, those who supported congressional or radical reconstruction believed that blacks should have just as many rights politically and such as those who were white. Socially, they wanted to punish the south for the things they had done as a Confederacy and they also wanted to help and protect the African Americans. Economically, they did not approve of Lincoln’s plan, finding it too lenient and therefore taking action to benefit them and destruct the

Congress comes in to play in December 1865. The Congress was made up mostly of Republicans and they refused to let past Confederates to take their seats in Congress at this time. This marked the beginning of Radical Reconstruction or sometimes known as Congressional Reconstruction. The president and the congress did not agree on many issues. Congress overrode President Johnson on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Fourteenth Amendment spelled out rights of both black and white citizens as equal. It prolonged Federal powers for the enforcement of civil rights. States that approved the Fourteenth Amendment were considered reconstructed, and Tennessee did so. President Johnson advised other southern states to oppose doing this. Congress passed many laws to limit President Johnson’s powers. They passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which set new

The North and South in the nineteenth century were different in lifestyle and morale as well as economy. The north had a booming industrial economy while in the South, cotton was king. Because of this, congress was continuously addressing controversial matters and providing answers that did not satisfy either one side or both. The early 1800s were full of the North and the South making many attempts at reconciliation that just fell short. Among those were the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Great Compromise of 1850. Other tempestuous attempts led to the Tariff/Nullification Controversy, anti slavery debates in congress, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Whether it was one side or the other, there was always someone to oppose - and in some

Every effort the North made to pacify the South and/or to help the Blacks was blatantly rejected by the South. If the North declared one law, the South would find a loophole and thus the country was a mess of disunity and debate over Constitutional changes (?) (Doc. A and B). This tug-of-war is also anther reason for why no social changes resulted from constitutional changes from 1860 to 1877. Even if the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were wholeheartedly radical and revolutionary constitutional changes, social changes, never mind developments, were not in any way possible because of strong Southern resistance (Doc. G).

The Civil War was a war that was fought over the civil and humane treatment of every person, regardless of their outward appearances. It left a scathing scar on the nation After the atrocities that were suffered in the Civil war, the nation need a way to heal it’s wounds and unite again. Lincoln had a battle of his own to fight within the congress for the Reconstruction of the nation, While Lincoln believed that the south had suffered enough and had a long road to recovery, the radical republicans wanted to punish the south. They believed that the act of secession by the southern states was treason and the penalties should be strict.

Throughout American history, the south and the north have consistently held different beliefs on how to handle some subjects. Whether it ranged from slavery, to taxing, or to business, southerners and northerners often seemed to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. It was not any different back in the 1800’s. Though intensely different, they were still part of the same country. One of the biggest issues that made the north and the south so distinct from one another was their view and perspective on slavery. The north, who was considered mostly republican, saw slavery as something that needed to be abolished for it was a great sin committed by mankind; while the south, who were mostly considered democrats, viewed it as a necessity for they considered African-Americans a race that needed to be controlled because they were less intelligent than the white man but very violent and because they were “built” for the hard labor. Over the 1800’s they had been a tension built between the two sides of the country. The tension rose to a boiling point when the 1860 election rolled around. After the elections occurred, a chain of events followed which would leave a lasting impact on the current United States. In the heart of these events was the civil war. To this day, it is very debatable that the war started because of the unsure future of slavery under new leadership.

America was in disarray following the events of the Civil War. Southern economy was in shambles while congress was struggling to find a middle ground between the radical republicans and Lincoln’s lenient policies. Many Southerners faced the aftermath of uprooting their society and their way of life while thousands of newly freed slaves struggled to find a way to support themselves. The country needed a strong leader, however on the 14th of April, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theatre in Washington (Farmer). Without the man that had once held the nation together, the country now faced an enormous obstacle; reconstructing American economics, politics and social life.

As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their

We cannot stress the important differences between Presidents during the initial years of Reconstruction. Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson played important roles in legislating post war policies. After the war, one of the major questions to consider was how to reintegrate the former seceded states back into the Union. Lincoln looked to stabilize the Union, thus he acknowledged that post war policy-making should be enforced by statewide legislation (through his Ten Point Plan) not by Washington -- though the federal government would regulate statewide politics to make sure compliance was met satisfactorily. But northern republicans would not compromise with Lincoln’s plan, they passed the Wade-Davis Bill to counter the Ten-Point Plan, which disfranchised southerners who took oath in compliance with the Amnesty Proclamations. Following his assassination, Democrats and Republicans continually battled for legislative power. His former Vice-President did not entirely agree with his political philosophy as Johnson, in agreement with many of the hard nosed northerners, enacted a stronger federal policy toward southern states. For

After the Civil War there were still many changes that had to take place within the United States. The period of Congressional Reconstruction took place from 1865 through 1877. Although the outcome of the Civil War greatly affected things there were still various problems that had to be solved. This period of time after the Civil War was the reconstruction of congress. Congressional reconstruction was a very crucial time in American history, it changed the way of life in the South, the president caused difficulties with it, and Radical Republicans took over in congress. The goal of Congressional Reconstruction was to reunite the South with the Union. The outcome of Congressional Reconstruction resulted in a better

The main issues that separated Republicans towards the end of the war was how to handle the south. Also who would be in change in keeping the south in check so they won’t go back to how they were pre civil war. If I was a member of congress at the time I would of supported the Radical Republicans and there Reconstruction plan. I would support them because they supported equal rights for Africans Americans and cause I think the south was causing more harm than good. So if I was a congress man during this time I would have the same objectives as the Radical

The issues like slavery What 's more, issues like servitude made pressure between the two in light of the fact that the central government needed to annul subjugation however the southern states couldn 't help contradicting this as this was their lifestyle and it ought to be their choice to nullify it or not. "Southerners trusted that state laws conveyed more weight than Federal laws, and they ought to comply with the state regulations first. It was for the most part the southern states that would not like to annul bondage and the greater part of the northern states obliged the central government, so this created a conflict

The Civil War had ended and the Reconstruction era had given African American’s a much-needed voice in the electoral process. They were finally able to have rights in the way that business matters were being organized. Unfortunately, this was short-lived. White domination took over every aspect of life, particularly in the south. Between 1890 and 1906, every southern state was involved in constitutional provisions and passing laws that were meant to completely wipe out the black vote altogether. There were a few ways in which they did this. One was by charging a poll tax. If you couldn’t pay the tax, you couldn’t vote. Although, this tax was waived for the equally poor white voters. A handful of the southern states issued what was called

A second issue that would spark tensions between the states that eventually would lead to war was the argument of states’ rights. The South would vigorously argue throughout the years before the war that the federal government’s authority was not above that of each individual state. (Mcpherson 25) This would mean the federal government was in violation of what the founding fathers created it to do. Many historians believe that this response was elicited by the fact that the Northern population was growing so quickly that it would soon have control of the federal government. Before 1860 many of the presidents that had been elected were pro-south or they were indeed from the south. (Mcpherson 35) With the north