ipl-logo

Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction After The Civil War

455 Words2 Pages

Deliverance and emancipation began for many slaves the very day when Union Soldiers reached the townships and territories of the slave-holding states. Countless southern landowners and their families walked away from their plantations and farms as the war approached, and every city or location where the Union soldiers stepped, they were greeted by more and more African Americans looking for safety and refuge within the ranks of the Union forces. At the end of the war effort, approximately 4.2 million slaves were set free; however, these newly freedmen had absolutely nothing. Frederick Douglas said, “The freedmen were let alone – by everyone but their enemies” (Sterling, 1976). Nearly all were homeless, uneducated and all they had ever known …show more content…

David Blight, Lincoln's basic approach to Reconstruction was to be threefold. His plan was “to make Reconstruction as fast as possible, as lenient as possible, and as much as possible under presidential authority” (Blight, 2008). In 1863, he had come up with the plan to pardon all southerners who took an oath to support the Union and any state with ten percent of its voters would be allowed to form a new state government and constitution. Reconstruction debates ensued between President Lincoln and Congress in 1864, as they sought to determine if Reconstruction should be a Congressional or Presidential policy. Unfortunately, just five days after General Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate forces, surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse setting in motion the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Taking over the role as President of the United States was Mr. Andrew Johnson, Vice President and the only Democrat who remained in Congress after the secession of the Southern states. President Johnson wanted the Union quickly restored with almost no permanent implications or penalties to the southern states who had seceded. He gave those states three things they had to accomplish in order to be readmitted and they were: 1) to ratify the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery; 2) nullify their ordinances of secession; and 3) repudiate the Confederate war debts (Young,

Show More
Related

Compare And Contrast Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

747 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of A Confederate Government

336 Words | 2 Pages

According to dictionary.com, A Confederate Government is a group of nations or states, or a government encompassing several states or political divisions, in which the states retain considerable independence. The members of a confederation often delegate only a few powers to the central authority. Union Government is a group of states or nations that are ruled by one central power or that all agree to work together. As you could tell, the south had a confederate style of government. Although they had a president, the states held more individual power.

Read More

What Were The Effects Of The Civil War And Reconstruction In 1865-1877

317 Words | 2 Pages

The Civil War in 1865 and Reconstruction in 1865-1877 is the reason for peace and good relations with other states. In other words, it typically brought America together, and that is key for a good nation. The effects the Civil War had on the U.S becoming a nation was significantly dramatic. This includes when the two regions that were having slavery at the time, causing a bad perspective on the U.S., the Civil War had put an end to that slavery. Over 3 million of slaves have finally gotten their freedom.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The US Civil War

2372 Words | 10 Pages

The U.S. Civil War from 1860 to 1865 was the decisive factor determining the existence of the Union or the independence of the Confederacy. The war sprouted from the Mexican American War and the land and power issues that followed, the increased wedge between the North and the South from the Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling, and the presidential election of 1860. While both Northerners and Southerners believed they were fighting against oppression, Northerners focused on the slavery issue and binding the nation back together while Southerners defended their long-standing institution. Different advantages and disadvantages on both sides helped to shape the war, with the Peninsula Campaign finally tipping the scales. At this time, wartime president

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction

826 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Compare And Contrast The Goal Of Reconstruction After Civil War

393 Words | 2 Pages

After the Union won the Civil War, the United States went into seven year period, known as Reconstruction. The goal of Reconstruction was to rejoin all the states into the Union and to help rebuild the South. While the goal of Reconstruction was rightful, the final result of the period didn’t do much to put America into a better place than where it was before the Civil War. During Reconstruction, the radical northern abolitionists was pushing to make America a country where everyone was equal, and granting every citizen, regardless of their ancestry. The Northerns tried to make everyone equal members of society and give each and every one of them a voice in their own government.

Read More

Post Civil War Reconstruction: Success Or Failure?

