Reconstruction : The Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction

At the end of the Civil War, the nation’s government was tasked with sewing back together a nation so divided that they were willing to kill each other and split in two. While those that started the war may not have been rational, those that ended the war were. Among the most pressing issues the Reconstruction drafters faced like compensating northerners and not alienating the South, providing justice to African Americans—especially freed slaves—stood forward as the primary moral goal. After all, by the end of the war, the North’s endgame became less about state defiance and more about the moral obligation of emancipation. The North first employed a strategy of appeasement to save the dignity of the South but after a recalcitrant South refused

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

At the end of the Civil War slavery was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the blacks was finally free. In the South there was a sense of anger and shame in losing the war. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. Reconstruction was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War. The reconstruction plan granted the means for readmitting the southern states into the Union, and tried to come up with the methods by which whites and blacks could live together in a non-slave society. However during reconstruction the United States government took actions to protect freedman and with each action the south countered with actions that would try to eradicate the laws put in place by the winning northern forces for example, the infamous Jim Crow Laws. The law segregated the whites and the blacks, thus can be commonly heard as “separate is not equal.” The Reconstruction was still seen as a success towards the United States as a whole in many ways as it unified the nations.

Arguably one of the greatest contributions during the reconstruction era was the thirteenth amendment. This is the amendment that formally abolished the cruel and unjust acts of slavery in 1865. The thirteenth amendment states “"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" (Primary documents in American History). “The ratification came eight months after the end of the war, but it represented the culmination of the struggle against slavery. When the war began, some in the North were against fighting what they saw as a crusade to end slavery. Although many northern Democrats and conservative Republicans were opposed to slavery 's expansion, they were ambivalent about outlawing the institution entirely” (13th amendment ratified). This statement is proof that although the North was opposed to slavery they were not

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.

Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War. During this period, the U.S faced many challenges such as how to reunite the North and the South and put the Civil War behind us. In addition, the nation needed to address the status of four million freed slaves by granting them citizenship, and protecting their citizenship rights. As years passed, many historians went back and forth of whether or not Congress was a success for the freedmen, or a total blowout. These pieces of evidence concludes that the Congress’ Reconstruction was unfortunately a failure for the freedmen rights.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were also sources of power for the national government when it came to its jurisdiction over the states. By passing laws against slavery and allowing "equal protection under the law," the national government gave itself the power to enforce those laws and therefore enhanced authority over the states. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and in section 2 stated that "Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." By adding section 2 to the amendment, Congress was simply ensuring their supremacy over the state governments. Among other things, the 14th Amendment guarantees "equal protection under the law" to all citizens. Since all citizens are guaranteed protection, it is left up to the national government to make sure all citizens are receiving these rights. Even though many thought that the 14th Amendment meant that the Bill of Rights was

At the time the fourteenth Amendment was made, The Civil War had recently arrived at an end, beating the Confederacy. Acting president,Abraham Lincoln, had proclaimed the slaves liberated toward the end of the war; but, there were still a great deal of waiting inquiries with respect to the previous Confederates and the status of slaves in the nation. The Amendment was made to give people below the jurisdiction of the statute the privilege to fairness. This was known as the Equal Protection Clause. At this time, the purpose behind the fourteenth Amendment is to guarantee that the Civil Rights Act was maintained. On the other hand, taking after the selection of the fourteenth Amendment, Supreme Court choices started putting limitations on the

After the civil war there was a period from 1865 to 1877 called the reconstruction period. Which may be the reason african americans have the rights that they do today. The Reconstruction period was not all good, there were also laws that limited the rights of african americans called “jim crow laws”. Sharecropping also was developed which was practically a legal form of slavery. Over all American Reconstruction was a success due to all of the rights that african americans gained, but it didn't happen easily.

Following the civil war Congress passed three amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in January 31, 1865. This states that no form of slavery should exist within the United States. Followed by the Fourteenth Amendment which was passed on June 13, 1866; that states that anyone born or naturalized in the United States cannot be denied life, liberty, and property without due process of law. Nor be denied equal protection of the law. Then the Fifteenth Amendment was passed on February 26, 1869 stating that any citizen of the United States regardless of your race should not be

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments state, “The United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery to this day. The United States Constitution declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens including African Americans.the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This is the part where it really express the north winning the battle. As you had the south making it very difficult to change their ways and thoughts of slavery, there was nothing at this point that was going to stop the republican party to keep going in this direction. As each amendment was made, the south was do little things such as the Jim Crow law to get around them. The Jim Crow Law was made in many states that was their to segregate the whites and the blacks. When smaller things like this were made the republicans came up with amendments or smaller laws such as Blacks vs Boarders to stop the south from slowing down the reconstruction process.

As a country, America has gone though many political changes throughout its lifetime. Leaders have come and gone, and all of them have had their own objectives and plans for the future. As history has taken its course, though, almost all of these “revolutionary movements” have come to an end. One such movement was Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a violent period that defined the defeated South’s status in the Union and the meaning of freedom for ex-slaves. Though, like many things in life, it did come to an end, and the resulting outcome has been labeled both a success and a failure.

The result of the four-year long Civil War, was a nation in need of much repair. The split of the union dividing North and South was centered around their opposing views on slavery. These tensions placed black slaves in the middle as an object the was in a tug of war between the two sides. In the end, slavery was abolished and the rights of freed slaves were thus added to the Constitution in the fourteenth amendment that prohibited their exclusion from the unalienable rights of a United States citizen, " nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" (doc 13). Despite the new addition to this law, the

The article that I read shows us that even though slavery was ended by the 13th amendment, life still was not fair or equal for former slaves. Reconstruction tried to give slaves the same rights as whites had, but the whites that lived in the southern states didn’t want this to happen they did everything they could to make the slaves live bad by ignoring the federal laws and passing new state laws. The end of Civil War in 1865 should have meant freedom for the slaves. But reconstruction gave them fake freedom. The painting shows in many ways the hardships that the former slaves ended even after they were no longer consider property. That era was one of the darkest era after the reconstruction. KKK was the one that raised the violent action

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.