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
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.
There were many short-term and long-term effects of the Civil War. After the Civil War through 1896, the North and South tried to reunite the United States through Reconstruction to avoid being attacked by other countries. While the government tried to solve key problems facing the nation, their solutions were short-term and failed to address the problem. Due to many people disagreeing about these solutions the government was coming up with, there were many battles over Reconstruction that did not work out for many people. After all the struggling and disagreeing the American people finally brought an end to Reconstruction. Rebuilding the nation, The battle over Reconstruction, and the end of Reconstruction all had many short and long-term effects.
As much as Reconstruction had initially tried to help the South, it was the sole goal of this movement to, “undo as much as possible of Reconstruction.” State facilities originally that were supposed to help everyone were closed down, and the gap between black and white expenditures on schooling increased. Due to the depression in the 1890’s this worsened the situation for black families trying to make a living in the South couldn’t keep up their farms or the places that their children would learn. “In 1900, no public high schools for blacks existed in the South. Black elementary schools, one observer reported, occupied buildings “as bad as stables””. New laws about segregation also affected blacks in more ways than just demoralization, it also showed what kind of jobs were considered good work for them. In the instance of segregation on railroads, “many blacks could be found in “whites only” railroad cars. But they entered as servants and nurses, not as paying customers entitled to equal treatment. The rise of lynching also affected the way blacks lived their lives, by controlling the way they vote, how they treated whites, and how they couldn’t rely on the justice system to address their grievances. An example of the reduced number of voters is best seen in Louisiana, where the number of voters dropped from 130, 000 to 1, 342, which is directly linked to the use of violence as a way to intimidate black voters. Blacks also had to be careful how they acted around white, since murder wasn’t a federal crime and was handled by the state, many blacks were lynched without fair trials and accused of crimes like raping white women, murder, and theft. A majority of the accused never when to trial. All in all blacks in the South were largely affected negatively as a result in policy changes, social factors, and widespread violence. This injustice carried on
In 1865 to 1877, a very important part of U.S. history took place, and that was Reconstruction, where every slave was freed, and the whites and black lived equally among one another. It wasn’t an easy breeze and took a long time for whites to accept blacks, and even in current day there are some problem with racism, the main focus was to get rid of slavery, and that was a success.
Just imagine that you were born when slavery was allowed in the United States. Better yet, imagine yourself as an African American/ black and being born into slavery. What would you do? Would you try to escape to freedom or remain a slave and serve “your master” until you die or until slavery is totally abolished? Well that’s when the Reconstruction Era comes in. The Civil War was a major cause that led to the Reconstruction Era. This was due to the Union winning the war between them and the South. The end of this war was thought to give freedom, peace, and stop the suffering of slaves all over the country, but the South didn’t want to let go of slavery that easily. Reconstruction was when the South was rebuilding and also when the country
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.
Three new Constitutional Amendments were ratified during the Reconstruction Era as well as many policies on both the state and federal levels. The amendments that were ratified during the Reconstruction Era were the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments. The policies to assimilate the Southern states back into the union and for Reconstruction all varied dramatically between the Radical Republicans in Congress, President Abraham Lincoln, and President Andrew Johnson.
Following the Civil War drew to an end, however the social, political and economic conditions did not, infact it only grew within the rebellious southern states fueled discussion about the reconstruction. Social, political and economic conditions impacted the reconstruction era. The KKK impacted socially in 1865, their reign of terror was felt throughout the south. Their organization spread fear using guerilla tactics, whipping, beating, and lynching. The Klan’s purpose was to destroy the republican party as revenge for the abolishment of slavery. They wanted to destroy the republican party infrastructure and end reconstruction control in southern black population. The era of Reconstruction there were massive changes in American culture, economy,
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
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.
How does the post-Reconstruction era reveal American legal biases against certain groups, without laws specifically mentioning them?
During the reconstruction there were various impacts but were they really a success or failures? In the 1860’s through out the 1870’s the civil war settled some significant national problems, but also created many more. Slavery was put to an end and the country was reunited however the Union’s victory cost people to lose their lives and lose their property. It was said that the most challenging task was the future of the four million freed slaves. By 1877 the reconstruction ended due to the pressure by Southern whites then the former slaves were put into the “second class” a system of state enforced segregation and discrimination.The reconstruction was a period following the civil war of rebuilding the United states. President Lincoln's goal in the Civil War was to hold the nation together. The Confederacy was destroyed for good. Due to the success and failures of Reconstruction, although the impact was economically positive for newly-freed African Americans because they were able to gain more opportunities like in the south there were resources, businesses and education , the impacts were mostly negative politically and socially because they were forced to give up their political power and they were restricted from many public places.
The effects of racial prejudice and segregation aimed at African Americans in the south on their lives and opportunities were deep-seeded and long lasting. The effects of segregation were perhaps the most destructive because they were legal and above-board. These laws illustrated to the African American population that their struggle was not limited to battling the backward notions and violent actions of cowardly southern rednecks, but that they had to overcome the mentality and ideology of a national government and, in fact, an entire society, that was failing to recognize them as citizens worthy of the basic rights and freedoms to which they were entitled as Americans.
After the Civil War, Reconstruction began Shortly after in 1877. Many advancements were made in favor of racial equality. This includes the fourteenth amendment, that gives African Americans equal rights as whites, including the right to vote. This impacted all the people in the United State weather it was good or bad. Although the life of African Americans during slavery was vile it only became worse for them during reconstruction. They Were hated in the southern part of the United States, which caused African Americans to be taken advantaged of and had a lot of people against their independence.