The Pros And Cons Of Reconstruction After The Civil War
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
The period of rebuilding southern infrastructure and North and South relations following the American civil war all the way to the year 1877 known as reconstruction had many successes and failures. The political and social aspects of this era were pivotal in determining the success of Reconstruction. The political state of the America during this period are greatly important to understanding reconstruction. Due to the republican president Lincoln’s assassination just days before the official end of the American civil war, the duty of guiding the United States through reconstruction was left to Democrat Andrew Johnson.
INTRO: Reconstruction; the most conflicting era in the United States history. Coming directly after the Civil War from 1865 thorough 1877, Reconstruction played a major part in the Land of the Free’s backstory. Throughout Reconstruction many things occurred within the North and South due to chaos within the government system, neighborhoods, and social classes. The creator of Reconstruction and the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln created the idea of Reconstruction in the South while the Civil War was going on.
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 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.
Finally the marking of the end of Reconstruction was the Election of 1876 and the new President Republican Hayes. Great upset to the Democrats their solution for Republicans to get anything done in congress was to make filibusters. With the constant and neverending interruption the two parties came to agree on the Compromise of 1877. This meant the removal of troops out of the south. This lead to the south once again being controlled by white Democrats.
To repair a country that has been split in half requires making significant strides that will create harmony between both sides. After the American Civil War multiple phases were required in order to mend the broken country. These phases were Presidential Reconstruction and Radical Republican Restoration. Presidential Reconstruction was the reconstruction plan put in place by President Johnson who had to step into the role of the man who would fix the country after Lincoln’s assignation. While Johnson’s reconstruction plan did not anger the southerners whom he was trying to get to support, his methods were too lenient towards the south as he allowed for mostly states rights.
The Southern and Northern states differentiate on many issues, which ultimately led them towards a Civil War. There stood deep social, economic, and political disparities between the North and the South. These modifications stemmed from the understanding of the United States Constitution on both sides. In the end, most of these disputes about the rights of states directed to the Civil War. There existed reasons other than slavery on behalf of the South 's breakaway.
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
After the Civil War, about 4 million slaves were free. With this freedom came significant challenges. The states that seceded needed to reorganize and rebuild. During the period between 1865 and 1877 issues surrounding the inequalities of slavery and its political, social and economic impact and how to solve the problems of readmission also needed to be addresses. There were three separate plans of Reconstruction.
The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.
The Civil War was the most ruthless and devastating war in American history. After being pushed too far by the Northerner’s anti-slavery antics, the South decided to attempt to peacefully succeed from the Union. However, the North almost automatic disagreed with this attempt, and what was supposed to be a peacefully situation turned out to be the war with the most casualties that has ever been known to happen, the exact number being over 600,000 lives lost. But despite this catastrophic event, the true horror began to reveal itself after the war, with the name of Reconstruction. A few years after the war, life seemed to be headed in the right direction for the former slaves.
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).
Although there existed several drawbacks with the reconstruction of the South, there were some positive occurrences that took place. There were two new constitutional amendments instituted, an enactment of the nation’s first civil rights law, and the prohibition of slavery. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 did not allow racial discrimination in all public establishments, transportation points, places of leisure, and juries (Shultz, 2014). However, isolation in public schools was not restricted and there still remained racial discrimination in the workplace. Along with the inoperative measures of the Civil Rights Act, there were many other obstacles that would hamper a complete reconstruction.
The Reconstruction (1865-1877) was a period during which the life of the defeated South was to be returned to normal; it was also a time when the Black Americans attained some rights thanks to Lincoln and the Republican part of the Congress and despite Johnson’s intentions. An extremely violent time, it is sometimes called “the darkest period of American history”; still, it brought many important progressive changes to the US. Abraham Lincoln is known for proclaiming the black slaves Emancipation in 1863; he was convinced that it was necessary for the North to win the war. Lincoln believed that the Confederate states needed to be reintegrated back into the US while preserving the abolition of slavery; however, the 16th President wasn’t planning
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