Civil War Vs Reconstruction

Slavery is the darkness in human history. A history with unfathomable cruelty against another human being. Slavery in America started when the first African slaves were conveyed toward the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to help in the creation of such lucrative yields as tobacco. Bondage was rehearsed all through the American settlements in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and African-American slaves manufactured the financial establishments of the new country. The development of the cotton gin in 1793 set the focal significance of slavery toward the South's economy. By the mid-nineteenth century, America's westbound development, alongside a developing abolition movement in the North, would incite a confrontation

From 1863 to 1865, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson both took moderate positions intended to take the South back to status quo as fast as could be expected under the circumstances, while the Radical Republicans utilized Congress to square any moderate approaches, force unforgiving terms, and overhaul the privileges of the freedmen. Johnson took after a tolerant strategy toward ex-Confederates much like Lincoln's. Lincoln's last discourses demonstrate that he was inclining toward supporting the liberation of all freedmen, though Johnson was against

The Reconstruction period stands in sharp contrast. Although the destructive power of the war was frightful, its ultimate achievement was eliminated the plague that divided America. That plague is the moral question of slavery. Francis G. Couvares, a professor at the Amherst College and the author of Interpretations of American History Vol. I: Patterns and Perspectives argued, “The federal government had to bring the South back into the union on terms that permitted reconciliation, protect the newly freed slaves from the wrath of angry whites, and construct a biracial society of free people” One can clearly notice the difference in the tone from the previous book. This book seem a bit more critical of whites and sympathetic toward the African Americans by using “wrath of angry whites”, and “construct a biracial society of free people”. Schouler never would say that because his book was published in a time when segregation still existed. That type of thinking, “biracial” society, was unfathomable for most Americans during that time. Also, his connection between Social Darwinism and white supremacy is something that can only be seen with a modern set prospective. During Schouler’s time, it was just the way of life that whites were superior. However, they both seem to agree that the reconstruction period opened the door that could never be completely closed. Couvares