Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction

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What do you think of reconstruction? Do you think reconstruction was successful or unsuccessful? Why do you believe that? If you were to ask a group of 11th graders at NexGen Academy, they would agree that reconstruction was unsuccessful for many reasons. Of course, the era had pros however more cons appeared during this time. For one, Abraham Lincoln was killed, second, the Klu Klux Klan made lots of conflict during this time, and third all of the trouble brought about by the South. First of all, reconstruction was a time right after the Civil War, beginning in 1877. Essentially, the purpose of reconstruction was to rebuild the North and the South’s peace after the Civil War created conflict. On the bright side, slavery died with the war. …show more content…

Lincoln created the “Ten Percent Plan” also known as, “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” asking for peace. The North and South was split up into two groups, the free states, and the slave states; North being free, South being slave. Radicals wanted to take the land from the South, however Abraham Lincoln wanted peace and for the two sides to become one again. He gave a “free pass” and said anyone who wanted to come back to the North was welcomed back, no penalty for “betraying” America, voting rights were given as well. One night, Abraham Lincoln and his wife went to the theatre with some friends, without a guard, John Wilkes Booth snuck his way into the presidential box, shot Lincoln in the back of the head, and killed him. After this tragedy, Andrew Johnson becomes the 7th president of The United States. Not long after becoming president Johnson was given the nickname “Jackass” and that’s where the Democratic party flag came from. Jackson was no Lincoln, for the first time in history an individual tried to assassinate Johnson, however missed twice. This is because during “Presidential Reconstruction” Johnson did not want to free the