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Dbq Essay On Reconstruction

1006 Words5 Pages

There are many different questions that came with reconstruction. How easily should the South be readmitted? Should blacks receive full rights? Who should control reconstruction? Should reconstruction be handled at a national level? These questions were all answered at the time of reconstruction, there was much debate behind these, but they all eventually were answered and reconstruction was carried through in the best way the government thought possible. The first argument at hand was how easy the south should be readmitted into the union, and if they were readmitted, who should be pardoned? This debate went on and on because while President Johnson believed that the South should be readmitted fairly quickly into the union, that view disagreed …show more content…

“Should blacks receive full voting rights, and what rights should they require. Radical republicans posed that freed slaves should recieve voting rights, but president Johnson quickly turned this down. But congress passed a bill that gave freedmen full rights including voting rights that lasted a few years. In our discussion, we came to the conclusion that freed men weren’t quite ready to vote yet, as they needed to be educated first. We agreed that this way was the best for the freedmen to be admitted back as citizens. We also came to the conclusion that black freedmen should receive homesteads from the government, from the homesteads that were lost in the south during the war. In my opinion, I believe that freedmen needed to be educated a little more before they received full voting rights. It is not a good idea for them to just be thrown into the mix without knowing anything. Once they are educated they will be self sufficient and will be functioning members of …show more content…

In class, the debate was heated but overall we came to the conclusion that the president should control reconstruction. The argument was that the president would get more done if he would have sole control over reconstruction, and if congress was in charge they would just argue and nothing would get done. Also we discussed how congress already has there hands full with the issue over if blacks should receive full rights or not, and that they did not have time to handle reconstruction as well. In my opinion, I believe that congressional reconstruction was the best decision. With congress controlling reconstruction, we would receive more viewpoints, and overall we would end up with the best possible conclusion. Without congress controlling reconstruction President Johnson would have been able to do whatever he wanted and this could be a bad thing considering some of his

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