Does Reconstruction Ineffective?

Today, people are still facing issues with the United States government on their freedoms. Many people view that they may not have all of the rights that the person next to them have because of their skin color, religious beliefs, and family heritage. It has been almost non-stop fighting against the government to establish the equal rights of all humans in the United States. There are still so many questions that have not been answered since the Reconstruction era. The United States government is still working on these issues attempting to help as many people as they can.

About a hundred years after the Civil War, almost all American lived under the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow Laws actually legalized segregation. These racially enforced rules dominated almost every aspect of life, not to mention directed the punishments for any infraction. The key reason for the Jim Crow Laws was to keep African Americans as close to their former status as slaves as was possible. The following paper will show you the trials and tribulations of African Americans from the beginning through to the 1940’s where segregation was at its peak.

There are many paths that our nation can take for reconstruction. There are exactly four plans that we can choose from. These plans are known as Lincoln’s 10% plan, Wade-Davis Bill, Johnson plan, and military reconstruction. Each plan obviously has its pros and cons. Each plan also has its strengths and weaknesses. In regards to your letter, Mr Seward I have given your reconstruction plans much thought. I will present you with the plan that I believe will be the most effective. I will not let the Union fall apart. This nation will be put back together. Lincoln's 10% plan details the following: he believed in reconciliation, he would have given a pardon to all southerners who took an oath of loyalty to the United States and accepted the end

After the Civil War, the United States had many problems to solve. The country had to figure out how to integrate newly freed slaves into society and bring the former Confederate states back into the Union. Reconstruction was period of time after the civil war in which the United States addressed these problems. Reconstruction had two different phases: Presidential Reconstruction took place from 1865 to 1867, and Congressional Reconstruction took place from 1867 to 1877. Presidential Reconstruction began with Abraham Lincoln, who proposed the Proclamation of Amnesty and the ten percent oath plan. Lincoln was focused on leniency and forgiveness; under his plan southerners would take an oath of loyalty to the Union, and after only ten percent of a state’s voters had taken this oath, the state could be readmitted. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson took over Reconstruction. Johnson wanted to punish landowners, but liberally handed out pardons, as he greatly enjoyed the power that he had over southerners. Under Johnson, former confederates were re-elected, and southern states discriminated blacks. Eventually, Congress took over Reconstruction. During Congressional Reconstruction, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were passed, and the freedman’s bureau was created. Overall, the failures of Reconstruction outweighed the failures because it took a very long time for it to achieve its goals, and the South was still able to

The newly passed laws became known as “Black Codes” and socially, they directly impacted the lives of all freedmen and indirectly benefited the white race. These laws restricted the rights of free African-American men and women (Doc A). In Opelousas, Louisiana, some of these restrictions were the denied right to keep or own a house in the town, the denied right to enter the town without special permission, the denied right to hold public meetings, the denied right to carry firearms or any kind of weapon, and a requirement that every negro must be in service of some white person (Doc A). The elite members in the South did everything they could to prevent blacks from gaining civic power, and the reasoning for supporting these codes ranged from fearing black political influence to the comfort of knowing farmers still had a stable and reliable work force. Even in the post civil war North, people believed blacks were unfit to be government officials (Doc E). Pro-freedman presses ran racist letters arguing blacks were not fit for the proper exercise of political duties, and their generation needed a period of probation and instruction in order to learn the ways in which society ran (Doc E). Many northerners felt blacks were incompetent to hold important jobs; therefore, the government was in no way aiding the reconstruction efforts to provide equality to all people in America.

Many Americans and people around the world remember the Civil War for a number of reasons. Some will argue that Northern victory in the war preserved the world’s first democracy. Others argue that the Civil War did not weaken the United States; it merely exposed the flaws in government and where it could be made stronger henceforth. Often, many forget that the Civil War affected the fate of nearly four million Americans, or slaves, as they were then labeled. The leaders of the Reconstruction were tasked with piecing a nation back together while keeping the idea of justice in mind. The Reconstruction had a somewhat successful beginning but unfortunately its potential in integrating freedmen into Southern society was never fully realized. Subsequently, African Americans, specifically southern African Americans, truly lost the American Civil War. The Southern Restoration undid the work of the Reconstruction, eventually pushing African Americans to the brinks of southern politics where they would remain until the late twentieth century.

