How Did The Reconstruction Era Affect America Today

After the Civil War, America was still amidst great turmoil and economic instability. During this time period, the ultimate goal for Americans was to seize the “American Dream”. This was defined by most as being able to support their family and live a comfortable life. Although some did achieve this, many faced social, political and economic hardships. Beginning with the unjust treatment of African-Americans, then the struggles of immigrants, and followed by the rise of big businesses, the challenges faced during this time of rebuilding varied among the classes.

The Reconstruction era was a period of time after the civil war of 1865-1877. The President and later the Congress would both put forth ideas and initiatives. Legislative responses and shifts in political power would mark this era with moderate success but in the end, a failure.

Reconstruction took placed in the South from 1865 to 1880. It impacted the United States’ history by holding the South back economically behind the

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 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.

America was in disarray following the events of the Civil War. Southern economy was in shambles while congress was struggling to find a middle ground between the radical republicans and Lincoln’s lenient policies. Many Southerners faced the aftermath of uprooting their society and their way of life while thousands of newly freed slaves struggled to find a way to support themselves. The country needed a strong leader, however on the 14th of April, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theatre in Washington (Farmer). Without the man that had once held the nation together, the country now faced an enormous obstacle; reconstructing American economics, politics and social life.

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.

The Reconstruction Era through World War I provided the push African Americans needed for the Civil rights movement. The Reconstruction Era was the one period that represented the turning point for the African Americans. The Reconstruction Era was a success for the most part. The Reconstruction Era rightfully restored the nation as a unified whole. For one all of the states were finally acknowledging the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments. So it follows, the Reconstruction Era to World War I, then last but not least the Civil Rights Movement.

The reconstruction of the South after the Civil War, also known as the Reconstruction Era, lasted from 1865 to 1877. This time period was meant to affect the south, but also affected North. The Reconstruction Era was considered in the South worse than the Civil War itself. Many acts were passed including the Third Force Act, Black Codes, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, The Thirteenth Amendment, and many more. The Reconstruction Era made many famous figures, Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. The Reconstruction Era’s ultimate effect was to help the South regain strength after the Civil War, but it did not always affect the South in a positive way.

“In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it is perhaps not surprising that historians turned renewed attention to home-grown American terrorism. Recent books on Reconstruction…have infused their subjects with drama by focusing on violent confrontations,” Eric Foner notes in the introduction of the updated edition to his 1988 publication Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. Up until now, Foner’s revisionist historiography of Reconstruction was the only alternative offered to the Dunning School’s account of the important historical era. In recent years a neo-revisionist interpretation of Reconstruction has emerged in works by a younger generation of historians such as Gregory Downs, Carole Emberton, Hannah Rosen, Megan Kate Nelson and Jim downs. This new scholarship pays close attention to violence, the body, language, and gender—how these important themes directly relate to power, struggle, and political status of freedpeople in the postbellum nation—and either rethink or are completely uninterested in Foner’s revisionist narrative of Reconstruction.

The United States was challenged with many issues after the Civil War like crop lien work contracts, segregation, and unresolved problems with the seceded states. This period was called Reconstruction.

In Appomattox Court House, 1865, the Civil War concluded, ushering in the Reconstruction Era. Approximately one week after, John Wilkes Booth, a radical southerner, assassinated President Lincoln. The Reconstruction Era, which ended when Rutherford B Hayes ceased its enforcement to keep the peace, was a time for the country to consolidate and forgive the wrongs of the past. This Reconstruction period included many lasting effects on the governing of America. However, it shattered the welfare of southerners, Freedmen, and the general public. Additionally, discrimination ran rampant in the newly reunited country. Reconstruction was successful in the government, but not fiscally nor with public unity.

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

Reconstruction left a lot of things unfinished such as what the South considers the one cause that isn’t fixed which is states rights. It didn’t give women the right to vote and Native Americans didn’t get citizenship. Black people had to face many cruelties such as the KKK and even the upper-class women. It just shows that the women think that since black people have rights that there is no such thing as racial discrimination but in reality, it still happens now. Some people in our Society might think that there isn’t such thing as racial discrimination because there are amendments and laws that disregard race and gender. However, there still is racial discrimination such as our President Trump, who blames immigrants for being criminals and Muslims for being

After the North won the civil war, it was time to rebuild this nation. This period of reconstruction was supposed to have a profound change on society. Unfortunately this was not the case. Reconstruction did not fundamentally alter this nation. Not to say that nothing happened, but nothing that really made a change or difference happened. First, the control of the south was given right back to the planter elite. Also, even though slavery was abolished; blacks were not free. Finally, Congress and President Johnson could not get along. Although the civil war reshaped this country profoundly. The reconstruction efforts did little but scratch a surface, before being quickly wiped away.