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Politics After Reconstruction

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After the war ended in 1865, the US government faced the major problem of re-combining confederate states into one union (Foner, 2016). Reconstruction programs between 1865 and 1877 were meant to rebuild the southern economy that had collapsed and integrate the African Americans and freed slaves into full USA citizens (Boyer, 2005). The success of the reconstruction period is however questionable because of corruption claims, a president who was incompetent and the backlash witnessed in the southern culture. Perceiving the reconstruction period in terms of culture indicates that progress was made to bring normalcy in the US. In this paper, it will be argued that the reconstruction after the civil war was a failure since little was changed. …show more content…

Holding a position in the House of Representatives, Steven’s agenda was economic growth for the freed slaves. His objective was to see all former slaves working to fend for themselves instead of relying on the whites as if they were before the civil war. Charles also pushed for the same agenda. As a senator, he fought for provision of political rights to the African Americans and their citizenship rights. He argues that since all men have equal rights, the constitution was supposed to support this equality. Given that, President Johnson had been formerly the vice president; his agenda reflected that of President Lincoln. Unfortunately most of the radicals never approved of his plans. They were convinced that he neglected the main concern of rights for former slaves. Thus, President Johnson was impeached in 1868. Even though he still held office, he lacked authority to implement his agendas.
After the impeachment, the Congress took over with its own reconstruction plans. The congress passed the Reconstruction Act with two main objectives. The first agenda was to command the troops to amass residence in several confederate south states. Secondly, states that wanted blacks’ inclusion into the union were required to change the 14th amendment. All the states were required to agree that since all people born in USA were citizens, …show more content…

As the new president after Lincoln’s death, he was convinced that reconstruction was his job, and not for the congress. As a stubborn person, the president never made any compromises. He based his policies on the goals of President Lincoln; creating new governments for each state and charitable activities for former confederates. Waiting for a long period before returning in session affected the southern economy. No progress was made for 8 months, as the president waited for congress sessions. For instance, the president never implemented anything regarding voting rights of the blacks. A few of the states also refused to adhere to the 13th amendment that had prohibited slavery during this period. Most of the laws passed in the southern limited African American freedom. Thus, the black codes were meant to ensure that the freed slaves provided labor again while working in

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Abraham Lincoln’s vs Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Lincoln shared the uncommon belief that the confederate states could still be part of the union and that the cause of the rebellion was only a few within the states which lead him to begin the reconstruction in December of 1863. This resulted in plans with lenient guidelines and although they were challenged by Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln still rejected his ideas and kept his policies in place. Lincoln also allowed land to be given the newly freed slave or homeless white by distributing the land that had been confiscated from former land owners however this fell through once Johnson took office. After Lincoln’s death when Johnson was elected many things started to turn away from giving blacks equal rights and resulted in many things such a black codes which kept newly freed slaves from having the same rights as whites. When Lincoln first acted after the civil war, he offered policies that would allow the confederate slaves to become part of the union again and would allow a pardon for those states.

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Hadawi 1 Grant Research Paper Jennifer Hadawi Hagberg/Bretthauer English/History 8.1 5/20/16 Grant’s Legacy The foundation of America’s equal rights movement came from an unlikely source: an unsuccessful Republican president. Grant’s military roots played a major role in his success as a leader. Although he was not the first man to push for civil rights, he was the first president to revolutionize and popularize the idea. Grant’s role in the movement for equality is unprecedented.

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  Although slavery had been outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, it continued in many southern states. In an effort to get around laws passed by Congress, southern states created black codes, which were discriminatory state laws which aimed to keep white supremacy in place. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans, their primary purpose was to fulfill an important economic need in the postwar South. To maintain agricultural production, the South had relied on slaves to work the land. Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their ties to the land.

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Reconstruction a Failure or Success? Throughout the years, America has gone through many different political changes. Many presidents selected with different plans for our future. Sadly, many of those objectives have failed or came to an end.

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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.

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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’”.

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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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While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played the

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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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The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life.

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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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Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.

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Reflection on the Reconstruction Period The reconstruction period was a time of cause and effect. It was a time when in order to rebuild the strength of society economically, socially, and politically after a the loss of life and stability in the civil war. In the socratic seminar we discussed how the during the reconstruction period the goal was to ‘fix’ the south as in the eyes of the government, they were the cause of the problem.

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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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