These were known as the "Black Codes" a law passed by Southern states during the same year if the 13th Amendment. These codes may have given African Americans the rights to be able to go to court, marry, and own their own home but not without a price. The price they paid is that they were not allowed to serve in the military and juries. But the most important is that they could not testify against white people. They had this law to limit the freedom of African Americans keeping them as near to slavery. Even with their new found freedom African Americans still lived in poverty due to their lack of education which they were denied of and had no choice but still work for white landowners to make a living. In 1868 the 14th Amendment passed giving the former slaves American citizenship and two years later the 15th Amendment also passed giving the African American men the right to vote. But this string of improvement to the lives of African American came to a halt with the Compromise of 1877. This compromise settled the wildly disputed presidential election between Republican Rutherford Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tiden. The compromise is that for Hayes to become president the Democrats wanted him to withdraw the federal troops from the South and give the South home rule of their area. This is important because with the federal troops gone there was no longer anyone in the South to enforce the 14th and the 15th Amendment. This compromise caused an end to the Reconstruction

In 1865, the United States government implemented what was known as Reconstruction. Its’ purpose was to remove slavery from the south, and give African-American’s the freedom in which they deserved. However, the freedom that they deserved was not the freedom that they received. With documents like The Black Codes restricting them from numerous privileges that white people had and the terroristic organization known as the Klu Klux Klan attacking and killing them, African-American’s were still being oppressed by their government as well as their fellow man. Slavery may have been abolished, but African-American’s were not yet given the freedom and rights that their white counterparts took for granted.

The condition of the South was poor, majority of the battles were fought in the South which caused it to destroy the lands, crops,roads and infrastructure. Most of the male populations fought the war and they were left with women with children. At the time all slaves were free; they couldn’t depend on slaves or men to help make the crops better , which caused no money was coming in for the families of the south. Reconstruction was needed because, we as a country needed to fix this problem.That’s when Lincoln came with the 10% plan. He needed 10% of the south's population to readmit the union. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln and the North lashes out with anger towards the south. The first success in reconstruction was the 13th,

Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era began. During this time, the southern part of the United States attempted a transformation directed by Congress from 1863 to 1877. Known for its successes and failures, the Reconstruction was a time of great pain and an infinite amount of questions. As well as many long term, short term, positive, negative, social, and political effects.

By 1866, several distinct positions on Reconstruction emerged. These were divided into three opposing camps: Conservatives (democrats), Moderates, and Radicals. The Conservatives believed the South should be readmitted into the Union as soon as possible, but the Radicals and Moderates believed there should be consequences for succeeding.

The Reconstruction period was between 1865 and 1877. It introduced a new set of significant challenges after the Civil War gave 4 million slaves their freedom. Although the Reconstruction period tried to make changes to its political, social, and slavery problems that were inherited, it was successful in certain ways but definitely failed in many more.

During the period of reconstruction in the U.S., from 1865-1877, there were plans put in place by Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Congress in hopes of a brighter future. Reconstruction took place after the Civil War occurred in the U.S. from 1861-1865. Abraham Lincoln was the President during the Civil War, and he had plans prepared at the end of his presidency because he sensed that the nation would have to be rebuilt through a reconstruction period. Once he was assassinated in 1865, his successor, Andrew Johnson had his own ideas for the country involving the issue of reconstruction. In addition to those two Presidents, Congress was active throughout the reconstruction era. All of the plans set by Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson,

Despite the significant advancement of human rights since the abolition of slavery, segregation policies, such as the Jim Crow laws, still denied basic human rights to African Americans between 1877 and the 1950s. Under these laws, the status of African Americans was defined under what was known as the Black Codes, which “acknowledged...but limited” certain rights that they were given “in all aspects of public life” (Benson 1378). During the implementation of these policies, communities were almost completely separated by race regarding daily and public affairs: the use of transportation, bathrooms, water fountains; education; using businesses’ services and purchasing products. Most businesses owned by African Americans were inferior to others, and the public facilities designated to them were always less expensive to maintain and at a much lower quality. However

The degree of success in any situation depends on the point of view, especially in history. In American history, the start of the Civil War tested the nation’s bond of unity but changed with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The executive order drafted by President Abraham Lincoln was both a political and military tactic. Its purpose was to “free” slaves in Confederate lands, meaning the only way slaves could escape was to disobeying their masters and flee to the North and join their army as protection. The period between 1865 - 1877 was known as reconstruction, an effort to bring peace to North and the South and reunite the nation. Reconstruction has led to both negative and positive outlooks, its lead to different laws, bills, and even