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Essay About The Failure Of Reconstruction

1113 Words5 Pages

The Reconstruction’s mission was to pave the way for America’s recovery. The Reconstruction consisted of efforts to unite the differences between the North and the South. The two main goals of the Reconstruction were to create “new, loyal southern states and [make] their abolition of slavery a condition for reunion” (Oakes et al., 2017, p. 453). However, the abolition of slavery was not a short process. The Republican Congress had a different agenda than President Johnson on the approach to abolish slavery. The political scene was a fight that went back and forth hindering the process to unite the two sides. The newly freed slaves encountered new challenges and hardships that they never experienced before. Nevertheless, the Reconstruction was a great starting point. President Johnson leaned more …show more content…

These “Black Codes” aimed to limit the blacks’ newly gained autonomy. This increased crime and abuse of the blacks. Even if the whites were caught and taken to court, the judge favored the white over the newly freed. Hence, the proliferation of white-on-black crime continued. In turn, Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which made all men and women born in the American citizens and representation in Congress would now “be based on a state’s voting population” (Oakes et al., 2017, p. 460). However, it was rejected by 12 states. Hence, Congress passed two Reconstruction Acts, which utilized the army to put the ten ex-Confederate states under strict army supervision and force them to adopt the 14th Amendment. With this move by the Congress, Johnson felt his natural order of society was threatened, “where blacks were kept in subordination” (Oakes et al., 2017, p. 463). He passed his own interpretations of the Reconstruction Acts, which forced Congress a 3rd Reconstruction Act. Johnson impeded almost all of Congress’s Reconstruction

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Johnson, a former senator from Tennessee who had remained loyal to the Union during the war, was a firm supporter of states’ rights and believed the federal government had no say in issues such as voting requirements at the state level. Under his Presidential Reconstruction, which began in May 1865, the former Confederate states were required to uphold the abolition of slavery (made official by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution), swear loyalty to the Union and pay off their war debt. Beyond those limitations, the states and their ruling class (traditionally dominated by white planters) were given a relatively free hand in rebuilding their own governments.

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Between the periods 1865 and 1877, Reconstruction took place, a time in which the North and South spent rebuilding after the Civil War. However, Reconstruction primarily took place in the South since all former slaves were now free, meaning that millions of people now required things such as jobs, a house, food, etc. Reconstruction was especially fundamental because this time would be spent attempting to grant African Americans social, political, and economic equality, something that had been withheld for many years. And while Reconstruction was successful in providing African Americans with political equality, it failed to establish social and economic equality. When it came to political equality for African Americans, Reconstruction was successful.

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The Reconstruction era had one utmost goal: to promote the relationship of our union. The goal of reconstruction is to bring our nation back together as a whole. The North and South were to both fully participate politically in the Union. The government thought that being united would assist with the issues of rights and relationships. For instance, the Whites could form relationships with the Blacks.

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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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On the other hand, Congress, most of all Radical Republicans, did not agree with Johnson’s actions. In fact, they would not allow the newly elected Southern representatives and senators from joining Congress in December of 1865. Instead , Congress enacted their own Reconstruction plan which consisted of: Creation of a Freedmen's Bureau to help newly freed slaves, passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to help protect freedmen from laws such as the Black Codes that were being passed in many Southern states, passage of the 14th Amendment, the purpose of which was to ensure that future legislatures could not revise the Civil Rights Act, passage of Reconstruction Acts that made restoration to the Union more difficult. Seven states were readmitted to the Union in 1868. Furthermore, congress prepared the 15th Amendment in 1868, it required the rest of the states to ratify the amendment to be readmitted and eventually all states were readmitted by 1870.

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870 Words | 4 Pages

The primary goal for the reconstruction following the war was to bring the southern states back into the union in a semi-compromising way that would settle the issues that had once fueled the Civil War. The once hopeful and good intentions soon proved to fall short of expectations. With the push for equality among African Americans and the passing of the amendments, came retaliation from southerns and other individuals who still held racist views. Things such as the black codes were passed in the southern states with the intentions of limiting freedoms for African Americans, and forcing them to take jobs of lower quality and pay. Along with this persecution, further segregation became common in retaliation to acts of the north.

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1459 Words | 6 Pages

Also, the initial reconstruction plan for high-ranking government and military officers quickly dissolved. Johnson would also veto legislation that extended civil rights and financial support for the former slaves, but Congress was able to override only a few of his vetoes. This constant conflict would set the stage for hostility between Congress and the president. Johnson’s command of the military as President would mitigate Congress' control of the military Reconstruction policy.

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Reconstruction was the rebuilding of the nation after the Civil War. It was President Lincoln’s method of reuniting the south and north back together. This consisted of methods and rules for the states of the south to rejoin the north. During reconstruction, there were several amendments established in favor of African Americans, such as the 13th amendment that ended slavery, the 14th amendment which said everyone was equal, and the 15th amendment which stated all men could vote. Although reconstruction could be seen as a good thing, when reconstruction failed it caused Jim Crow Laws, Sharecropping, and KKK.

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Essay On The Failure Of Reconstruction

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Reconstruction, between 1865-1877, allowed for the South to take control and was ultimately a failure. Although Freedmen’s Bureau was helpful in providing care for the recently freed African Americans, but it ended up being a failure when it was vetoed by Andrew Johnson in 1866. The Freedmen’s Bureau was meant to provide the former slaves with the necessities of life. Andrew Johnson in disagreement with the radical republicans vetoed the bill destroying any chance for integration into society for the African Americans. The 13th amendment was a success because it allowed African Americans to be freed from the bonds of slavery, but it did not allow for healthy integration into to everyday society.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.

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Once Johnson was no longer in charge congress put into place the Civil Rights Act, an act that declared everyone who was born in the United states to be granted a citizen no matter their race or previous conditions. This meant all former slaves could become true legal citizens. Similarly, the 14th amendment made it so that each state was to give equal protection of the laws to everyone because it too declared all citizens were equal. This amendment also would not allow for confederate political leaders to hold positions and it would not forgive any debts of the confederacy. Following the civil rights act and the 14th amendment the 15th amendment and then another civil rights act were also put into effect.

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The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

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During his presidency, Congress ratified the 13th-Amendment that abolished slavery in 1865. In addition, President Johnson made contributions to the black people by vetoing bills that increased protection offered by Freedman Bureau. His vetoes also nullified the Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights to black people. This brought up the Civil Rights Act of 1866, an act that granted citizenships and same rights that both black and white enjoyed. As a result, the Civil Rights Act set up the basis for the 14th amendments that was also later ratified in 1866.

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Failure Of Reconstruction Essay

1136 Words | 5 Pages

One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

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951 Words | 4 Pages

The Reconstruction (1865-1877) was a period during which the life of the defeated South was to be returned to normal; it was also a time when the Black Americans attained some rights thanks to Lincoln and the Republican part of the Congress and despite Johnson’s intentions. An extremely violent time, it is sometimes called “the darkest period of American history”; still, it brought many important progressive changes to the US. Abraham Lincoln is known for proclaiming the black slaves Emancipation in 1863; he was convinced that it was necessary for the North to win the war. Lincoln believed that the Confederate states needed to be reintegrated back into the US while preserving the abolition of slavery; however, the 16th President wasn’t planning

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