Blame For Reconstruction

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Recommended: African Americans in the reconstruction era

Finally the dreams of millions of African Americans were being turned into reality, slaves were becoming free. Although, as soon as the progress was being made, it was instantly crushed and would be arduous to return. Lincoln’s assassination was a dreadful day in American History. When the tide of the new election came around the corner, it was such a strenuous decision that there was talk of a new Civil War. The answer is clear, the North is at fault for the end of Reconstruction because of Grant’s focus only on the Government, racism, and the distractions the North had. 1876 started out to be a very exciting year for millions of black Americans living in the South. The United States seemed to be creating opportunities for every American …show more content…

Many people believed that “the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…blacks needed a period of probation and instruction” (Richardson 517). Also, a Northern artist stated in art that Black politicians in the South were savage (Richardson 517). Many Northerns believed that African Americans need to learn honor and know how to do things. They also believed that African Americans were bellicose, unsuitable, and not smart enough to be taking on such an honorable job in political duties. This evidence shows that racism still existed and was prodigious in the North. This could have caused the end of Reconstruction because it could have shifted their point of view from helping the African Americans to preventing the African Americans to be …show more content…

Others may believe that because of the political violence caused by the Ku-Klux-Klan that their brutality could have caused the tide to shift away from Reconstruction. In the book, The Americans, it states “Although political violence continued in the South… the tide of public opinion in the North began to turn against Reconstruction policies” (Danzer 515). Citizens in the South did not try to stop the Ku-Klux-Klan, so they probably did not care as much as to what they were doing. Which means that some Southerners could have tried to save Reconstruction progress. While in the meantime, the entire public opinion shifted away from the thought of Reconstruction. Also, in the New York Tribune, it states “Another brave, honest Republic citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fields” (Tourgee 511). It states that Republican citizens were being targeted. Which means that others may have not been targeted and was still focusing on Reconstruction. So, the end of Reconstruction was caused by the North because the vast majority of the public opinion was against

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