What Were The Republican Party's Goals For The Reconstruction Of Arkansas?

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After the defeat in the Civil War, Arkansas and the other Confederate states had no choice but to accept the idea of “reconstruction” and defeat. Arkansas had mainly been ran by the Democratic Party, but the Republican Party was on the rise after the Civil War. Both parties had different and distinct goals for the reconstruction of Arkansas. The Democratic Party was interested in rebuilding Arkansas while the Republican Party was interested in changing the state’s government all together. Throughout the Reconstruction period, the Democrats and Republicans held different goals for the “reconstruction” of Arkansas. The Democrats wanted to maintain the idea of white supremacy. They also wished to limit the power of the government in state affairs. …show more content…

The Republican Party was made up of three groups of people. These three groups included: the carpetbaggers, the scalawags, and the freedmen. Carpetbaggers were whites who traveled from northern states to the south because they saw the chance to take part in the reconstruction of Arkansas. Democrats did not particularly like the carpetbaggers. They believed that they should stay in the north where they belong. The scalawags were white natives to the south who supported the Republican Party. To the Democrats, scalawags were considered to be traders. The freedmen were former slaves who had just recently been freed. As these three groups worked together, they were able to take the authority of Congress and pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This act laid out the process in which the southern states would be readmitted into the Union. This act also required the southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment granted former slaves national citizenship and equal rights to all citizens. This amendment is also known as the Civil Rights amendment. The southern states were not allowed to reenter the Union until they had ratified the 14th Amendment. All of the southern states were readmitted into the Union by 1870 after ratifying the 14th Amendment. By this time, Congress adopted the 15th Amendment, which granted black men the right to vote. Through the ratification of the 14th and 15th amendments, the Republican party saw evidence that their desire of racial advancement was seen, creating hostility amid white