Reconstruction was in many ways a failed attempt at rebuilding America. The aftershocks of this era will have lasting effects on the American society for centuries to come. This period was intended to stitch America back together after the ravages of the Civil War. U.S. History describes it as: “although the military conflict had ended, Reconstruction was in many ways still a war” (“Reconstruction”). Instead of uniting again, this time period drove the North and the South further apart. The North sought liberation and equality for the former slaves, whereas the South so desperately clung to their way of life where African Americans were just the dirt on the bottom of a shoe. It has taken centuries to make everyone equal. We all may be equal …show more content…
by law today, but that does not mean that people see each other as the same. The Reconstruction era had a profound and lasting impact on the American government and society by the abolition of slavery, a poorly implemented plan, and Civil Rights acts. To begin, the abolition of slavery affected the American society. At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in the United States of America. Because of this groundbreaking step towards equality, a revolution was sure to follow as slaves are now free and do not belong to anyone but themselves. In addition to this, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were all ratified following the Civil War. These amendments “formally abolished slavery, … prohibited states from depriving any male citizen of equal protection, … [and] granted the right to vote to African American males” (“Reconstruction”). These acts of legislation made it appear that minorities, such as African Americans, might actually become equal to everyone else in society. However, white male land owners did not want to give up the idea of white supremacy, so actions were taken to prevent the advancement of African Americans by any means necessary. Many southern states “enacted a series of laws known as the “black codes”, which were designed to restrict a black’s activity and ensure their availability as a labor force” (History.com Staff “Reconstruction” 2009). Examples of these black codes included things like not allowing blacks to meet in a group in the presence of a white person and all blacks had to be employed. As if this was not enough, a group of Confederate veterans founded the Ku Klux Klan, a group of white men that “engaged in terrorist raids against African Americans… at night” in order to keep social structure in the South (History.com Staff “KKK Founded” 2010). The codes and the Klan have left a permanent stain on the American society. Minorities are still fighting for equality, and there are still people, like the Ku Klux Klan, who are trying to push them back. African Americans are still seen as the lowest on the totem pole by some people today. Next, a poorly implemented plan originally intended to assist the victims of slavery impacted the American governmental system. From 1865 to 1867, a period known as Presidential Reconstruction occurred (“Reconstruction”). Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln’s successor, proposed a policy for Reconstruction, but was not very strict when it came to enforcing it. He gave the Southern state governments free reign to choose how they wanted to rebuild themselves. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Because of this leniency, the black codes were enacted. If it were not for his strong belief in state’s rights and made a plan that was heavily enforced, the black codes might not have been invented, and racial segregation might have never happened. Johnson quickly lost popularity as he vetoed civil rights bills aimed at helping the African Americans in the South. As a result of that, “recently freed blacks found the postwar South very similar to the prewar South” (“Reconstruction”). It seemed as though there was no more hope for them. Even now, it seems as though it is impossible to get to the place where people see beyond skin color, and see people as they really are. Andrew Johnson proved that he was not looking out for the advancement of the minority because after he “vetoed the bills-causing a permanent rupture in his relationship with congress that would culminate in his impeachment in 1868- the Civil Rights Act became the first major bill to become law over presidential veto” (History.com Staff “Reconstruction” 2010). Ultimately, he was impeached, and Ulysses S. Grant became the next President of the United States. Grant “took aim at the Klan and others who attempted to interfere with black suffrage and other political rights” (History.com Staff “Reconstruction” 2010). Things were finally turning around for people of color, and justice was getting served to the right people. Nonetheless, it was short-lived and white supremacy took over once more. Looking back in history, it is easy to see why only 19% of Americans today trust in their government (Fingerhut 2015). Presidential candidates always promise to fix a social issue, but they are never able to fully solve the problem. It is difficult to picture a world where a President will live out their promises made during his or her campaign; very few individuals actually believe they will. Lastly, the largest impact to the governmental system and society is the implementation of numerous Civil Rights acts.
More specifically, the pieces of legislation that came from the Reconstruction era. Immediately following the Civil War, “the Freedmen’s Bureau was established… by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South…[by] providing food, housing and medical aid, establishing schools, and offering legal assistance” (History.com Staff “Freedmen’s Bureau” 2010). The bureau was aimed at helping former slaves get on their feet and make a life for themselves. However, it was very difficult for the Bureau to accomplish housing because “most of the confiscated or abandoned Confederate land was eventually restored to the original owners” (History.com Staff “Freedmen’s Bureau 2010). The owners did not want to give their land to African Americans, so the Freedmen’s Bureau had a challenging time trying to help them with housing, ultimately holding back their advancement. The Freedmen’s Bureau was supposed to make everything better, and they were trying their hardest, but most of the South still believed that they were not good enough to be a recognized part of society. Decades of civil unrest, Supreme Court cases, and civil rights acts once again leaves African Americans at the bottom of the metaphorical totem pole. As an apology for poor treatment in years past, legislation was passed so that African Americans today cannot be discriminated against in terms …show more content…
of employment and education opportunities. This is known as affirmative action, and it was a wonderful Executive order that was passed because of its benefits. The National Conference of State Legislatures states that “graduates who benefited from affirmative action programs say that they have received better jobs, earned more money, and ultimately are living better lives because of the opportunity they received” (Hultin 2014). Since it is illegal for colleges and employers to turn people of color away, their lives are actually improving because of it. In turn, it finally gives an African American the ability to move up in the world. In summary, Reconstruction was a turning point for America because slaves were now free people, and everyone else was afraid of what might happen.
