Reconstruction Dbq

After the Civil War, the south was left in shambles. Not only were the southern states left with the destruction and damage of the war but the economy was injured and barely stable because of the costs of war. The union began a Reconstruction movement to rebuild the broken nation. The Reconstruction was also meant to repair the broken economy and the damaged society. But the effectiveness of this system is questionable because it both succeeded and failed. Reconstruction was an overall failure because Republican Legislations failed to protect former slaves from persecution, white slave owners had returned to power and because “black codes” were passed, and African Americans lost their economic power and became tied to slave owners because of

These new laws became known as Jim Crow laws. They prohibited African Americans from using the same facilities and services as whites. The Supreme Court had ruled the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional because it was not the same as slavery to refuse to serve someone because of race. This evaluation and removal soon after led to the legalization of African American and white segregation. At the time, race was the basis of slavery. What color your skin was and what color your parents were determined your life of freedom or life of slavery. When African American slavery started, they did not come to America by choice, they were seen as property and were part of the triangle trade route from Africa to America. The early idea that slaves were property evolved into the later created idea of racism and complete African American/white segregation. It was the Jim Crow laws that brought the standard belief that Africans were naturally inferior to whites. Jim Crow laws did not exist in the north and were only present in southern democratic states. By 1915 all southern states had adopted Jim Crow laws and were actively enforcing them. Not only were segregation and inferiority ideals law, but there were certain social expectations concerning how African Americans should treat whites not stated

Reconstruction removed slavery from the entire country. Slavery was a key source of income when it came to southern life. Reconstruction didn’t benefit the south the same as the north, so it did not properly reunite the north and the south. Southerners did not fight for the wicked institution known as slavery, but for some combination of independence for southern state rights and the cultural way of life they had created. The confederacy did not fight because they favored slavery, they fought because the north was trying to alter their way of life and remove a major source of income. Because the reconstruction did not bring an agreement or compromise to a final solution, it did not