379 Words | 2 Pages

American Reconstruction has been a hot topic of debate since it was considered finished. The post Civil War Reconstruction period was unsuccessful because of the lack of power held by the Radical Republicans, the shortage of northern influence in the south, and the closed minds of southern government officials. This was magnified after President Lincoln's death, when Andrew Johnson took presidency. Historian Eric Foner described Johnson as, "Once lionized as a heroic defender of the Constitution against Radical Republicans, Johnson today is viewed by historians as one of the worst presidents to occupy the White House. "

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction Era

899 Words | 4 Pages

The period between the end of the Civil War and the Great Depression had many notable achievements such as western expansion and the Reconstruction Era. However it was also a time period in which many minority groups were fairly disappointed in the American government. The Reconstruction Amendments had many holes not making it effective enough, and with more expansion to the West came more extreme racism towards Native Americans. It is clear that there were attempts to change America for all the people’s freedom, but there are still many flaws those changes possess. Because of that, I find myself in the middle of the debate about who benefited most from this time period.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of The Civil War

922 Words | 4 Pages

The Civil War was very complicated and deadly, it caused a lot of damage, but for a greater step that had to be taken, slavery had to end, and so came the Civil War. The North, or the Union, won the war for many reasons, but mainly for their great advantages such as more resources and money provided, basically a more stable economy, their army with more helpers and soldiers than the South and not only having the president’s support but also having the higher ground in many battles. During the 1800’s the U.S divided itself between North and South, the South's economy being overtaken by agriculture, the North slowly evolved into a more industrialized society. Along the years, the North had more factories, railroads, banks and with all that of

Read More

Pros And Cons Of The American Civil War

905 Words | 4 Pages

The American Civil War was the bloodiest war fought on American soil. The Civil War was fought over whether or not slavery should be legal and continue in the U.S. Before the war was fought many compromises were made to prevent the war. One was the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 was the most efficient way to settle the conflict of the amount of slave states and abolitionist states in the senate after the Mexican American War. The abolitionist states outnumbered the slave states in the senate.

Read More

Civil War Pros And Cons

535 Words | 3 Pages

Thus it is very clear that the emancipation of slaves was no more than measure of war to give service to the paramount ob2 Lincoln’s emancipation policy , at the beginning , Lincoln planned to free the slaves of Delaware with Federal compensation at the rate of $400 per slave , showing though the huge expense was involved , the compensation at the rate of $400 each for all the salves was insignificant in comparison with one day’s cost of the war , which amounted to $2 , 000 , 000 , while eighty - seven days’cost of the war would be more than provide compensation at $400 each for all the slaves of Delaware , Maryland , the District [4]P375 of Columbia , Kentucky and Missouri. The other example is the emancipation proclamation. The e2 mancipation

Read More

Positive And Negative Effects Of Reconstruction Essay

741 Words | 3 Pages

Soon after the war was over, President Abraham Lincoln introduced his reconstruction plan to reunite the nation, and have it function the way it used to. On December 1863, President Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction; it offered “full pardon” and the restoration of property to white Southerners. However, the prerequisites to receive full pardon include swearing an oath of allegiance to the United States and its laws; the only people excluded from the offer were Prominent Confederate military and civil leaders. On December 8, 1865, President Lincoln announced the terms of another reconstructive plan, known as “Lincoln’s Ten-Percent

Read More

Reconstruction After The Civil War

355 Words | 2 Pages

For some background of the Reconstruction this name was given between the ending periods of the Civil War in 1877, as well as the final federal troops were getting out from the South . Although the actual procedure of the whole reconstruction did not start until the war ended, the idea of fixing the union had been there for a while back. Not going so far away in 1860 the Confederate states were in the process of actually seceding from the Union side, this made the Senate Crittenden react as an attention for a way to reverse back the process that had already started . As another idea came to mind to this followed by the proposal to an amendment for the Constitution guaranteeing the slavery side as to continue in any region it was already executed.(13th

Read More

Disadvantages Of The South During The Civil War

176 Words | 1 Pages

The south was in supported slavery, so during the Civil War they treated unfairly. " The Supreme Court decision known as the Dred Scott Decision said that African Americans were not citizens and had no rights of citizenship. " This means in the south slaves didn't have the same rules as whites because they didn't see them as equals.

Read More

Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Civil War

365 Words | 2 Pages

There are many advantages and disadvantages to the Civil war. First off, the differences between the presidential leadership will be discussed, and how different each had very different leaders, then I will discuss the transportation problems, and lastly I will discuss the industrial production between the North and South. The presidential leadership during the civil war wasn’t, as someone would expect. Abraham Lincoln was the North’s leader during this time period. Lincoln had very little war experience; some say Lincoln didn’t look the part as a military leader.

Read More

More about Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction After The Civil War

Open Document