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What Are The Effects Of Reconstruction By Eric Foner

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The Reconstruction Era “witnessed a profound experiment in reshaping the social and political institutions [of the United States]” wrote Eric Foner, a historian specializing in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Foner’s expertise is shown is his novel, Forever Free the African American’s story of their history in the Civil War, an American war fought between the North’s Union and the South’s Confederate States of America in the mid-19th century that stemmed from the sectional issue of slavery, and the Reconstruction, the period following this war as the government reshaped and the United States acknowledged the rights of freed slaves. Foner discussed how a low number of people could identify the Reconstruction and its effect on history, and …show more content…

A main issue stemming from the results of the Civil War was the formation of white terrorist and supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan. They resorted to ferocity and harassment to try to prevent the freed people from living the rights they deserved. For instance, “black political leaders faced the constant threat of violence, an endemic feature of post-Civil War southern society” confirmed the white supremacists’ goal of turning away African Americans (Foner 134). Simultaneously, the Compromise of 1877 brought the overall end to the Reconstruction efforts. In an attempt to reunite the government, a compromise was made to satisfy both sides of the government. The final agreement stated that if the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, “became president, he would recognize Democratic control of the entire South and refrain from further intervention in southern affairs” (Foner 198). Unfortunately, without the northern intervention, the Democrats governed the South with the idea that African Americans were not equal to them, causing negative effects while leaving the Reconstruction Era. Therefore, these arising issues began to nullify the work completed in the earlier part of the

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Tilden J.B. Hayes What is known as the compromise of 1877 was an undocumented deal that accommodated both sides of the party running for presidency and ended the reconstruction era a term that is used to cover two parts one being the entire history of the country following the civil war which ended in 1865 and the other focuses on how the southern united states and how they build back up after the war. With the south being so vulnerable the election for presidency the election was a way of them gaining some sort of leverage. Black republicans gained no benefit from this compromise at all. They lost their power in politics.

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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.

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At the beginning of the semester, we were given to book to read The first book being The Great Depression: A Diary by Benjamin Roth and A Short History of Reconstruction by Eric Foner. While reading them we wanted to compare the views of America's economy by comparing the arguments of the two authors mentioned, Roth and Foner. Benjamin Roth's lived through the Great Depression and his book The Great Depression: A Diary was all based on what him and his family experienced and went through during that hard time. Roth was a lawyer but stated in 1931 that “Even professional men were hit hard by the Depression,” he also said “Lawyers are almost as badly off and most are not taking in enough to pay.” Roth mentioned that in

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The Reconstruction Era was a period between the conclusion of the Civil War to the Compromise of 1877 in which the North established new principles in the South to attempt to create equality and push the Confederacy to rejoin the works of the union. After surrendering, the Confederacy surrendered their supplies, currency, and generals to the Union powers, while the military settled their land in several areas. Amendments influenced the North’s motives by abolishing slavery, granting natural citizenship to all men, and securing the rights for colored people to vote. The inexistent Confederacy fired back by initiating Black Codes, laws enacted to limit colored voters through unfair exploitation. White supremacists disapproved of the new Reconstruction

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Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).

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Following a disputed election in 1876, the Republicans acquiesced to the Democrats’ demand for removal of Union troops from the South in exchange for the election of Rutherford Hayes. This “compromise” left southern blacks without federal protection and at the mercy of white “Redeemer” governments that quickly gained power. Moreover, a handful of congressional Republicans often joined with the Democrats to stifle legislative proposals seeking to provide aid to education or to enforce voting rights for blacks. Despite this, blacks remained loyal to the Republicans – if not out of enthusiasm for the party’s record on

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Following this, the Civil War took on a new dimension. The Union winning would fundamentally transform the South, where the “peculiar institution” of slavery was a crucial aspect of the economy, politics, and society. Just prior to the end of the war, in April 1865, Lincoln shocked many by suggesting limited suffrage for African Americans in the South, allowing them to vote, at least to some degree. The assassination of Lincoln was soon after, and his successor, Andrew Johnson, oversaw the beginning of Reconstruction. Beginning in May of 1865, Johnson’s Reconstruction policies required former Confederate states to uphold the abolition of slavery, pay off war debt and swear loyalty to the Union.

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Peter Schroeder Dr. Christopher Marshall Modern United States History 2/2/17 Writing Assignment 1: The African-American Experience with Reconstruction Reconstruction among the south refers to the point in time which the United States was attempting to establish a relationship between the union and the rebels. The Union had won the civil war, so the next step was to begin to mend the broken relationship between the north and the south. Though historians cannot agree on when it began, there is merit in saying that it started before the end of the Civil War. After victory, had been solidified for the Union, attention of President Lincoln turned towards reconstruction.

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Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan became prominent in the south. however, this was no longer something reconstruction could help former slaves with. Eventually, Hayes was elected after Johnsons’ impeachment and the Reconstruction era ended. The reconstruction ended in 1877 due to the Compromise of 1877 and the pulling of republicans alongside union troops out of the deep south. though the reconstruction attempted to unify the country back together as one by allowing confederate states into the union under strict conditions, and to help former slaves by granting basic human rights there were still many issues present throughout the

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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

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While racial attitudes and “Reconstruction weariness” contributed to the collapse of Reconstruction efforts, the use of violence against whites and blacks combined with the belief in white supremacy played the

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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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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.

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So then, what is now seen as the Reconstruction Era is now muddled by the thought of the U.S. being controlled in a disorderly manner by blacks; compared to the reality of Reconstruction explained by Eric Foner. One of the

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The book will challenge students to understand how Reconstruction changed the lives and society of both the common white and African-Americans in the South. Lastly, the monograph supports the class’ philosophy of cultural history as it examines African-Americans in the Southern states. Students will use their knowledge of cultural history to analyze the conflicts and violence that rose between both white and African-Americans living in the South. The final two monographs were chosen for the course as the display the changes in American society amongst women, African-Americans, and other marginal groups. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era and America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960’s will task students in evaluating the changes in the American in Post-World War II America.

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