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Most Important Events During The Reconstruction Era

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Reconstruction was a period of time dedicated to rebuilding the nation after the Civil War. The war ended with the South being defeated and their economy being devastated. Many Southerners struggled after the war with rebuilding their land and lives. The President and Congress had to decide the terms for which the former Confederate states would be permitted to join the Union. President Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the country was found in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. 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. The Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 required the majority of the adult white men in a former Confederate state to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. This would enable the state to hold a constitutional convention to create …show more content…

The devastation of the war and the collapse of the economy left an abundance of people unemployed, homeless, and hungry. In March 1865, Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Bureau was responsible for feeding and clothing war refugees in the South using surplus of army supplied. The Bureau issued nearly 30,000 rations a day for the next year. Additionally, the Bureau assisted formerly enslaved people find work on plantations. The Bureau could not provide African Americans with land, but it did contribute to education. Formerly enslaved African Americans were educated with the help of Northern charities. This was a positive outcome during

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Teagan Crisamore 802 In this essay I will be explaining the pros and cons of each plan then explaining which one is better. In the Wade-Davis bill the cons were: Having to Pledge to the union and Only white males who didn 't fight could vote,President Lincoln did not like this plan but Wade Davis made President Lincoln realize he would have to compromise. The Wade Davis bill also made it hard for people to vote so they started looking at the 10% plan. In the 10% plan the pros were : Only 10% of voters had to pledge allegiance to the union , there would be a new constitution to ban slavery and offered amnesty to the southerners or official pardon for illegal acts supporting the rebellion.

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This bureau was designed for newly freed slaves or homeless white men to take shelter after the war. The bureau acted at a ‘early welfare system’ which allowed these people to receive food, shelter, and medical aid if needed. They were also allowed to offer people farms that had been confiscated after the war however this was demolished after Johnson took office and pardon the initial land owners from any wrong doings which caused many of these farms to be repossessed ad given to their initial owners. However, one of the biggest accomplishments of this bureau were the 3,000 schools they opened for blacks which resulted in as many as 200,000 blacks getting an education until they no longer received funding from the government which occurred in

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President Abraham Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction was referred to as the Ten Percent Plan. It offered the rebels a full pardon and also restoration of their full rights as citizens if they pledged to accept the abolition of slavery and swore allegiance to the United States. When the number of loyal citizens equaled ten percent of the votes cast during the election of 1860, then they could form a new state government and constitution. Lincoln required new constitutions to band slavery, exclude high ranking Confederate officials to take part in the new state government, and held the right of congress to decide whether any members sent to congress would be allowed to serve. Congress felt the plan was not harsh enough, so congress passed the Wade-Davis

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Lincoln desired a lenient reconstruction plan that would allow Southern states more freedom to govern themselves as they re-pledged loyalty to the United States and abolished slavery. The Wade-Davis Bill was proposed by radicals and it called for the president to appoint leaders and allow only citizens who had not "who had never borne arms against the United State"(Brinkley pg. 347) to vote for officials in office. Lincoln 's leniency seemed to be a more peaceful approach that may have helped unite the states rather than cause further conflict. John Wilkes Booth, a radical Southern leader, ensured that the radical reconstruction plan, indeed was passed as Lincoln was the only one standing in the way of radical reconstruction. Andrew Johnson

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They provided help for the blacks that had just been freed from slavery. They created an organization to create structure for their voices to be heard, and to officially get things done, this organization was named Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau was established by Congress as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned lands in 1865, to aid and protect former slaves at the end of the war. The work of this Bureau concentrated on five areas: relief work for citizens in all war-torn areas, regulation of black labor, management of abandoned and confiscated land, regulation for the justice of blacks, and the education of blacks. The legislative body proved to be effective as they were able to establish education systems as well as help in the building of hospitals.

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The Wade-Davis bill set the bar higher for the registered voters in a Southern state to swear allegiance and gave and protected African Americans liberties it would have been a better plan for ending the

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Even though many federal officials understood that black sharecroppers (a resident farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent payment) were hit pretty harshly during the Great Depression, African Americans around 60 percent were denied access to unemployment insurance, government grants, social security benefits, elderly poor assistance, and so on. Administered by local politicians within the South, a large number of African Americans where basically not given any of the benefit from the New Deal relief programs. Ultimately further developing the black people’s

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The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau (1865–72) was active during the Reconstruction period after the American Civil War. It was established by Congress On March 3, 1865 to provide health care, education, and technical assistance to newly freed black Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom. “This, in effect, constitutes the nation’s first social welfare agency and is tasked with helping 4 million liberated slaves adjust to freedom” (1144). The Bureau was involved in any problem of African Americans, including clothing, water, housing, education, health care and employment prospects. It provided twenty-one million rations of food to impoverished blacks as well as whites.

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The President Lincoln’s interest in the matter of reconstructions, articulated in action throughout the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, changed the congress’ sentiment of unity to defeat the South. The radicals, as they called themselves, disliked the President Lincoln’s plan due to two reasons. First, the ten percent plan was very moderate i.e. it did not satisfy the sentiment of the North to the South, and considered such a plan to be easy going in comparison to the outcome of Southerner’s rebellion. Second, the radicals could see Abraham Lincoln’s edge of admission intended from the proclamation. Lincoln wanted to prepare the stage for a strong Republican party in the Southern section though he considered the obvious

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The Reconstruction took place from 1865 to 1877, it followed the American Civil War. The reconstructions purpose was to address the inequities of slavery and its political, social, and economic legacy and also to solve the problems arising from the readmission of the Union. Reconstruction created new laws and constitutional amendments that changed the criteria of American citizenship. In the South, a politically mobilized black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican Party to power, and with it a redefinition of the responsibilities of government.

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The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.

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You can see how reconstruction was supposed to help the newly freed slaves while the definition of reconstruction says that it was, “ensuring the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans,” (Terms to know, On reconstruction.) This shows how some of the intentions of reconstruction were supposed to help bring newly freed slaves safely into the society. The newly freed slaves would have been fond of the idea of being brought safely into the society. You can see this again when it says, “Presidential reconstruction began in 1865 with the ratification() passing of the thirteenth amendment freeing slaves, and continued lincoln’s signature of the bill that created the Freedmen's Bureau. The Bureau was to feed both black and whites in the south, establish schools to teach former slaves to read and write, help them find paying jobs, and shield them from discrimination,” (Stage One: Presidential reconstruction 1865 - 1866.)

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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 -

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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 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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