Race And Reunion Summary

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Recommended: African Americans in the reconstruction era

Throughout the period of Reconstruction, the meaning of the Civil War has adapted into many different visions: the reconciliationist vision, the white supremacist vision, and the emancipationist vision. The significance of the war has been constantly altered because of the many different perspectives about the war. Because the Civil War caused destruction directly to both the North and South with over 600 thousand deaths, the meaning of the war has been altered to and from the “twin goals.” --- healing and justice. In Race and Reunion, Blight argues that the “twin goals” and “competing interests” have changed with the idea of having a different goal of reuniting the Union. The idea of healing and justice blight explains is that “these two …show more content…

Although in Blight’s video he argues that “liberation of slaves caused reconstruction,”and that even though they were free, no one knew what “free” really meant.2 For blacks, they perceived the war as an opportunity for freedom, but this wasn’t the case for the other side. The whites struggled with their loss and throughout the period of Reconstruction, the Southerners changed the meaning of the Civil War through the use of “terror and violence, and locked arms with reconciliationist of many kinds.”3 However the meaning of the war didn’t change overnight, it took time. For example, Blight explains that “there were many warring definitions of healing in the South and the nation’s collective memory had never been so shattered.”3 After the war ended, everyone had different views on how …show more content…

This turn in power lead to corruption as Bailey states “...Lincoln [had] promised ‘a new birth of freedom.’ Instead they got a bitter dose of corruption and political stalemate.” 5 People were influenced to campaign for their allies through patronage. These politicians and businessmen took advantage of the government so that they could enhance themselves which ultimately destroyed the government. In Blight’s video, he references the Civil War as the “second American Revolution” because the US had to completely remold and restructure itself and the government after being torn apart.”2 Overtime, the Republican’s goal of wanting to protect freed slaves and advocate for them soon came to an end. As a result, the Republicans gave in to the Compromise of 1877 with the South and with the upbringing of the Jim Crow laws. Even Bailey remarks that,“the Old South was in many ways more resurrected then reconstructed”5 because a new kind of racial judgment was thought about of the African Americans instead of totally reconstructing, improving, and becoming better. In Blight’s video he explains “The “cost of racial justice” was not worth risking the stability of the Union.”2 During this time, reconstruction started to weaken which caused the hope for equality to fade away for African Americans.“The Democrats reluctantly agreed that Hayes might take office

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