Reconstruction : The Second Greatest Crisis

In “Reconstruction Revisited”, Eric Foner reexamines the political, social, and economic experiences of black and white Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War. With the help of many historian works, Foner gives equal representation to both sides of the Reconstruction argument.

Although it did temporarily provide African Americans with de jure equality, Radical Reconstruction did not eliminate the intrinsic barriers of prejudice and neglect to African American prosperity in the South and did not keep freedmen from being once again disenfranchised to sharecropping and enslaved to debt after Northern supervision stagnated. Freedom, as defined by Garrison Frazier, a Baptist minister representing Savannah’s black community, was “placing us where we could reap the fruit of our own labor, and take care of ourselves,” and African Americans were unable to do that despite laws that purportedly freed African Americans. In fact, most of the impacts of Radical Reconstruction—an abandoned black community, a makeshift union, and an empowered white supremacy movement overlooked by a corrupt state government system—could have been achieved by simply engaging with the normal Reconstruction. Radical Reconstruction may have actually been worse because of the widened rift between the North and the South, with resentment of the federal government’s military intervention fostering a reluctancy for the South to cooperate. Even though African Americans would have to wait decades for a semblance of justice, it is perhaps for the better that the North did not force the South the alter their worldview. For the United States government is not Orwell’s thought police, and the nation’s laws are unable to oversee every single interaction and microaggression that citizens face as a result of others’ preconceived notions and judgements. Considering that both gentle and strict approaches were tried, there is very little that officials could have done to feasibly create a perfect reconstruction, and hitting with a heavier hand would only further a stronger backlash. If they had done any one thing better, it would have

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.

The main economic hurdle the country faced was centered in the south. After the war many Southerners were dependant on federal aid subsistence and the emancipation proclamation cost the South $2 billion of it’s capital (Farmer). Furthermore, agriculture had been what maintained southern economy but post-war most farms and plantations were desolate and many of the few railroad tracks that were there before had been destroyed. Historian Charles Beard looks at the war as, “the triumph of the forces of industrialism over plantation agriculture.” However this is not entirely true. While there was some movement towards industry, the south was still primarily agriculturally based and had adopted a system of sharecropping to do so. It took until 1867 for

Although the attempted reformation of the U.S. were increasingly substantial, the reconstruction era had a negative connotation, leaving a wounded nation to attempt to reconstruct after. The Civil War, one of America’s bloodiest conflicts, has left a lasting imprint with the high percentage of fatalities and significant damage to property. The division of the north and south left scarring results, fueling the fire of the slavery debacle. With the Unions win in 1865, the skirmish was far from over. Through the anguish and discord of the rebuilding, those w Those who were persecuted before can not escape the discrimination and freedom yet to come. Equality for all comes with a hefty price. The reconstruction of America saw successes, yet is overshadowed by the impending darkness that

After the devastation brought to the South from the Civil War America entered period called “Reconstruction” to help mend America. One of the most debated things to come out of Reconstruction was on whether it was a success or a failure. Many believe it was a success due to the Southern states participating in the US government again and the freedom of slaves. Others believe it was a failure due to the repression of African rights and failures to protect them both physically and financially. Reconstruction was a failure because of the restrictions of African American’s rights, the social separation/mistreatment of the races, and the continous poverty of the African American community.

3. Agriculture, “economic lifeblood of the South” was crippled a. Cotton no longer grown b. slave-labor system = collapsed c. seed scarce; livestock driven off by Unionists i. Only until 1870 did new Southern land produce cotton at the level of 1860 4. Planter aristocrats were in poverty, faced burnt mansions, lost investments and worthless land a. $2 billion

The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like

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.

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.

After the war, the South was devastated and it was going to take a lot of money and a lot of rebuilding for it to be self-sufficient again. It financially and architecturally succeeded in reinventing itself and in the thirty five years following the war, Southern iron, steel and textile industries emerged, with Railroads leading the South’s industrial expansion. The Southern economy grew and prospered, although it could never quite compete with the North in innovations or wages. Now that there were almost 4 million freed slaves living in the South and a huge population of poor white people,

By 1877, reconstruction had successfully restored the United States as a unified nation. Each Confederate state had thoroughly drafted state constitutions, pledged their loyalty to the United States government, and accepted the newly Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. However, reconstruction inevitably failed the South. The legislation of Radical Republicans failed to give protection to freed slaves from further persecution of whites; and it also failed to fundamentally refabricate the social atmosphere of the south. Once President Rutherford B. Hayes implemented the removal of all federal troops from southern states, empathizers of the late slave ideology, being leaders of the Confederacy and slaver owners, were reinstated to power.

The Civil War is one of the most important wars in the United States. Before the civil war, the southern states and the north had different kinds of industries. According to the Benjamin T. Arrington, in 1860, the economy in the south was predominantly agricultural. On the contrary, ninety percent of the output of the whole country came from the north freedom states, in the same year. In addition, in agricultural sector, the

Historians have described Reconstruction as a “splendid failure” even though great accomplishments were obtained during this period. During Reconstruction many new laws were passed, such as the 14th & 15th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act. However, at the end of Reconstruction, many of the southern whites returned to their positions of power they had held previously. This led to southern states passing black codes and the Democratic Party using methods of intimidation and violence in order to control black voters. Therefore true equality for black Americans had not been achieved as was desired by those in favor of the Civil

Post Civil-War life was never easy for any particular group of people, but for African Americans, some could say reconstruction was the “turn of the tide”, or so was it? To understand reconstructions impact on the lives of Freedmen, it is crucial for one to have knowledge of the African Americans during the Reconstruction Era. The key factors to reconstruction's direct impact, was the introduction of African Americans to the American government, along with the constitutional amendment following the civil war. Additionally the basic or daily life improvements, which weren’t provided by slaveowners before. The last factor to reconstruction’s impact, is a slave’s self-understanding, that they were free in the United States, but unfortunately not equal. Included in the article, “The Promise of Freedom”, the desire for African American freedom and equality are voiced, “...as African Americans adjusted not only to the strange reality of freedom but to the hopes and plans that freedom had awakened. For the next fifteen years or so, some of these hopes and plans would be realized, while others would be crushed”(The Promise 3-4). These reasons collectively provide the details necessary to answer if the reconstruction effectively impacted the lives of Freedmen. During the Reconstruction, the lives of Freedmen were improved as a people and as Americans.