Reconstruction Era “I feel incompetent to perform duties. which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me.” This quote from Andrew Johnson depicts how many people felt during the Reconstruction Era. It was a very stressful time that could be described as a rollercoaster. There were good times and not-so-good times. The Reconstruction Era started at the end of the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877. Its main goal was to make the southern states a part of the Union again, which would ensure slaves would get rights and opinions towards them would change. Reconstruction is a long and hard process. The Reconstruction Era had many accomplishments that were made possible by various leaders. Congress established the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery for good. They also …show more content…
He made the Ten Percent Plan of Reconstruction, which stated that southern states would need to reunite with the Union if 10 percent of the electorate signed loyalty pledges and agreed to emancipation. They would also need to receive presidential pardons. After this, he was part of making the Reconstruction Act come to life. Lincoln was a great help during the Reconstruction Era, creating a solid foundation for it while he could. Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865, so Andrew Johnson was the next president to take over. Johnson was not as fond of Reconstruction as Lincoln. Even so, he created his form of reconstruction based on Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan. This plan was forgiving and allowed Southern states to have elections, and they were also able to have representatives in Washington. This plan, however, was not accepted. Johnson attempted to veto many things passed by Congress and ultimately began to make people mad. He was not helping the reconstruction process, and this eventually led to his impeachment. Another person who helped with Reconstruction, but also made some questionable decisions was Ulysses S.
The plan was a mix of Johnson’s own ideas for reconstruction and some of the ideas that Lincoln had in his Ten Percent Plan. Even though his plan was very lenient toward former confederate officials, republicans and other northerners were in agreement with his plan for the most part. Obviously there will be people who do not agree with his entire plan such as the Radical Republican group. There was not much of another option to go by so Johnson’s Plan had to be put into use. Lincoln was assassinated so there was no real support behind his ten percent plan. Even though Lincoln’s plan was not used, some of the ideas from his plan were still included in Johnson’s such as taking an oath of loyalty by the former confederate officials to rejoin the union and create a state government. The republicans were too radical for Johnson in their views of how former slaves should be treated. They also wanted harsher punishment for southern officials which would have taken more time where Johnson just wanted reconstruction to be over as soon as possible. The radicals did have convincing plans to restore America but Johnson rejected a lot of the ideas that the radicals
In the words of President Abraham Lincoln during his Gettysburg Address (Doc. A), the Civil War itself, gave to our Nation, “a new birth of freedom”. The Civil War had ended and the South was in rack and ruin. Bodies of Confederate soldiers lay lifeless on the grounds they fought so hard to protect. Entire plantations that once graced the South were merely smoldering ash. The end of the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, stirred together issues and dilemmas that Americans, in the North and South, had to process, in hopes of finding the true meaning of freedom.
The reconstruction of the south after the Civil War was one of the biggest struggles of nation because of the turmoil and dramatic change in the country. The South was faced with the issue of black citizens and that they will have equal rights that the whites have. Additionally, the emancipation of slaves caused many riots and conflicts because the white citizens did not approve of the fact that their society is integrated. The biggest issue that the South faced was trying to incorporate the newly freed slaves into the society because they are uneducated and are unable to sustain themselves economically. The death of Abe Lincoln proved harmful to the nation because the Congress and Johnson were not able to agree on a reconstruction plan and they had different opinions. The emancipation of slaves was a major milestone in the history of the United States, but it caused more problems than solutions in the beginning of reconstruction.
The souths conditions after the war were horriable, as if there wasnt a south to even begin with. After the civil war the land was in ruins and destroyed by the north, William Techumseh Sherman had burned everything from the Mississippi to the Georgia coast committing rampant war crimes along the way and even burned Atlanta to the ground! Confederate currency was useless, which led to banks being pointless even though they were already ruined. Then there wasnt any law or authority, many slaves ran and became free which lossed in total at least two billion dollars worth and governments bassicly vanquished.
The period of reconstruction started in 1865 and lasted until 1877. The period of reconstruction was a way the north thought they were punishing the south; they wanted to rebuild and make the south better. Reconstruction took place after the civil war. The radical republican’s goals were black male enfranchisement and strong reconstruction policy for the south. (Williams, 8/25) During this time it was very challenging. When the reconstruction began, President Lincoln was in office. He came up with
Reconstruction aimed to rebuild the country after the devastation of the Civil War. From 1865 to 1877, Reconstruction had different objectives for different groups of people. The Radical Republicans added another goal: they hoped that black Americans would be able to exercise their rights the same way white Americans do. The South was against both of these goals, neither wanting to rejoin the nation nor allowing blacks to have equal rights. Reconstruction succeeded in granting political equality to blacks but ultimately failed as a whole, failing short in social and economic equality.
