The Beginning of a New Nation: Southern Reconstruction After The Civil War

After the Civil War, the South was in a state of political turmoil, social chaos, and economic decline. Contrary to popular belief, Northerners did not subject Southerners to unethical or inhumane punishment. The time post Civil War was filled with efforts toward reconstructing the South, yet there is the strong question if there even is a New South. Yes, there was somewhat of a New South economically. No, there was not a New South regarding race relations and social hierarchy. In the 1870’s, the South realized the world still looked at them as the ones who wanted slavery. There was a need to project a new image to the world and to stimulate

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

In the beginning of 1865, the Civil War came to a close, abandoning over 620,000 dead and a destructive path of devastating all over the south. The North now was confronted with the task of reconstructing the destroyed and aggrieved Confederate states.

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.

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.

A revolution is a dramatic and sudden change in an organization in the social order that is replaced by a new, more favorable system. When Historian Eric Foner called the Reconstruction period “America’s Second Revolution”, his characterization was correct. Reconstruction can be viewed as a revolution because the previous social order, slavery, was replaced suddenly by a more favorable one, freedom for African-Americans. There was a long period of politicization for incorporating free African-Americans into white society. Reconstruction also revolutionized the preconceived notion that the states had autonomous power.

As the civil war was ending many people could see that the odds of the north winning increased dramatically however many people can argue this idea based on the several events that took place during the second phase of the civil war. Carl Schurz concluded, “The Civil War was a revolution, but half accomplished.”(Roark et al 434) Reconstruction started before the civil war ended until 1877, when people of the United States tried figuring out how to put the country back together. Many people had different ideas on how the reconstruction should be handled as a result conflict began between different political groups, between groups in the south, between north and south, and between congress and senate groups. The dramatic transformation of southern states took place during the reconstruction that proved their victory was the organization and formation of government, being reunited in the union, and acquiring constitutional and legal status of African Americans.

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.

The reconciliation vision was rooted in coping with the death and devastation the war had brought,In other words, the bad manner in which the U.S. implemented AR2 during Reconstruction negatively affected the quality of reconciliation after the Civil War. Economic opportunity for all is an important factor any AR2 process.President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction initiatives focused on this idea. The white supremacist vision which included terror and violence, led to the creation of the kkk and Prior to the Civil War, racism and white supremacy had been common attitudes in both the North and the South. After the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union troops began to fight for the abolishment of slavery, Northern attitudes shifted slightly, and many felt that blacks deserved equal legal rights and equal protection, even if they were not considered socially equal.. And last but not least, the and the emancipationist vision, which sought full freedom, citizenship and Constitutional equality for African

“Where slavery is, thecan re liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot” -Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at the Battle of Fort Sumter. This war was also known as “The War Between the States”. It involved The Confederates (south) and The Union (north). The issue between the groups were slavery and central power.

By March 1863, Union forces had taken control of the sugar-planting region and reported that all the slaves had come within their lines. Fellow sugar planter Andrew McCollam reported that he had only a few hands left and he doubted he would be able to do more than manage the seed cane. Viguerie, along with hundreds of Louisiana soldiers, including William A. Bisland of Terrebonne, surrendered on May 26, 1865 in New Orleans. Viguerie was paroled to New Iberia, Louisiana on June 6, 1865. He was released shortly after.

After the Civil War, the nation was shattered. And the people had looked to Lincoln to repair what had been damaged in the United States. But a Southern extremist with a homicidal plot had ensured that reparations between the North and the South would be stalled.

When President Lincoln requested that I come to the White House I was surprised. The Civil War had ended along with my service to the Union. As we talked I understood that the President was determined to bring the South back into the Union. He believed in the United States of American. His plans for Reconstruction included the rebuilding of the South which was heavily damaged because most of the battles were fought in the South. Freed slaves and white soldiers, were competing for the few jobs that were available. The mainstay of the economy was agriculture. Now there was no money for seed, labor, or taxes. President Lincoln proposed that I tour the Southern States. I would also evaluate what would it take to rebuild and repair the cities. My

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.