Reconstruction DBQ Essay “A truly united America has been created. Let’s hope that our Reconstruction bridges this condition perfectly.” Such a senatorial speech fell to be false. Instead of fulfilling Lincoln’s dream, Reconstruction turned out to be a complete failure as it divided both sides (again) and created an irreversible shift. Officially, Reconstruction is recognized to have an end, not by success, but by disaster. Unlike what is often thought amongst people, the actual death of Reconstruction was caused by both sides of America; in other words, Southern resistance and Northern neglect. At first, Southern resistance triggered the conclusion of Reconstruction through its formation of internal terrorists. This claim is supported by …show more content…
However, the most likely target to blame is the side of the South. The North actually assisted in the progression of Reconstruction by legalizing the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments - which abolished slavery, ensured that blacks were equal to whites, and prohibited suffrage based on race - creating laws to enforce the amendments through military force, establishing black churches, schools, “and universities like Howard, Fisk, Morehouse, and Hampton.” (Background Essay) Without these endeavors, higher education for blacks would have perished and the numerous contributions of African-Americans would have been erased throughout history. With all these evidences to support the North’s innocence, the South is more responsible as it actively fought against the North through the KKK, contemptible leaders, and illegal solutions, such as poll taxes to react to the South’s greatest obstacle - the 15th amendment. As the South protested relentlessly to bolster their need for a modern slave society, the North forfeited and allowed the South to regain its previous condition as they knew Reconstruction was beginning to wilt. If the South transferred their tenacity to join hands with their brothers up north, our current world wouldn’t have issues resulting from segregation. A possibility of an accepting country was offered to the South, but the South rejected it. As such, the era
It was clear to people in the late 1800s that the Civil War caused many national problems along with problems within the union. However, the Civil War assuaged many problems for the country. For example, slavery was abolished, the supremacy of the national government had been confirmed, and secession had been proved false. Some people may believe that the main reason why the congress’ reconstruction efforts to ensure equal rights to the freedmen failed was because virtually no one in America thought blacks were equal to whites. Basically it was because people still have racial thoughts; slaves didn’t get to fully acquire the meaning and prerogatives of their rights; in other words they were uneducated.
Despite the turmoil caused during Reconstruction, there were some substantial accomplishments. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of the “Reconstruction Amendments.” This Amendment made slavery illegal in every part of the United States. The next was the Fourteenth Amendment that made Blacks citizens and prohibited any state from interfering with the “inalienable
Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.
After the civil war, the Federal government went to many lengths to try and help freedmen in former slave states. But these expansions were quickly terminated after Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1876. The South had started to limit the rights of blacks within the boundaries that the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments allowed. And the North started to turn a blind eye to all of the problems that existed in the South. (C)In the end, both states contributed to the end of reconstitution, but the South made more efforts to persecute blacks than the North did. Although both the North and the South were responsible for ending reconstruction, the South was mainly responsible for the end of reconstruction in the South.
So, where did Reconstruction fail? Rather than a single event, the downfall of reconstruction was caused by a series of poor policies and decisions. The first attempt at Reconstruction was driven by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln believed that it was his responsibility, and his responsibility alone, to lead the reunification of the United States. In order to understand his plans, one must understand his motivations as well. Many believe that Lincoln fought the Civil War to end slavery and start the movement for racial equality, but Lincoln, being a moderate republican, mainly fought the Civil War in order to maintain a stable economy and protect the union. The Republican party was founded on the idea of good business and maintaining a stable economy, therefore all of their interests rooted back to improving business situations in order to gain wealth and prosper. In an interview with the New York Tribune, Lincoln is quoted saying “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery” (“Lincoln’s Constitutional Dilemma”). Later on, Lincoln shifted his viewpoint when he realized, or he was forced to realize, that the United States needed to abolish slavery in order to protect the Union. This realization came only after “almost daily visits from Radical Republicans or humanitarian groups demanding abolition” (“Lincoln’s Constitutional Dilemma”). Since Lincoln’s main motivation was
The truth is both sides ruined the chances of reconstruction.They are both at fault. The south and the northerners had an equal part at failing to continue the reconstruction because from the south there was an organization; a cult called the Ku klux Klan.The kkk did not accept african americans. They were so cruel and inhumane to them the kkk would slaughter , manipulate, and even taunt them till the african americans would fear them(Doc A, B)As for the North , there was a lot of corruption due to Former President grant that committed fraud and caused the “ panic of 1873 “ which caused lots of jobs to discontinue and people to worry from it.(doc C)
Reconstruction was a period of time after the Civil War (1865-1877) that was supposed to be the rebuilding of America. It was also the process used to readmit all the Confederate states back into the Union. There was controversy, however, on how to go about rebuilding the nation. Abraham Lincoln proposed a lenient plan. After he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson proposed a very similar plan. The Radical Republicans, a group of legislators that were in favor of freedmen’s rights, were opposed to both plans under “Presidential Reconstruction”. They initiated “Congressional Reconstruction”. Because of the conflicting views, there was little cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches. This lead to many unsuccessful
Reconstruction was a time period of major change in the United States of America for both African Americans and White citizens. After the Civil War, the reconstruction process started out as a failure, but over the years turned into a huge success because of how African Americans were able to live normal lives. Overall, Reconstruction was a success because freedom and growth of equality for African Americans was increased greatly.
