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How Did Reconstruction Succeed

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Reconstruction was an attempt to reunite the United States after the Civil War. After the Civil War the South was completely devastated. Many people, Black and White were left destitute by the war. Reconstruction was put into play to help reform the South, lead the country back to peace, and unite the country as one again. The government during the reconstruction era was largely Republican. Conservatives insisted the South accept abolition, but the proposed little else for the readmission of the southern states. Radicals urged a much harsher course of action which included, disenfranchising many white southerners, protecting the civil rights of blacks, and confiscating the land of wealthy confederate supporters and distributing it to freedmen. …show more content…

The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 it distributed food, established schools and even help to settle blacks on their own land. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments which granted everyone born in the United States citizenship and gave black men the right to vote were added to the constitution. The Freedmen’s Bureau and the amendments helped to push toward equal rights for black Americans. Southern state legislatures tried to enact their own laws that impeded equality. Because of these laws many blacks were able to own their own land, open their own businesses, and enter professions that were not available to them before emancipation. For white southerners the reconstruction period meant something totally different. After the immediate end of the war many white southerners tried to restore their society to its former antebellum glory. They fought for what they considered their freedom, they wanted to preserve their local and regional autonomy and white supremacy. Southern state legislatures enacted laws known as Black codes that indentured unemployed freedmen, forbid them from owning lands, and stated they could only work in jobs they previously held as slaves. The Black Codes paved the way for the Jim Crow laws which segregated the

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