Conflicting Desires During The Reconstruction Era

Conflicting Desires
Throughout all recorded history, humans have consistently sought power because only the strongest can survive and prosper; the weak are left to struggle with little to nothing. Neither side wishes to back down, as forfeiting such a battle will cause suffering and the loss of privilege for them and their allies. As such, no matter when and where, there is always a never-ending conflict over power and wealth. Focusing on the late 19th century United States, one can observe that this pattern of struggle persists between many parties. For example, during the periods of Reconstruction, Westward Expansion, and Industrialization, there was always an intense conflict between the powerful and the weak or the rich and the poor. Drawing

from these times, the trend reiterates itself once more: for one group to gain power and wealth, the other is indirectly forced to lose some of it. During these eras, the rich and powerful white men fought off and exploited what they believed to be weaker and undeserving groups to benefit their own “just” cause, but in doing so, they caused inhumane suffering for others.
During the Reconstruction era that formally took place from 1865 to 1877, the North and South sought to reunify the country and bring freedom to all, but ultimately, the former slaves were excluded from this plan and exploited to achieve its goal.

In 1865, following the Civil War, the North and the South wanted to become a single entity again and have all their people be free, but both sides had different definitions of the word “all”. For the Radical Republicans in the North, this meant all people, but for the South, it meant only wealthy white people. The former slaves, who were subjected to the South’s interpretation of universal freedom, had a different take on this altogether. One such person, Henry Adams, thought,”’If I cannot do like a white man’... ‘I am not free’” (Foner 566). These definitions were drastically different from one another, so none of the parties involved would compromise. However, Charles Summer, a Radical, declared, “’The same national authority… that destroyed slavery must see that this other pretension [racial discrimination] is not permitted to survive,’” revealing that the Radical-dominant Congress believed in the same definition of freedom as the former slaves (Foner 581). As such, they indirectly worked with one another, and in April 1866, the Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill. This was the first major step towards civil rights for African Americans, but the South was greatly angered by this, as more freedoms for former slaves meant less

power and wealth for them. As a result, the Ku Klux Klan, a violent anti-black terrorist organization, was created in 1866 as the military arm of the Democratic Party to attack Radicals and African Americans with the purpose of reestablishing the freedoms that the South had prior to the Civil War. One account of these brutalities stated, “Members of the Ku Klux Klan had beaten [Abram] Colby savagely in 1869 in an attempt to end his political activities as a Radical Republican, after earlier efforts to bribe the black legislator had failed” (Testimony Taken). Colby simply wanted to change the nation’s perspective on former slaves by taking office, but racist Southerners wanted none of it. Instead of compromising or having a civil discussion, they used violence to achieve their goals. Eventually, these attacks brought more former Confederate back into power as Democrats, causing Republicans to lose influence and so African Americans slowly began to lose their newly gained freedoms as well. The former slaves were given these rights by federal law, and as such, the South’s refusal to allow such freedoms along with their exploitations and killings of African Americans is both illegal and unjustifiable.
Though Americans already caused great suffering for former slaves and their supporters during Reconstruction, their thirst for more power drove them to exploit Native Americans as well by forcefully imposing American laws and culture on them and taking their lands to benefit the United States and its goal to expand westward.

The idea that the United States was destined by God to occupy the entire continent drove adventurous citizens to consciously commit atrocities against the native people. The laws and acts that the federal government passed only further encouraged this behavior. Despite this, their actions were still inappropriate. After seeing many Indian tribes crushed by the American military, including his own, Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé said to the government, “’Treat all men alike... Give them the same law... Let me be a free man – free to travel, free to stop, free to trade where I choose, free to... think and talk and act for myself’” (Foner 624). As Chief Joseph mentioned, the Native Americans simply wanted to live their own lives, free from the influence of the United States. Despite this, the United States showed no regard to the native people, as they could use the native lands to expand their own power and economy. To make matters worse, the federal government began passing laws to attack native culture as well. One such law was the Dawes Act, which was passed in 1887 to control the “tribalism” of the native people. It divided up all remaining tribal lands

