The Era Of Reconstruction During The Civil War

The Reconstruction happened in period following the end of the American Civil and the main goal was to reintegrate the Southern Confederate States back into the Union after they had been defeated by the Union (Northern States). As would be expected, the process was met with many challenges as the interests of both groups had to be addressed. There was debate over the terms under which the Confederate States would be allowed back into the Union, and whether it was the president or congress to set these terms. There was also the question about what rights freed slaves had and their role in the new American society. Even though the war had ended, the reconstruction presented a new battlefront for a political struggle between the North and the South. This paper analyses what reconstruction sought to achieve, and why it failed with dire long-term consequences.

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.

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.

Although the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Reconstruction brought great hope to America’s four million former slaves, the efforts of Congressional Reconstruction ultimately failed to establish equal rights for the freedmen because the racist mindset still dominated American society at the time and Democratic influence steadily overcame Republican control in Congress. Despite the Union’s victory, the end of the Civil War brought many significant national problems, including an economically and culturally devastated South and the protection of the freedmen. After a period of Reconstruction under Lincoln and then under Andrew Johnson, it was Congress’s turn to determine the path of Reconstruction. While the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation were large steps in the freedmen’s road to equality, it was never going to be that easy to attain true equality for all. The Southerners’ mindset was still fixated on the idea that freedmen were naturally inferior.

The Civil War and Reconstruction periods had many positive outcomes for America, such as the reunification of the Union, the expansion of the North and South’s economy, education for all, and much more. Although there were many positive results from these two periods, there was also an aftermath of much failure. The post Civil War, and Reconstruction period consisted of the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and the black code laws. Despite the fact that African American’s were no longer slaves, in many ways they were still not free. Furthermore, the creation of things such as the Ku Klux Klan and the black codes created high tension between the black and white races, a tension that can be argued is still present in modern day America. This essay will examine the aspects of how the post Civil War and Reconstruction period was a failure with regards to social, economic and political, and radical development for newly freed slaves.

The end of civil war in the United States of America brought about many problems, in particular for the South. Some of the problems were political, economic decay and social disorder. The war destroyed the plantations and crops thus causing many to starve to death while others became homeless. The reconstruction became the only hope for the people. Radical reconstruction began in 1867, which enabled the freed black men to have a voice in the government. Before the civil war, the Southern state had enacted laws that suppressed all African American. This fact angered many people from the North who were seeking to end slavery. Therefore, during the reconstruction era, the black people wanted their voices to be heard.

Reconstruction era was a period of extraordinary changes for African Americans. However, few of these changes lasted long enough for blacks to engage in the freedom they earned. During the reconstruction era man new acts and laws came into place, unfortunately these were not acknowledged, this caused for discrimination to prevail. The Civil Rights Movement provided mass movement to end the racial segregation and discrimination. Countless black youth and adults risked their lives to address the reconstruction failure of promoting education and economic quality, and create an end for unfair voting.

government. Reconstruction was filled with attempts to expand the definition of freedom to African American’s. Foner also summarizes the new amendments created during the reconstruction era. “The Fourteenth Amendment made the federal government responsible for overriding state actions that interfered with the rights of citizens... The Thirteenth abolished slavery, the Fourteenth established equal citizenship, and the Fifteenth granted black men the right to vote” (Page 7 paragraph 1).

As the American Civil War came to a close, the United States started to revamp the country, during what became known as the Reconstruction Era. Throughout this Period of time (1865-1877), the authorities attempted to fix America politically, economically, and physically. The United States unfortunately faced struggles, when people were evidently unable to adapt themselves to the era. As a result of bringing an attempt to come back from the defeat, the result was insufficient. This clearly shows that the Reconstruction Era was certainly not a success because the changes created by the government failed to make positive changes to society.

The Reconstruction Period was a period of great disaster for the United States. Although the goal of the Reconstruction Period was to give African Americans rights, the only thing given to the freedmen was the lack of rights. From violence without consequence towards African Americans and segregation that was so split that it couldn’t be left unnoticed. Even Congress was corrupt enough to think that segregation was a perfectly legal practice. The events of Reconstruction ended up doing more harm than good towards freedmen since they were treated as an afterthought.

After the Civil War, following the Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction, the protection for the rights of African American ended if there was any. Southern States had moved to impose a system of segregation on nearly all areas of life. New laws that required segregation that stirred “separate but equal” doctrine that disenfranchise African Americans for almost six decades. It is hard in this days and age to be able to imagine segregation as a law, but the remnants just change form and name. A petition file on June 7, 1892, in the supreme court Louisiana by a local shoemaker named Homer Plessy against Honorable judge John H. Ferguson. His filling set a test case to challenge Separate Car Act that prompt Plessy v. Ferguson case perhaps one of the most noticeable actions to nullify “separate but equal” doctrine.

The reconstruction era was a difficult time for the African American slaves from 1865 to 1877 because the slaves were freed and there were no jobs for them, had very little or no education, and had very limited opportunity in the south. Reconstruction was one of the most critical periods in American History. The Civil War changed the nation tremendously, and most importantly by bringing an end to slavery. Reconstruction was a period of great promise, hope, and progress for African Americans, and a period of resentment and resistance for many white

In the late nineteenth century, as the civil war and reconstruction era drew to an end, newly freed African Americans were still faced with many problems. Slavery had taken up most if their lives and now that they were free with no jobs. Most resorted in being farmers to former slave owners to make a living. The whites, however, who did not agree with African Americans being free created "black codes." These were designed to force freed blacks to work on plantations. These codes also denied blacks the right to purchase or even rent land. The Freedmen 's Bureau was issued in an effort to bring freed people to full citizenship. This would help with getting the African Americans jobs, houses, education, land, and anything necessary to start their new lives. By 1879, Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, a former slave from Tennessee, became known as the leader of the “Exoduster Movement.” Benjamin Singleton urged blacks to leave the south to move westward. Kansas, at the time being a free state became appealing to Singleton and he put advertisements up to show blacks what opportunities awaited them in the west. Those who agreed with him and who moved west to Kansas called themselves “Exodusters.” Some believed that this was their promise land. A small town by the name of Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas, was home to 75 Americans by the year 1876. When the Exodus movement brought African Americans westward, the small town became known as the center

The main cause of the U.S. Civil War was issues dealing with slavery between the North and the South. According to Peter Fitzgerald,”The issue with the United States was that many free states were joining the union while other states still carried out slavery.” This means that at a point one side of the country depended on slavery while the other didn’t so if there were more free states than slave states the free states would have more power. Making it so the free states could easily overpower the slave states. According to Kennedy Hickman,”Slavery in the United States first began in Virginia in 1619. By the end of the American Revolution, most northern states had abandoned the institution while it continued to grow and flourish in the plantation