The process of rebuilding America after the Civil War from 1865 to 1877, known as the Reconstruction, fell very short of its expectations because of the negative effect it had on relationships within the country. President Lincoln came up with plans for reconstruction, however, Congress believed it was too lenient. After Lincoln’s death and events following regarding Johnson, Congress dominated the government and came up with their own plan that sets the nation up for further disagreement. The plan for Reconstruction as Congress made it, was a failure because of how it divided the government, turned the races against each other, and set up freed slaves for poverty.
Disagreements over Reconstruction lead to conflict in government and in the South. Andrew Johnson was the vice president of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson became President and was in control of how Reconstruction would go. Johnson was originally from the South, he was pro-slavery, and he wanted a lenient plan for Reconstruction. While Congress was out of session, Johnson created and put into effect a Reconstruction plan. The opposite party to Johnson was the Radical Republicans. Radical Republicans were mostly from the North, they were anti-slavery, and they wanted a strict plan for Reconstruction. They had strong support from scalawags, carpetbaggers, and freedmen. Their main goal of Reconstruction was to be a total reconstruction of society to guarentee black people true equality. Another party in this battle was the Klu Klux Klan. The Klu Klux Klan used terror to stop African Americans from gaining any power. They would whip, torture, shoot, hang, and sometimes burn people alive. There were hundreds of lives lost during the 1868 election. This cause voting from African Americans to decline. After all of the disagreements about Reconstruction, the end of Reconstruction still failed to give African Americans rights.
During the time period of 1860 and 1877 many major changes occurred. From the beginning of the civil war to the fall of the reconstruction, the United States changed dramatically. Nearly one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence which declared all men equal, many social and constitutional alterations were necessary to protect the rights of all people, no matter their race. These social and constitutional developments that were made during 1860 to 1877 were so drastic it could be called a revolution.
Reconstruction was the time between 1863 and 1877 when the U.S. focused on abolishing slavery, destroying the Confederacy, and reconstructing the nation and the Constitution and is also the general history of the post-Civil War era in the U.S. between 1865 and 1877. Under Abraham Lincoln, presidential reconstruction began in each state as soon as federal troops controlled most of the state. The usual ending date is 1877, when the Compromise of 1877 saw the collapse of the last Republican state governments in the South
In 1866, Congress passed The Civil Rights Act of 1866 which allowed them to be genuine citizens and thus granted them federal protection under the law. Score for the blacks. Furthermore, the South was placed under military rule to ensure that this act was being enforced. During this tremendous time of freedom, blacks were allowed to vote and hold office – something that finally extended a voice and position in our country to their community. Meanwhile, whites were growing tired of all the nonsense. They wanted their beloved Old South back. Many refused to attend the integrated Reconstruction-era state constitutional conventions. Southern whites would use highly exaggerated and publicized incidences of “social injustices” to protect their claims of being thrown over to so-called negro domination. Any action was necessary that could help clinch their argument and overturn the Reconstruction
Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in the former Confederacy and to readmit the land in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. Reconstruction yielded many benefits for African Americans. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote respectively. The Freedmen’s Bureau also provided African Americans and poor whites with education, jobs, and supplies. Despite this, Reconstruction was cut short in 1877. The North killed Reconstruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.
When Reconstruction began in 1865, a broken America had just finished fighting the Civil War. In all respects, Reconstruction was a time period of