“...The slave went free: stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.”. This quote by W.E.B. Dubois shows that African Americans finally had a taste of freedom that was destroyed as they went back to doing labor for others. Reconstruction was supposed to help African Americans and Whites get closer together, but it failed. Reconstruction started as a way to bring back the Union and ended with the Compromise of 1877. Talk of a new Civil War was in the air, as opponents in the disputed states submitted separate sets of electoral ballots.
But once again America was reunited, but its economy was ruined, and was socially and politically damaged. After the Civil War, change was needed. The Civil War helped African Americans get their citizenships, rights to vote, and more importantly, their freedom. On April 11, 1865, President Lincoln introduced his plan for Reconstruction (“Cause”). The Reconstruction was meant to improve and restore America into a successful, united country while helping recently “free” African Americans in society. He warned people that the, years of the Reconstruction would be “fraught with great difficulty.” Three days later he was assassinated (“Cause”). The twelve years after the Civil War was called Reconstruction. The Reconstruction era was an opportunity of change and was an expansion of freedom for former slaves. It was a time where the North and the Republicans were attempting to fix the Southern economy, set up new governments and support the rights of freedmen. There were also many problems and resistance to the Reconstruction process. “…there were so many different views about how Reconstruction should be accomplished, and because so much...
Reconstruction began in 1865, when America had just finished fighting the Civil War. Reconstruction was a time when America tried to become a developed country again. The south struggled politically, economically, and socially. During reconstruction there were almost four million former slaves, who had been freed by the 13th amendment, who were on their own and had no idea how to live alone. People were scattered everywhere trying to get things fixed, which took a long twelve years. Socially the south faced problems such as, the number of wounded soldiers there was after the Civil War was over, which decreased their number of workers that could work to help reconstruction. Economically the south faces a great deal of starvation problems. Towns were burnt and fields with crops were ruined. This delayed the replanting of crops while the prices of food, were still very high. Lastly, politically the south faced issues with voting of different races.
Reconstruction was a time after the Civil War focused on rebuilding the country, mainly in the South as that is where most of the battle was fought. This 12-year period of reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877 where it not only focused on building cities and towns but restoring equality and unity between all the people. Many groups, such as the high-ranking Confederates who wanted to stay separated, tried to lead reconstruction. But for the Radical Republicans, civil equality for the freedmen was the main goal for them. Furthermore, equality for previously enslaved people was a major part of reconstruction, ensuring that they had equal political, economic, and social equality.
During the time after the civil war, there was a time commonly referred to as “reconstruction”. During this time states were being readmitted to the union and laws were being passed to give rights to “freed people”. Although many efforts were made, reconstruction inevitably failed to achieve its goal of equalizing freed people and whites. One shortcoming of reconstruction was the lack of political equality for the freedmen. An example of this is the literacy test that freed people had to complete to vote.
History has a way of repeating itself. We are part of a world where equal rights are still being debated today. During the Reconstruction era from 1865-1877, there were many attempts made to rebuild and restore the remnants left by the Civil War. At the forefront of Reconstruction was the main priority of eradicating slavery. This was accomplished initially by the 13th Amendment, with the 14th Amendment naturalizing all citizens, regardless of race and the 15th Amendment extending the right to vote to all African Americans. This amendment gave all African Americans a political platform and allowed them the ability to vote for fellow African Americans into political office. They also had some amount of social services that were provided by the
After the Civil War the Reconstruction Era occurred in the southern United States. The Reconstruction Era deeply impacted the south in a negative way for minority. African American were unjustly treated by the white Americans, their rights were limited and or taken away. As a result, they fought hard to obtain equal treatment as citizens. Blacks tried to fight segregation in many ways like at the ballot boxes, in the courtrooms, and through organizations like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th and 15th, which gave African Americans the status
The Reconstruction was the historical period after the Civil War where the United States was rebuilding itself. This time period lasted approximately twelve years from 1865-1877. The Reconstruction was when the Union was allowing the South to come back. The North or the Union had one main condition for re-admittance; the South had to at least have ten percent of the voting population take an oath of allegiance to the Union (Wormser). For many Americans the Reconstruction was a time of “great pain and endless questions” (U.S. History). President Abraham Lincoln and the Radical Republicans had a different approach for the Reconstruction. President Lincoln and the Radical Republicans had different goals, views on slavery, plans for Southern land,
The reconstruction Era is the time after the civil war when we started to form ourselves as a complete united country. The civil war ended in April of 1865, and Abraham Lincoln was sadly assassinated less than a week later. Reconstruction was Lincoln’s idea, and he was largely anti-slavery, so his plan for reconstruction involved all states to draft new state constitutions that completely abolished slavery. It was his ultimate goal to reunited our nation after the war. Unfortunately, after his death, Lincoln’s vice president, Andrew Johnson, took over, and introduced a different plan for reconstruction. He said that states had to take a vow to abolish slavery before they could be readmitted into the nation, but after that, horrible black codes