During the reconstruction of the south after the civil war, there was a lot of changes occurring through the south. Governments were stuck between the Southern Democrats who wanted the south to remain controlled by white southern leaders and Southern and Northern Republicans who were trying to help freed people gain rights, education, political positions, and open up business opportunities for Northern interests. Reconstruction governments were not very liked by your average white southerner, mostly because of all the reformation to education, laws, social services, transportation and commerce. Southern Republicans were trying to recreate the economics and social environment seen in the north, but were met with fierce resistance from southern
So, where did Reconstruction fail? Rather than a single event, the downfall of reconstruction was caused by a series of poor policies and decisions. The first attempt at Reconstruction was driven by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln believed that it was his responsibility, and his responsibility alone, to lead the reunification of the United States. In order to understand his plans, one must understand his motivations as well. Many believe that Lincoln fought the Civil War to end slavery and start the movement for racial equality, but Lincoln, being a moderate republican, mainly fought the Civil War in order to maintain a stable economy and protect the union. The Republican party was founded on the idea of good business and maintaining a stable economy, therefore all of their interests rooted back to improving business situations in order to gain wealth and prosper. In an interview with the New York Tribune, Lincoln is quoted saying “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery” (“Lincoln’s Constitutional Dilemma”). Later on, Lincoln shifted his viewpoint when he realized, or he was forced to realize, that the United States needed to abolish slavery in order to protect the Union. This realization came only after “almost daily visits from Radical Republicans or humanitarian groups demanding abolition” (“Lincoln’s Constitutional Dilemma”). Since Lincoln’s main motivation was
Reconstruction is the period of rebuilding the south that succeeded the Civil War (1861-1865). This period of time is set by the question now what? The Union won the war and most of the south was destroyed. Devastation, buildings turned into crumbles and lost crops. The South was drowning in poverty. To worsen the situation there were thousands of ex-slaves that were set free by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13 Amendment. "All these ex-slaves", Dr. Susan Walens commented, "and no place to put them," The ex-slaves weren't just homeless but they had no rights, unlike white man. The government and congress had to solve the issues present in the south and the whole nation
Reconstruction was a period of time after the Civil War (1865-1877) that was supposed to be the rebuilding of America. It was also the process used to readmit all the Confederate states back into the Union. There was controversy, however, on how to go about rebuilding the nation. Abraham Lincoln proposed a lenient plan. After he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson proposed a very similar plan. The Radical Republicans, a group of legislators that were in favor of freedmen’s rights, were opposed to both plans under “Presidential Reconstruction”. They initiated “Congressional Reconstruction”. Because of the conflicting views, there was little cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches. This lead to many unsuccessful
Reconstruction caused many differences of opinions involving politicians. After the civil war an abundance of people could not reach an agreement on what actions they were going to take in order to reconstruct the south. There were multifarious plans and ideas on how to go about reconstructing the
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.
We can also say that, in a way, Republicans wanted reconstruction to change. There were bigger issues at hand and it was economically draining on the South. A lot of people up North did not like the fact that black Americans were soon sharing a social status with white Americans. The North was no safe space for blacks, there was still prejudice and unfair brutality. One of the only reasons the North was anti-slavery was because they simply did not use it, they used poor white people and other lower class minorities to boost the Northern Industrial work. But that did not stop the inherent prejudice that a majority of people had during that
When the Civil War ended, reconstruction occurred in the nation and the North and South would be trying to find ways to reconnect the sides in a civilized way. The Reconstruction Era was a time period after the Civil War where the states formerly part of the Confederacy joined back into the United States. But in the process of trying to fix the states, the North slowly started to oppose the idea of reconstruction. The North killed reconstruction by not caring about the problems in the South (document c) and their opinion on blacks in the government (document d).
During the south reconstruction African Americans lived through many living crises. South Reconstruction began after the civil war ended in 1865 and continued through 1877. It was introduced by the government of the southern whites, although they did not act alone. The reconstruction goal was to abolish slavery for good, and second to recruit trustworthy governments that were loyal to the union and that respected federal authorities. However, For the freed african americans in south reconstruction had a negative impact socially, politically and economically.
After the war Republicans had considerable power and the Democratic party was in shambles, which led to them having their own objectives and visions of Reconstruction. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 468) Congressional Republicans feared losing their power and attempted to set the tone of Reconstruction by passing a civil rights bill in 1866, refused to seat members from the former Confederacy, and investigated conditions in the South, which led to the passage of the Reconstruction acts that divided the South into five districts. (Nash, et al., 2007., pp. 472-473, 476) Republicans also moved against President Johnson as they reduced the expanded power of the executive branch and eventually impeached him. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 476) Democrats also had a vested interest in Reconstruction as after the war the party was in shambles and had to grapple for the power to push their interests over the Congressional Republicans. This power contest led to unsavory tactics in the South such as the Mississippi Plan, which was devised as an intimidation tactic to force people to vote Democratic. (Nash,
After Reconstruction the south reverted back to the way it was with slavery, plantations, and the North still in the north. The new form of slavery still looked much like the old; it just had a different name. The south said that they were doing it for the betterment of all, but they just wanted things the way they had been. Now, though, they
There were arguments over who held power over Reconstruction and how Reconstruction would be handled; Radical Reps wanted to tear down the Southern hierarchy (and the democratic party) while most of their party had their eyes on a subtler acceptance of the south
The Reconstruction “fixed” the United States after the civil war. It gave the Blacks more freedom then they ever had, it reunited the sides, and it proved to the other countries that United States could provide for itself without the assistance of others. Most importantly, it gave the country hope for the
After the Civil War, there were two major paths of reconstruction–presidential reconstruction and radical reconstruction. Presidential reconstruction was headed by President Andrew Johnson, who believed that the southern states had never given up their rights to govern themselves, and failed to institute any sort of voting requirements. Aside from having to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and pay off war debt, the South was free to do what they like. This leniency led to the instillation of Black Codes and the continuation of wrongful treatment of African Americans. This caused the Republicans in Congress to take control of Reconstruction in the South after Johnson’s
Reconstruction in the South took place between the years 1865-1877, just after the Civil War, however many challenges were encountered which included opposition from the whites and Democrats who viewed reconstruction was going against their interests of owning and utilizing slaves. The Republican party began to split and thus, reconstruction received little support. Reconstruction policies started from the liberation of slaves to presidential plans before changing to radical and then military rebuilding. The first reconstruction policy changed after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination with President Johnson’s restoration plan calling for the ratification of the 13th amendment to end slavery. President Johnson turned to radical reconciliation
The reconstruction of America would decide how the south would rejoin the Union, what was to become of the nearly 3 million black slaves freed, how America was going to recover from such a devastating internal war. There appears to be phases that the Reconstruction Era went through, roughly three of them. The first is that of the Presidential Reconstruction, it lead to a more radical Republican party. After such we find ourselves in what was to be known as the Radical Reconstruction. A period where the blacks found their voices being heard. Finally we lead up to the end of the Reconstruction-era. It is said that the reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877, however it can be said that, to this very day, some reconstruction is still ongoing.