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Failure Of Reconstruction

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The process of rebuilding the South after the Civil War was a period called Reconstruction. Physical damage to people and places needed to be repaired. Former slaves needed help building free lives and securing their rights. Enemies needed to be reconciled, and a broken Union needed political repair. President Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan was intended to quickly readmit Southern states back into the Union without malice. As long as 10% of a state's voters swore an oath of allegiance to the United States, they could form a new government. When their state constitution abolished slavery, they could join the Union. Lincoln was a moderate. Conservative Republicans thought abolition alone was enough. But the Radical Republicans thought Lincoln was …show more content…

And when Southern leaders were reelected to their old positions at the federal level, the Radical Republicans in Congress refused to seat them. The midterm elections gave the Radicals enough votes in Congress to override Johnson's presidential veto, ending the short-lived era of Presidential Reconstruction. But despite his political weakness on the home front, Johnson's administration did have some successes in foreign policy by defending the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico and purchasing Alaska from Russia. He failed to acquire several island territories. The Reconstruction period after the Civil War was characterized by a battle of ideas waged between President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans in Congress. While Johnson was lenient toward the South and didn't value African American rights, Congress focused on protecting and expanding the rights of former slaves through the Civil Rights Act and an extension of the Freedmen's …show more content…

For the first time in the South, especially, they could vote and hold office, own businesses, organize and meet without whites present and get an education. Four black leaders became role models to others within their communities and serve as examples to us today. Alonzo Herndon demonstrated economic success. Booker T. Washington proved that former slaves could become educational leaders. Jonathan Gibbs was a Reconstruction carpetbagger who served first as a missionary and then as a non-elected government leader. Finally, Hiram Revels achieved success as an elected politician, serving as America's first black U.S.

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A few days after the civil War ended, President Lincoln was assassinated and never had the chance to implement his Reconstruction plan.   The Reconstruction Era occurred in the period of 1865 to 1877 under the reign of President Andrew Johnson who was the predecessor of President Lincoln.  Congress was not scheduled to convene until December 1865, which gave Johnson eight months to pursue his own Reconstruction policies. Under his Reconstruction policies, the former Confederate states were required to join back into the Union and heal the wounds of the nation.

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Indeed, the need for reconstruction was more than welcome. Recontruction, 1865-1877 President Abraham Lincoln had a flexible and realistic approach towards reconstruction. He insisted that slaves had to be emancipated, and this could only be possible after defeating the Southerners. In this regard, he appointed military governors like Andrew Johnson, whose success in the reconstitution of Tennessee proved worthwhile, leading to his recommendation as vice president on the Republican ticket under Lincoln in 1864 (Klotter et al., 2005). Following the assassination of President Lincoln, with Andrew Johnson assuming power, it was believed that he would be able to work well with the Congress, in order to effectively administer the reconstruction process.

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What were the goals of Reconstruction? Why weren 't all of these goals achieved? Was Reconstruction a failure? Support your answers with details and examples. Reconstruction - the federal government plan to solve the issues formed from the end of the Civil War – can be divided into 2 parts: physically rebuilding the South and reconstructing the Southern Society.

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Reconstruction was a policy made to grant all southern states that succeeded, access back in the union as quickly as possible. Radical Republicans knew the Reconstruction plan would fail with Andrew Johnson in office. The Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill both were created to protect the rights of newly freed African Americans and Andrew Johnson vetoed the bills. Johnson was a democrat, so he believed that white men were superior to african american men. He stated at a speech, “This is a country for white men and as long as I am President, it shall be a Government for white men.”

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According to www.history.com/topics/charles-sumner ”He saw Reconstruction as the opportunity to establish civil rights for blacks, first in the South where Congress had explicit authority and gradually in the North. In 1865 he insisted that suffrage be granted to all black males. At the time of his death, Sumner was still vainly agitating for federal legislation repealing all discriminatory laws.” Finally, there was President Andrew Johnson. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, just as the South surrendered in April 1865, and then Andrew Johnson inherited the problem of Reconstruction.

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He favored a moderate policy that would conjoin the South with the Union without any punishment for treason. Many resisted Lincoln’s plan, saying it was not harsh enough while others did not know if Lincoln was being too lenient. The Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans were caught in a conflict. One important event of the Reconstruction Period was the Wade-Davis Bill. This was formed by the Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans.

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Following the end of the Civil War, the United States of America set its sights on restructuring the South. Idealistically, the North was to serve as a model and guide the redevelopment of southern society - purging it of slavery, introducing manufacturing, and creating new markets. Realistically, however, this was not the case. The Civil War was fought on the grounds of abolishing slavery, providing rights for blacks, and redeveloping the South’s economy, yet the years following its end saw very little change. Due to a lack of enforcement from the North and the federal government, the Reconstruction proved to be a dramatic failure.

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The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.

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Maceo Cardinale Kwik Reconstruction Reconstruction was the twelve years after the civil war. Those twelve years were full of readjustment fixing the ruin the United States had fallen into. The problems that had the United states in disarray were how to, rebuild the South, reunite the states, and ensure the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans. The civil war left the South in shambles, and newly freed slaves struggled to adjust to their new freedom. Most Southerners hated reconstruction and everything else about the North.

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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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Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.

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Reconstruction was a difficult time after the Civil War. Readmitting the former confederate states to the Union is call Reconstruction(History Book). Reconstruction was supposed to bring the North and South together, but that didn't happen because of southerners. Many reasons contribute to the failure of Reconstruction. The South was most responsible for the failure of Reconstruction.

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In the years following the Civil War, many people had formulas for how to revive the South. The land below the Mason-Dixon line had suffered greatly, from the physical destruction of the plantations and fertile farmland to the more abstract collapse of the plantation system and the relationships of servitude. After the unification of the country, there was divide in the government. The Radicals in the Congress had a far different plan than President Johnson. With the executive and legislative branches struggling for power and getting little done, the South unfortunately decomposed from the proud, wealthy land it once was before the war to a land not only wounded from battle but scarred from weak politicians as well.

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1464 Words | 6 Pages

During the late 1800s, because the South had been decimated by the end of the Civil War, .the Reconstruction Period was initiated to aid the South’s recovery. Although the Civil War did abolish slavery and unify the North and the South, the war not resolve racial prejudice, the South’s damage, and the African Americans’ economic instability. The Reconstruction Period was initiated in order to prevent economic instability and the structural ruin, because since slavery was abolished, and the South was completely dependent on slaves, therefore slaves could not work for the South to maintain the economy, and slaves also could not fix up the damages done to the structures done to the South during the war. By starting the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing

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Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.

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