Reconstruction Violence

The radical Republicans saw Reconstruction as a chance to bring change to southern society. Lincoln saw Reconstruction as an opportunity to abolish slavery and weaken the confederacy by establishing new state governments that could win support of southern whites. While the Republicans were divided on the issue of how to readmit the southern states into the Union, they enacted programs for emancipated slaves such as the Freedman’s Bureau. This Bureau provided food and clothing to former slaves and they were in charge with “supervising all the abandoned lands in the South and the control of subjects relating to refugees and freedman” (Buhle, 463).

Ida Wells-Barnett, writer of Lynch Law in America, offers an eye-opening article that reflects back on the negative experiences the black community suffered just because of their racial background. Wells-Barnett first starts by describing that there is an “unwritten law” that justifies every action against blacks because it proclaimed that for certain crimes no white person should be compelled to charge an assault under oath. This unwritten law, according to her, was advocated by “red-shirt” groups whose purpose, initially, was to “intimidate, suppress, and nullify the negro’s right to vote” (71). Then, she describes that in order to accomplish the main purpose, it was necessary to “beat, exile, and kill negros” (71). Therefore, the lynchings began in the South; and, on average, two hundred women and men were put to death annually. These lynchings were extremely publicized; the lynching mobs cut off extremities.

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.

The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves.

The period after the Civil War was a very difficult time in the United States' history. This time was known as the Reconstruction period and it was a very controversial time. There were many issues that had to be addressed such as what to do with the free blacks in the south and how states would be readmitted to the Union. This era saw the rise of the Radical Republicans. The government was going through changes, southerners were going through changes, and blacks were going through changes. Whites in the south were left without people to work their plantations. Slavery was indeed a very important topic during this time. Many of the reconstruction plans that were proposed required states to prohibit slavery in order to be readmitted to

During the Reconstruction era, former slaves received much violence from whites. About 5,000 blacks were murdered by whites from 1865-1866. White mobs killed 34 blacks in New Orleans and 46 blacks in Memphis during race riots in 1866. Blacks were also subjected to the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret white organization. That was founded in 1865 or 1866 in Tennessee. The members of the Ku Klux Klan wore white hoods and robes and put white sheets over their horses. Blacks and white sympathizers were beaten and murdered by the Klan. The Klan did whatever it could to prevent blacks from exercising their rights. By terrorizing blacks, they kept them from voting. These attacks couldn’t even be stopped by the U.S. Army troops.

The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 lasted for ten years and counted as another very large portion of the success of Reconstruction, even though flaws continuously occurred. “This drastic legislation divided the South into five military districts, each commanded by a Union general and policed by blue-clad soldiers, about twenty thousand all told.” The act enforced all laws passed by Congress including the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. The tactics and maneuvers under this act called for strict rule over the South to insure the equality of blacks. In 1877, the federal troops had to abandon their positions in the southern states leaving the South in almost the same situation it faced previously. Therefore, the Military Reconstruction Act also failed for not keeping black equality rights enforced.

In hindsight it is sometimes claimed that Reconstruction was a failure. Although there was some good that came out of the Reconstruction it was mostly just a relentless uphill battle against Southerners and immoral politicians that were here to delay change and keep racism alive. Reconstruction brought the Ku Klux Klan who displayed great resistance, and poverty that swept the South once the blacks were freed. The freedom of these black slaves led to discriminatory legislatures such as the Black Codes and the Jim Crow laws to keep the blacks constrained from actually being free. The South was then encountered with corruption and high property taxes, as a rebuild was in order to reestablish the war torn part of the nation.

America: “The land of the free, and the home of the brave” (Key 7-8). When our forefathers overcame the colonial reign of the British Empire, they formed the United States of America based on the premise of enlightened ideals promoting life, ownership of land, and liberty. But after the revolution, the country’s problems were far from solved. The country’s post-revolution issues sparked a Civil War, which was followed by a reconstruction. In some ways, the Civil War and Reconstruction helped the United States accomplish its original goals, but in many ways, that was not the case.

Reconstruction (1867-1877) under Congress was a fast tightening of a noose in the South. Congress no longer trusted Andrew Johnson’s loose plan for Reconstruction, so they began closing in on their plans. Radical Republicans made many lasting impacts in this period. Under Congress, the 14th and 15th Amendment was created, guaranteeing rights to African Americans. A newly created Freedmen’s Bureau help create many schools and colleges, lasting up to modern times. African Americans held power in office, although they were quickly brought down by the Ku Klux Klan’s terrorism. The main path Reconstruction took was based on the government’s plans. There

The debates were going on if the confederates holding the office earlier should be allowed to hold office now or there should be any restrictions imposed on them. Out of these debates, emerged the next success of reconstruction: the 14th Amendment which guaranteed protection of all citizens of all races. According to document 25 of Radical Reconstructions, “The amendment was a logical culmination of congressional efforts to this point, marking the fulfillment of Republican Party’s commitment to civil rights and legal equality.”3 This amendment was opposed by advocates of women suffrage as the second section of amendment only talked about right to vote of male citizens and denied women’s

After the Civil War the people of the nation especially the government wanted to help the newly freed African-Americans however something caused the ever-growing wave of equality to cave in on itself and retract. In the beginning many people were supportive of reconstruction. Laws like the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were passed ensuring African-American citizenship and their civil rights. Schools and churches were quickly built for them and the former slaves were even gaining positions in the government. It all seemed great until the election of 1876 when Ruther B. Hayes a republican and Samuel J. Tilden a democrat ran for the presidency.

The Battle Over Reconstruction There were many short term and long term effects of the Civil War. After the Civil War and through the 1890s, the United States struggled to agree on reuniting the country and also Reconstruction. While the government tried to solve key problems with rebuilding the Nation, their solutions were short-term and failed to address the problems. Because of the disagreements concerning Reconstruction, problems were created in the government and in the South as well, that soon resulted in many short-term and long-term solutions. Although there were lots of attempts to give African Americans rights, there were not many long-term effects that lasted to satisfy this by the end of reconstruction.

The North may have won the war, but they did a horrible job in trying to win the peace. The south had their new form of slavery, which was contained in the "Black Codes"; laws passed throughout the South that laid heavy restrictions on what, who, and where African-Americans could be. President Johnson saw that the only way to get the freedmen as subordinates again was to let the south back in he started signing pardons so fast that they had to assign an office to help him keep up. Johnson didn't interfere with the south and they continued their plantations, with the plantation owners running the south, in essence becoming exactly what they were before the war. It was like it had never happened. When

and in reality it was a demonstration of the failure to make a dependable political