The blacks were forced to vote for republicans, the blacks were looked at as free but not as equals in the south, the most powerful people lawyers, doctors and dentists who could make a difference were members of the Ku Klux Klan, who were against reconstruction. The southern leaders of the government only wanted white people in power, the north pulled out all its soldiers from the south, making it even more difficult for the freedmen to be free and equal. The South had a lot of violence, The KKK held responsibility for most of the violence in the south because not one person tried to stop them. The KKK is a
R – Radical Republicans led the Reconstruction of the South E – Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves C – Carpetbaggers attempted to gain political office or economic advantage O – Opposition to blacks voting N – No universal public education in the South S – Sharecroppers allowed to use land for a share of their crop T – Ten percent plan offered by President Lincoln R – Rights granted to African Americans through the “Reconstruction Amendments” U – Union was reunited after a victory in the Civil War C – Confederacy was broken apart after a defeat in the Civil War T – Topic of the 14th Amendment was equal protection under the law for everyone I – “Ironclad Oath” required officials to swear they had never “borne arms” against U.S. O – Organizing
Who Killed Reconstruction? The South was largely at fault for the failure of one of the most important events in U.S. history. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a white supremacist group in the South that prosecuted radical republicans,carpetbaggers, and freedmen. There was a lot of racism towards freedmen all over the nation but the KKK was the worst of all.
“Some are first-class men in our town. ”(Testimony to a joint House and Senate Committee 513) They were killing people from the North and the North did not like that. The KKK did not like the North running the government, they were very angry at the North. They were making the North angry which could have started the war, so the South killed Reconstruction.
I chose this topic because it is directly related to the African American history since 1865. After the end of civil war in 1865, there was a period of rebuilding and reuniting the United States. During this reconstruction period, there were three basic constitutional amendments that acted towards black people rights. Even though the purpose of reconstruction was to free slaves and give African American their rights as a human being, Black Codes, restrictive laws that control black people, passed under the administration of President Andrew Johnson. Also, southern whites did not accept the fact that colored people were getting a chance to vote and to be elected for political positions.
The Reconstruction era was a period in the United States that took place after the Civil War, from approximately 1865 to 1877. During this time, the federal government sought to incorporate both the Confederate states and newly freed black people into American society. This process was marked by a series of political and social changes, including the passing of the Reconstruction Amendments, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship rights, and voting rights to black Americans. Additionally, the Freedmen's Bureau was established to aid newly freed black people in areas such as education, housing, and land ownership. The era was also marked by the rise of racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which aimed to maintain white supremacy and
A change in legislation brought slavery back to America in a new way. Tisbe explains, “The blatant racist President Andrew Johnson who ascended to the presidency after Lincon’s assassination, ordered that the redistributed lands be returned to former enslavers, and many freed people went back to working on the land under the sharecropping system”(Tisby, 91). Even though the slaves were freed and were not considered slaves under the law, they were still treated like slaves working under strenuous conditions for very little to no money. Not only was the sharping system implemented, but terrorist groups also aimed to disrupt the lives of Africans. The KKK was notorious for lynching, raping, and torturing Black Americans.
Positive gains from the Reconstruction Era include: Freedmen’s Bureau: food, Medicare, and legal advice granted to newly freed African Americans; 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment which abolished slavery, granted citizenship to everyone born in the U.S, and granting everyone the right to vote. Negative effects from the Reconstruction Era include: the KKK: a group of whites who threatened blacks so they wouldn’t vote, and killed many; Black Codes: laws that limited the freedom from U.S citizens. The effects of the Reconstruction, which linger in our society nowadays, are the three amendments passed by congress, the Civil Rights act of 1866, and black schools and universities were established; most importantly, we are once again a unified
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.
The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans
The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century. Post Civil War (After the Civil War – The period after the Civil War) - President Abraham Lincoln and Congress were determined to rebuild the nation. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union by readmitting the southern states that had seceded, as well as provide African Americans with more rights. Period of Conflict -
African Americans were freed from slavery and with a blink of an eye they were sent back. The South were the main cause of the end of Reconstruction. Many of the problems they had caused made the North not want to do it anymore. The North may have just walked away but the South had cause for them to leave. From murdering or threatening people, not stopping the KKK, and being very racist is why the South was more at fault for killing reconstruction.
African American history has changed drastically. “The policies of reconstruction aiming to extend the rights of southern blacks had unintended effect of pushing hundreds of resentful and anxious veterans towards the Klan, “this soon brought a systematic policy of violence in opposition to the new social order”. (Ku Klux Klan 19th Century) The K.K.K was upset on the reason that the government was giving African Americans new rights and setting them free so they began to murder helpless African Americans. The Ku Klux Klan contemplated the murder of an African American man who begged for his life in 1871 organized in the south
If a black man agitated against the law for example he tried to register to vote the Klan would use violence. They would start by intimidation, meeting the man on the street in a group and beat him for his actions and the Klan would also burn crosses in black people’s lawn to intimidate them more. Economically the Ku Klux Klan would also use scare tactics to keep African Americans out of white neighborhood because they didn’t want them there and feared change. By keeping African Americans segregated from whites, they thought keeping them grounded and stuck in their place would make the south great again. In closing, the role racism played in the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan was tremendous because of all the heinous acts the Klan did to the African Americans to keep them down in the south and all over the United States.
