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Essay on the reconstruction of the south
Essay on the reconstruction of the south
Essay on the reconstruction of the south
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Following the prologue, Lemann focuses his research on Adelbert Ames, a Republican politician in Mississippi during the Reconstruction era, to detail the attempts to keep the south in accordance to Reconstruction policies issued by the Grant administration and federal government directly following the war. While he was initially appointed as provisional governor of Mississippi, Ames oversaw the 1869 election that passed the new Mississippi constitution, guaranteed rights for blacks and elected a heavily Republic legislature. While attempting to transform the political climate of the state, Ames listened to horrifying reports of his political enemies and observed the attitudes towards blacks which motivated him to campaign to be Governor: I
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.
The reconstruction was a period during US history, which took place after the Civil War when the South restructured into the Union from 1865 to 1877. The end of reconstruction was a justification that freed all African Americans from slavery. Although they had set this decision and law, African Americans still suffered from social, economic and political barriers, which caused major tension between blacks and whites. The civil rights act of 1875, racial discrimination was banned from public facilities, such as schools or public transportations. The fourteenth amendment protected people against violations of their civil rights b states, not by the actions of the individuals.
The Reconstruction Era was a developmental time in the advancement of the American Nation. While the founding fathers original institution for the country was ahead in its time, it was flawed and began to show in the Reconstruction period. Before the Civil War had began a group of Radical Republicans formed another political party who were intent on fighting for the political, social and basic human rights of African Americans. They stood against the socially controversially gains of the capitalist society that was devoted to glorifying those based on the whiteness of their skin. After the Civil War ended the United States had to reintegrate a formally slave population back into the country which proved to be excessively difficult.
Once the Civil War ended, many people suffered from weaknesses. The war caused many problems, therefore, causing the need for Reconstruction. Reconstruction was used to fix the majority of problems that the Civil War caused. During Reconstruction, which occurred from 1865 to 1877, many people’s lives were impacted, especially African Americans because many were having to deal with political, economic, and social issues. A political perspective was that African Americans should be given more rights, a social perspective was to allow African Americans to have a normal life, while an economic perspective was that African Americans shouldn’t be allowed to connect with the government.
Positive gains from the Reconstruction Era include: Freedmen’s Bureau: food, Medicare, and legal advice granted to newly freed African Americans; 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment which abolished slavery, granted citizenship to everyone born in the U.S, and granting everyone the right to vote. Negative effects from the Reconstruction Era include: the KKK: a group of whites who threatened blacks so they wouldn’t vote, and killed many; Black Codes: laws that limited the freedom from U.S citizens. The effects of the Reconstruction, which linger in our society nowadays, are the three amendments passed by congress, the Civil Rights act of 1866, and black schools and universities were established; most importantly, we are once again a unified
Weaknesses of Reconstruction There were many issues with the reconstruction process but they were all rooted in the Southerner's lack of acceptance. The hearts of the people in the South did not believe in the idea’s reconstruction held therefore it was less of a success. I created a diorama to showcase these flaws in reconstruction because I felt that it was a great way to visualize the faults. In my diorama, I created three books labeled with the different reconstruction phases.
Recently the country has been handed the decision of whether or not to end reconstruction. To find this answer, it must be determined whether or not the southern states fulfilled the requirements of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, if the states “in good faith” implemented the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and if federal troops are still needed in the southern states. As of now, the southern states have proved themselves to have successfully fulfilled the requirements of Reconstruction Act of 1867 as evidenced by their significant steps towards racial equality regarding political power. After this act came into action, the African Americans were given real political power for the first time. This lead to public schools, enacted civil rights
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’”.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans
However, changes that were made during Reconstruction greatly impacted the lives of many African Americans. While some efforts were made to achieve a status of equality, many suffered continuous discrimination and were denied (deprived of) their basic civil
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).
The end of the Civil War was one of the greatest turning points in the United States history that changed the way the nation ran politically, socially and economically. The Union defeating the Southern Confederacy put forth an interracial democracy, united all states into a single nation and most importantly - abolished slavery. This gave birth to Reconstruction, a period that followed the Civil War focusing on the integration of African Americans into a society that was previously dominated by white people. Reconstructionopened a pathway to educational and economical opportunities, citizenship and freedom, and the establishment of beneficial laws and amendments for equal rights. However, the unsettling years that followed turned out to be
Although many attempts were made to prioritize freedom and equality for all, these values were undermined by racist Southerners who wouldn’t accept equality. In the end, Reconstruction had failed and former slaves endured another hardship akin to slavery. However, Reconstruction still could have prospered. There are multiple events that, if they had occurred, Reconstruction would not have failed. For example, had the government continued to fund the Freedmen’s Bureau, then the South would have legislated their discriminatory laws much later, if not at all.
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.
