Post Civil War Reconstruction Essay

After the civil war, America was torn, bloodied, and unsure of its future. However, in the coming decades, it experienced rapid changes that forever changed its course. While many significant events occurred in U.S. history from 1865-1929, the three with the most enduring effects were the end of reconstruction, the formation of the Knights of Labor (KOL), and World War I. Reconstruction shaped the South and the lives of African-Americans, the KOL fought for workers’ rights and advocated for subjugated groups, and WWI shocked the nation and forever changed our position in the world.
In the wake of the civil war, America faced the challenge of reintegrating the Southern states into the Union through a period called reconstruction. The Southern

economy was in ruin, and politicians debated the best way to reunite the Union (Shi and Tindall 513-514). During this period, African-Americans progressed socially by gaining rights through the passage of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments, receiving education, and participating in the government (Shi and Tindall 523). However, this positive turn of events for blacks concluded as Southern opposition to reconstruction, the Panic of 1873, Western expansion, and political controversies forced the end of reconstruction in 1877 (Shi and Tindall 533-535). In 1865, a convention of African-Americans in Virginia was correct in its prediction that Southern state governments would escape the control of the federal government and then pass “all sorts of “unfriendly legislation” to render the freedom you have given us more intolerable than the slavery they intended for us” (“The Late Convention of Colored Men” 3). State legislatures passed black codes that imposed conditions similar to slavery (Shi and Tindall 518). Reconstruction was also unable to rebuild the Southern economy and caused many white Southerners to loathe the federal government (Shi and Tindall 523).
This period saw significant industrial growth as the nation tapped into its natural resources, received cheap labor through the influx of immigrants, and benefited from advancements in production technology (Shi and Tindall 552). Industrialization eventually led to new, lethal weapons that wreaked havoc during WWI. Innovative entrepreneurs like John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie dominated their industries and crushed competition while developing close relationships with the government (Shi and Tindall 560). Employees of these industry giants, however, were not so prosperous. Wage workers joined labor unions to force their employers to improve working conditions, raise wages, and shorten workdays (Shi and Tindall 573). One of the most influential unions was the KOL, which rose to prominence in 1869 (Shi and Tindall 576). The KOL was especially significant because of its progressive platforms, such as promoting equal pay for males and females and uniting all types of workers (Shi and Tindall 577). This provided stark contrast to most labor unions of the era, such as the AFL, that were not accepting of women. In an AFL pamphlet, member Edward O’Donnell stated that, “The growing demand for female labor… is an insidious assault upon the home; it is the knife of the assassin” (O’Donnell 28-29). The KOL essentially dissolved in 1893, but it left an impressive legacy, including the idea of an industrial union and the passage of laws providing for the settlement of labor disputes, the creation of a BLS, and the penalization of employers who imported immigrant workers. (Shi and Tindall 579). Additionally, it could be considered an antecedent to the progressive movement because it supported the poor and working-class, advocated for women’s rights, and fought for better labor conditions (Shi and Tindall 706-721).
Reconstruction was unsuccessful at removing the Southern Democratic elite from power.

In the aftermath of reconstruction, most farmers did not own their land and worked under the crop-lien system, which was described by one economist as “more wasteful and destructive than slavery was anywhere” (Shi and Tindall 595). Due to racism, violence, and poverty in the South, a group of African-Americans known as Exodusters moved West to search for a better life. Although these migrants faced tough living conditions, many shared the beliefs of a preacher who stated, “We had rather suffer and be free” than go back to the South (Shi and Tindall 606). These people joined crowds of other people moving west, including immigrants from Mexico, China, Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, who endured hardships such as tornadoes, droughts, and swarms of grasshoppers (Shi and Tindall 610). Industrialization played a role in this migration, because it caused people to move west to escape crowded Eastern cities. As more people moved West, however, they displaced a large population of Native Americans. American settlers infuriated Native Americans by moving into their ancestral lands, which resulted in the Indian wars during the 1860s and 1870s (Shi and Tindall 615). The Indian Peace Commission, created by the federal government, decided to move Indians onto reservations (Shi and Tindall 618). Native Americans continued to resist forced removal, but they eventually gave up. Chief Joseph, the leader of a group of Nez Perce Indians, expressed the deep sorrow of his people by stating, “I am tired of fighting..the little children are freezing to death… It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises” (Joseph 51). Some politicians and religious activists condemned the harsh treatment of Native Americans, but even well-intentioned Americans attempted to force Indians to

assimilate.
As America entered the Gilded Age, its urban population grew, nativists resisted minorities, government corruption was rampant, and immigrant populations increased substantially (Shi and Tindall 626-644). Government corruption was exemplified by the patronage system, under which loyal supporters of politicians were given government jobs (Shi and Tindall 641). Most of the immigrants from this period were from southern and eastern European countries, such as Russia, Poland, Greece, and Italy, and were judged as inferior by many Americans because of their cultural differences (Shi and Tindall 630). Immigrants eventually caused tension during WWI because of their lingering loyalties to nations on either side of the conflict (Chapter 21 Overview).