The Pros And Cons Of Radical Reconstruction

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.

Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War. During this period, the U.S faced many challenges such as how to reunite the North and the South and put the Civil War behind us. In addition, the nation needed to address the status of four million freed slaves by granting them citizenship, and protecting their citizenship rights. As years passed, many historians went back and forth of whether or not Congress was a success for the freedmen, or a total blowout. These pieces of evidence concludes that the Congress’ Reconstruction was unfortunately a failure for the freedmen rights.

Throughout American history, the south and the north have consistently held different beliefs on how to handle some subjects. Whether it ranged from slavery, to taxing, or to business, southerners and northerners often seemed to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. It was not any different back in the 1800’s. Though intensely different, they were still part of the same country. One of the biggest issues that made the north and the south so distinct from one another was their view and perspective on slavery. The north, who was considered mostly republican, saw slavery as something that needed to be abolished for it was a great sin committed by mankind; while the south, who were mostly considered democrats, viewed it as a necessity for they considered African-Americans a race that needed to be controlled because they were less intelligent than the white man but very violent and because they were “built” for the hard labor. Over the 1800’s they had been a tension built between the two sides of the country. The tension rose to a boiling point when the 1860 election rolled around. After the elections occurred, a chain of events followed which would leave a lasting impact on the current United States. In the heart of these events was the civil war. To this day, it is very debatable that the war started because of the unsure future of slavery under new leadership.

Reconstruction failed for African Americans. By the 1890’s all optimism that came as a result of the Constitutional rights guaranteed to them by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments was gone. Their reality, particularly for those in the South, was one of lynchings, Jim Crowe laws, and voting restrictions. They faced discrimination, segregation, limited educational opportunities, and a tenant farming system that only slightly differed from slavery. In the early twentieth century, visionaries such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvey recognized the urgent need for change. These great leaders were in agreement that action was required to uplift the African American race. However, their philosophies on how to approach it were vastly different.

The Battle of the Appomattox Court House may have brought a conclusion to the Civil War, but after the war, the questions of freedom, treatment of Confederate soldiers, how states should readmitted to the Union, and repairs in the South remained. The foremost question that both white southerners, white northerners, and African Americans faced was what did freedom mean: for white southerners, it meant freedom from the perceived tyrannical rule of the North; for white northerners, it started and stopped with emancipation with the exception of the Radicals and some Moderates; and for African Americans, many saw it as having the same political rights as whites with some even wanting a redistribution of the land. They also faced the question of freedom for a certain group of individuals: those who supported the Confederacy. Northern whites debated whether these individuals should receive general amnesty as in the Lincoln plan, a pardon in the plan proposed by President Johnson, or exclusion from Congress without a ⅔ approval in the Fourteenth Amendment. Then, they faced the questions of how states should be readmitted to the Union with some - like Lincoln - hoping for a speedy resolution while others, especially radical Republicans, wanting vindication; these different policies could be seen in the 10% Plan, which focused on bringing a expedient conclusion to the conflict, and Johnson’s

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.

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.

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

The Reconstruction Era is a suitable starting point for African Americans. “Reconstruction- the effort to restore southern states to the Union and to redefine African Americans’ place in

With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14th, 1865 and the end of the American Civil War, America was left broken and in shambles. The United States was stuck with the task of integrating the former slave population and the former rebellious population back into the nation. This era, called Reconstruction, lasted from 1865 to 1877 and was a failure considering all the freedoms and rights it failed to bring to African Americans. Although, objectively, it seemed as if former slaves were beginning to receive equality due to the creation of things such as the three new amendments, the freedmen's bureau, and 40 acres and a Mule this is not the case. These justices repaid did in fact help former slaves but they didn’t last long until either

The United States was a very divided country between the North and the South in the 19th century. “Reconstruction was a vicious and destructive experience, a period where when vindictive Northerners inflicted humiliation and revenge on the divided south” (Brinkley 351). During the time of reconstruction, President Lincoln and Andrew Johnson had large plans for the country but shortly took a sharp turn of the unexpected, radicals put in the Black Codes and amendments into the law, and the south had “redeemed” itself and began to rebuild.

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.

A. K. McClure, in “The Lesson of Our Civil War,” provides certain impactful and transcendent truths such as the common consensus for ideas, the power struggle between the states’ and federal’s government and the ability to progress after a devastating war. Although certain individuals believe that the cause of the war derived from radicals, the reality is that there was a common consensus amongst the people. The Civil War involved the people: northerner people who desired to stop the expansion of slavery and southerner people who desired to expand slavery because they desired high productivity in their businesses. Today, with North Carolina, it seems that history is repeating itself. As the southern states desired to maintain their power,

It is widely acknowledged that the African-American freedom struggle and their relentless works to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation have accomplished further than the eradication of racial and national barriers. The mass militancy not only knocked over the system introduced by Jim Crow but completely transformed the nature of traditional social relationships and civilizing medians. Moreover, the freedom struggle not only changed the legal status of black Americans but also helped in achieving the significant changes in ethnic awareness (Carson, 1993, p. 3). In simple words, the civil rights movement was not simply an attempt for the achievement of national civil rights reform. It carried within it much more than that. It facilitated the generation of embryonic norms and ethics just like any other civil movement. These reforms helped in the removal of barriers to the liberty of