to be redistributed in pieces to native families, and the remaining land would be sold off to the American people. This act was a blatant show of forceful assimilation, as communal lands were essential to native cultures. In addition to the destruction of culture, Foner writes that, “In the half century after the passage of the Dawes Act, Indians lost 86 million of the 138 million acres of land in their possession in 1887,” which meant that the act caused the Native Americans to lose even more land (Foner 625). The most atrocious crime of all was when the Americans, “…established boarding schools where Indian children, removed from the “negative” influences of their parents and tribes… [were] educated in white ways.” (Foner 625). Not only did the Americans kill the natives, take their land, and destroy their culture, but they also kidnapped Indian children from their “uncivilized” communities to assimilate them to a “proper” society. All these vile acts were unjustifiable, as the Native Americans did nothing wrong; they simply lived on their own lands. However, the only thing that the United States and its citizens cared about were themselves. They wanted the land, so they simply stole it from the natives. They also wanted the Indians to be like them, so they forcefully took away various aspects of native culture. As shown, the selfish ideals of the American people during this period cause great suffering for the Native Americans.
As immigrants rushed into the United States, their effective labor and their desire for opportunity made them prime exploitation targets for the rich, greedy businessmen in America. One such predatory businessman was Andrew Carnegie, who was ironically a former working-class immigrant himself. During this period of Industrialization, there were no federal laws that enforced good working conditions for laborers. As such, the people who ran large businesses, like Carnegie, could run their operations to their own standards. In public, he and his company, Carnegie Steel Works, appeared to be sympathetic and friendly towards workers, but behind closed doors, he was a cutthroat businessman. Just like any other person, he wanted to maximize profits, so he made his employees work extremely long shifts for low wages. To maintain his public image, Carnegie and his company told numerous lies. For example, when his company was under fire, his chairman (Henry Clay Frick) told a journalist that, “At both of these plants… the best evidence that their wages are satisfactory is shown in the fact that we never had a strike there since they began working under our system of management” (Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 8, 1892). Though it has been proven false, the company and Carnegie himself were able to deceive some of the public by appearing to be caring and fair to workers. This is further supported by the fact that, “…Carnegie was known to occasionally sacrifice truth in order to appear reasonable before the press...” (There is Power in a Union). Though Carnegie’s practices were immoral, the government turned a blind eye, as his wealth had profound influence. The workers, however, were desperate for fair working conditions, so they organized in unions to protect their rights. With the presence of these unions, Carnegie could not profit as much, so he crushed them with an iron fist in each of his steel mills to get what he wanted. This was not an issue until he encountered the Amalgamated Union when he bought Homestead Steel Works in 1883. The Amalgamated was one of the strongest unions in America, and they refused to surrender to the unfair agreements that were proposed, so Carnegie and Frick decided to crush the union by force. In the end, Carnegie won with the assistance of the government, but the defeat was devastating for the workers. The Amalgamated, one of the strongest unions, could not beat Carnegie, and as a result, other unions in the U.S. were weakened and workers became vulnerable to inhumane working conditions again. Foner expresses the grave consequences of this conflict and writes, “Homestead demonstrated that neither a powerful union nor public opinion could influence the conduct of the largest corporations” (Foner 650). Despite their numbers, the Amalgamated and the public had no power against the money and influence that Carnegie had. While Carnegie and his company continued to thrive as a result of this victory, workers suffered and toiled their livelihoods away to fuel this progress.
As shown during Reconstruction, Westward Expansion, and now Industrialization, the rich and/or the powerful are always able to exploit those who are weaker, regardless of how their victims retaliated. For example, in Reconstruction, the former slaves and the Radicals tried to create equality for all, and they made substantial progress towards the inclusion of former slaves in society, but their efforts were quickly crushed by the stronger Democrats. The ones with influence act immorally to make themselves better off and they justify themselves on the simple idea that their cause is righteous. However, from these periods, one can clearly observe that the exploiters never provide any reasonable explanation for their actions, and thus, their causes are always morally irredeemable. In every instance, their rationale is selfish or centered around their own group. Though these historic times are long over, the similar trend they all present still persists in the modern world. All three eras echo the idea that some must lose in order for others to gain, and this phrase perfectly describes the capitalistic United States we have today. While the upper class is getting richer, the lower class is getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing. The trend that presents itself during Reconstruction, Westward Expansion, Industrialization, and even today will continue to be present until the day that humans cease to exist, because a quintessential part of human nature is to thrive and expand. As long as people desire to improve themselves, there will always be the victorious and those who live beneath their shadows.