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Was Reconstruction A Success Essay

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The era of Reconstruction was an important time for the United States. It had begun towards the end of the Civil War of the United vs the Confederate states, and it addressed the issue of bringing the Union back together after years of severe, bloody war. It lasted through the 1860s and 70s, and there were many different ideas, or “plans,” regarding how the Confederate states should be treated, and what to do with the controversial idea of slavery. There was also a lot of disagreement regarding blacks, specifically, their treatment, citizenship, and rights. There was a full spectrum of opinions, from the idea of white supremacy to the notion of complete equality. As with many events or times in history, there are clear signs that show whether …show more content…

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments made to the constitution are a good example, as they changed blacks’ lives greatly, giving them freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote (respectively). However, Reconstruction could have definitely accomplished more. It didn’t really achieve what was expected of it. Think about it, Reconstruction gave America a fresh, new start after the Civil War. There was an opportunity to fix everything at once, to make the United States a better place to live in. If the South didn’t agree to terms that the United States stood for,they shouldn’t have been allowed to join it. What really happened? America ended up looking very similar to how it did before the Civil War. Slavery was abolished, but other systems similar to it, such as Black Codes and convict leasing, existed. The Confederacy was defeated, but its members easily came back into the United States government and kept sharing ideas. America seemed to regain its power and was fighting for black rights, but the country was also making agreements, like the Compromise of 1877, which fed it even more power and caused blacks harm and terror. Reconstruction definitely did not accomplish enough in terms of change that could have been

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Reconstruction was socially unsuccessful because of the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws, and Segregation. The Ku Klux Klan would threaten, beat, and murder blacks and republicans. They would burn crosses on their raids, and would throw little wooden caskets in the home of the Republican or African American who was being raided. Jim Crow Laws separated the population because, it make it so white people would always have the better out of black people such as, seats on a train, or there American rights would be discriminated on. Jim Crow Laws also made it so blacks would have to go to different schools, different public transportation areas, different schools, and different restaurants.

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This led to the 15th amendment in 1869, which meant any us citizen, could not be discriminated against due to their race or colour. The south was then under the control of the army and ‘carpet baggers’ from the north. This shows that the reconstruction wasn’t a failure as blacks gained new rights during this period. However grant wasn’t a very good president. He gave his friends riles in his cabinet despite their lack of skills.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

It failed in many ways but also was kinda a success one way that it failed is that blacks or African American people they were not equal to whites after the reconstruction African Americans were still much poorer than whites and were not able to vote also had to deal with segregation. However, at the end of the reconstruction black or African Americans were not slaves anymore and they we still freed and the southern states were able to join the union again. Another way that reconstruction failed is that carpetbaggers came down from the north and took advantage of the devastated south in 2 ways financially and politically and since that anyone who took part was not able to hold public office be a lawyer a businessmen etc.because if they had then they could buy farms and mansions with tax returns and leave the poor poor. It was successful in that it had restored the United States as a unified nation they all had drafted new constitutions and the thirteenth,fourteenth and fifteenth amendments and pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

The Failures of the Reconstruction Amendments The Reconstruction Era was a period of time after the Civil War in which the U.S. Government took measures to “reconstruct” the South by readmitting the former Confederate States into the Union. During this period of time, the Radical Republicans, those who supported Congress’s active role of reconstruction in the South, in Congress passed amendments to help the newly freed slaves adjust to their new lives. Two of these amendments included the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted them the right to vote. However, these amendments were not entirely successful in “freeing” the slaves. Although, some improvements were made, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth

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627 Words | 3 Pages

The Reconstruction was considered a success because it unified the United States. The Union was separated for four years and reconstruction brought it back together to what we know as the United States. The creation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments brought Americans together and reduced racism. The 13th Amendment officially outlawed slavery in the United States, under the 14th Amendment anyone born in the U.S. was a citizen, and blacks, along with all other races, gained the right to vote with the 15th Amendment.

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Reconstruction: Was it really a success? America has gone through many challenges throughout its life. Leaders come and go, with goals in mind for their future. But history takes its course, and the profound movements come to an end like Reconstruction. The Reconstruction started in the year 1865, the period after the Civil War with the idea to reunite the nation.

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Historian Eric Foner, describes Reconstruction in the US, as a “splendid failure”. Reconstruction, was the period after the Civil War, in which the government tried to “fix” the country from all the harm caused. There are some good things to have come out of it, like the African-Americans representation in the government, or the ability to establish Schools, and Churches. But with the positives, there were negatives, in a large way, whether it be the start of terrorist groups like the Klu-Klux Klan, or economic hardships like the Panic of 1873. Overall, I feel that the negatives outweighed the positives, but there are still important positives to come out of it.

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The Reconstruction was important to American history because it gave all different types of people their rights. The fourteenth amendment, The Dawes act and The Homestead Act all have things in common. All of these acts involve something to do with race and or forcing people out of their homes or land. The fourteenth Amendment gave men of color “equal” rights to white men.

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A major part of the Reconstruction Era was The roaring 20’s, a time period of economic success and prosperity for many. It’s a time period where numerous people wish they were alive to experience, but those people were not people of color. Sadly, the roaring 20’s was not all that roaring for African Americans who were just recently emancipated. After liberation, a vast wave of African Americans moved to the North to pursue a life more successful than they’d have in the South. Little did they know, segregation and race relations has spread throughout the country and some people still didn’t treat them as equals.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

It all depends how you look at it. Laws that were set up weren’t always followed correctly, but laws were still being set up to protect African Americans rights. It must have been a success because now today, they are known as citizens and have the right to vote. But then again, the rise of the Klu Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups, in combination with the Black Codes, began to intimidate freed slaves and push back their civil liberties. For me, the Reconstruction was a

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515 Words | 3 Pages

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’”.

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594 Words | 3 Pages

Maceo Cardinale Kwik Reconstruction Reconstruction was the twelve years after the civil war. Those twelve years were full of readjustment fixing the ruin the United States had fallen into. The problems that had the United states in disarray were how to, rebuild the South, reunite the states, and ensure the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans. The civil war left the South in shambles, and newly freed slaves struggled to adjust to their new freedom. Most Southerners hated reconstruction and everything else about the North.

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645 Words | 3 Pages

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).

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338 Words | 2 Pages

The Reconstruction failed to bring social and economic equality to former slaves for many reasons. The primary reason was because people said they wanted the blacks to have equality, but the laws enacted to give them equality were poorly enforced. White southerners heavily oppressed the black population and caused the failure of the Reconstruction. During the Reconstruction many white southerners were very angry about their slaves being freed.

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257 Words | 2 Pages

The Reconstruction left behind good results as splendid and failure. And one splendid part that made the Reconstruction was that the federal government outlawed slavery with the 13th Amendment, gave citizenship and stated to protect all Americans with the 14th Amendment. As to Freedman’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act, gave African Americans the opportunity to take part equally in society. Black men could now participate as governors and senators.

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