Failure Of Reconstruction Essay

The end of the Civil War in 1865 may have put an end to large scale military campaigns, but it put no end to the original discussions and debates that led to the war. The Nation was left just as divided at the wars end then when it had started. The questions pertaining to what should be done with the slaves (now former) still existed and had only grown from the Emancipation Proclamation. The nation lost Lincoln to an assassin and was left for a time with Andrew Johnson. These problems were compounded with new issues arising from the discussion of what should be done with the rebel states. The time after the war would usher in the age of Reconstruction as these questions were addressed and would eventually lead to many failures and successes

in the changes enacted.
Michael Perman and Amy Taylor provide the statement “Reconstruction was, in a real sense, what the war was all about” which encompasses much of the truth. The war was never fought for the sake of slaughtering one’s neighbor. It was fought over change since the North and the South could not find a proper compromise for their issues over state’s rights, federal power, and of course the paramount issue of slavery. The end of the war was always going to lead to the winning side being in the position to facilitate their original ideas before the war as well as new ones bred from the war. The war was simply a means to an end and just because the war ended does not mean the fighting stopped it simply shifted forms. Richard Dana in his speech after the war asserts, “A war is over when its purpose is secured. It is a fatal mistake to hold that this war is over, because the fighting has ceased. This war is not over”. The Union may have “won” the war, but now they needed to make sure their victory was cemented which came in the form of Reconstruction.
Reconstruction is a mixed bag of successes and failures. Determining between the two varies depending on the viewpoint adopted and even then, most sides have minor victories and losses. Radical Republicans for instance would most likely see Reconstruction as a failure. Eric Foner in his essay “The Radical Republicans” writes, “Radicals had long insisted that slavery and the rights of blacks must take precedence over other political questions”. For at time after the war Radical Republicans ensured that the freed blacks were gaining their freedoms and rights, however as the Radical Republicans fell out of favor positions gained by former slaves were slowly stripped away. Blacks did retain their status as freed men which certainly was a success of sorts, but they never acquired the position of equals.
For the blacks themselves the end of the Civil War led to over four million new freed people whom now had the ability to make their own decisions and go their own way in life. They could take pride in being free like Mattis Curtis a freed woman who stated, “I’ll never fergit my first bale of cotton an’ how I got hit sold, I was some proud of dat bale of cotton”. Even though she discusses that being free comes with hard work it also comes with pride in being able to labor for oneself instead of being in enslavement and serving an owner. Being Free is something all humans crave, for it is only in freedom that one is truly human. Reconstruction ensured that the former slaves would remain as a freed people, though it sadly taunts the former slaves in a way since they got a small glimpse of what freedom was like before it was eventually stricken from them.
Reconstruction never led to the guaranteed rights of the freed slaves. During the time period that Radical Republicans still held power in congress blacks were able to gain positions that they never had before, like judge, coroner, and sheriff. They began to establish schools and communities however once Radical Republicans were shifted out of congress rights they had were slowly stripped away. Steven Hahn in an essay discussing the freed blacks in the south states how white southerner’s main issue wasn’t in the loss of the war or the abolition of the slaves, but with their fear that blacks would establish negro rule. Of course blacks would never be able to achieve the power to establish tyrannical rule over the South, but it did not stop white Southerners from quickly stripping away rights from the freed slaves once opportunity arose. This failure to guarantee the rights of the freed blacks was a major failure in Reconstruction.
Surprisingly out of all the sides Southerners seemingly come out farther ahead than one would expect for the losing side in a war.

Though Reconstruction was heavy handed on the south during its early years with the loss of slaves being a heavy economic hit and carpet baggers taking up positions of government. However, Southerners recovered rather quickly finding that to improve their situation they would just have to reclaim their previous positions in their state governments. Michael Perman in an essay about failures of Republican rule in the south write, “The defeat of the Republicans was essential, but the real objective was something larger. It was the ending of Reconstruction, a program and a regime that had been imposed on the South”. The first step to bring about the end of reconstruction was to reclaim everything the blacks and carpet baggers took. Southern Radicals began a reign of terror directed at Republicans and blacks through the rejuvenated Ku Klux Klan in 1866. Through this terror and an increasingly disinterested Republican government towards the South. Reconstruction began to fade away and eventually ended with the Compromise of 1877 which withdrew all Northern troops from the South. The Southerners despite starting the war could become readmitted to the Union under relatively lax terms, lost their slaves, but were able to force the freed blacks out of society once Reconstruction

ended.
So, was Reconstruction a success?

In the actual time frame of Reconstruction of 1865 to 1877 not so much. Reconstruction failed to uphold the nations fundamental beliefs in liberty when dealing with the freed black populace, but it was important that the slaves were made free. The true strength and success of Reconstruction comes from its role in laying the groundwork for the 20th century’s Civil Rights movement. The period of Reconstruction where blacks could vote and hold public office set a precedent for the future that was eventually picked up on during the Civil Rights movement and used for evidence that they were capable of being equal to whites. Reconstruction was never going to be able to sway the racist ideals of millions of white Southerners and even Northerners in thirteen years. While yes, the North could have kept troops in the South and continued to enforce black rights, but it would have only led to additional resentment and hatred towards the North. If anything, the optimal path was reached. The nation emerged reunified with the same constitution and ideals the country was founded upon and set in motion the eventual acceptance (generally speaking) of the black

community.
Reconstruction itself was not very revolutionary in nature. There were no dramatic changes taking place and The United States returned to practically the same country it was before. The country quickly moved onto other plans like Industrialization and Imperialism. The main difference was now slavery was abolished, but that happened during the war under the Emancipation Proclamation. Southerners did everything in their power to reinstate slavery in everything but name. and they were successful with it till the 1950s and 60s. Reconstruction just does not seem to have done much in the grand scheme of things. The country got back together and moved on to expanding the Nation in the worldly playing field. Blacks were simply left with a new world that looked much like the old.