There were so many freed slaves in the South that they outnumbered the whites. Fear can lead humans to do desperate things, so people were treated horribly for the sake of white supremacy. It is so depressing to see the way people thought back then. They believed that people with a skin color other than white were not accepted into the American society, and never would be. This has stood the test of time, and it is still an issue we battle with today. The lasting impact that minorities face today is a weird look when walking by someone because that person thinks they might steal something, complete shock when someone learns that they have a college education, and any kind of stereotype that anyone could ever think of. As a society, we are nowhere near as accepting and openminded as we think we are. There are plenty of people who believe in the year 2017 that interracial couples should not marry and bear children. This is not something that we are open about, and to be frank, we seem to be content about where we are and do not think it needs any changing. All of this ultimately stems from the slavery of African Americans, but the Reconstruction era made it okay for people who look different than everyone else to be treated like dirt. In order for everyone to be truly equal, life needs to be in black and white. Race does not matter,
ethnicity does not matter, and place of origin does not matter. The influence of the Reconstruction era has made the nation see with lenses that profile unique people and transform them into something they are not.
Reconstruction was a nasty period in History. Reconstruction took place after the civil war. In the civil war there was lots of devastation. Buildings and houses were being destroyed so people needed something called Reconstruction. Reconstruction was something people really needed after the civil war because they needed to rebuild a community. Some people didn't want reconstruction because they liked destruction. Then also after the civil war slavery was abolished, as well some people don't like that either. South killed Reconstruction because South resistance had KKK, and South was murdering people.
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana stated what happens if we do not learn from our past. After the Civil War the United States wanted to build itself back up. The nation was in rubble because half of the country was fighting the other. That left it in a sad and fallen state. The issue of slavery was a long debated topic. They thought they could get over this and start anew. Reconstruction means the actions or process of rebuilding what has been damaged or destroyed. Did the North or the South kill Reconstruction? That issue is still up for debate. In my opinion, the South killed Reconstruction and stopped it dead in its tracks. The South did not respect the African American’s right to vote and would terrorize
“The best way to predict your future is to create it” (Lincoln). President states the principal of Reconstruction, where to unite the United States, there must be an authoritative action to carry it out. The Reconstruction Era (1863-1877) is a period where Lincoln sought to restore the divided nation by uniting the confederates and the union and to involve the freedmen into the American society. The main objectives were to initially restore the union, to rebuild the South and to enact progressive legislation for the rights of the freed slaves. Thus, the executive and legislature branches had enacted a series of polices to “create the future” for the United States. Although the policies tied down to the Reconstructive motive, there was controversy
However, an America like the one before the war would not come together quite so easily. A nation that had full equality for both blacks and whites has taken 100 years for us to achieve, if we have even achieved that yet. Even though the politicians of the day agreed on the need of Reconstruction, their ideas of how to accomplish it were vastly different. Just because one was against slavery did not necessarily mean that one was pro-African-American. Now that the slaves were free, the problem of their liberties and rights became an issue.
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African American people, instead, it actually hurt them because the laws were not enforced, and eventually lead to the organization of white supremacy terrorist groups.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
The United States had a presidential and congressional reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure, a great attempt to unify the nation. It was a failure due to the events that took place during this period. It was 1865, black men were tasting freedom, the confederation was defeated, the south was defeated, but the unchained blacks had no real freedom. " A man maybe free and yet not independent," Mississippi planter Samuel Agnew observed in his diary (Foner 481).
The Reconstruction was undoubtedly a failure. The political and social aim of Reconstruction was to form national unity as well as create civil rights and equality for African Americans. Even though Reconstruction laid the foundation for equal rights in the United States, it did not achieve its primary goals. In the time of Reconstruction, many African Americans still felt the effects of oppression and many were still trapped in an undesirable social and economic class. The Reconstruction was an overall fail despite the fact that it was the shaky groundwork for a fight for equality in the years to come.
As a country, America has gone through many political changes throughout her lifetime. Leaders have come and gone, all of them having different objectives and plans for the future. As history takes its course, though, most all of these “revolutionary movements” come to an end. One such movement was Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time period in America consisting of many leaders, goals and accomplishments. Though, like all things in life, it did come to an end, the resulting outcome has been labeled both a success and a failure. When Reconstruction began in 1865, a broken America had just finished fighting the Civil War. In all respects, Reconstruction was mainly just that. It was a time period of “putting back the pieces”, as people
Reconstruction has been brutally murdered! For a little over a decade after the Civil War, the victorious North launched a campaign of social, economic, and political recovery in South. Martial law was also implemented in the South. Eventually, the North hoped to admit the territory in the former Confederacy back into the United States as states. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments freed the African Americans, made them citizens, and gave them the right to vote. Despite this, Reconstruction was unfortunately cut short in 1877. The North killed Recosntruction because of racism, negligence, and distractions.
... and slavery left millions of newly freed African Americans in the South without an education, a home, or a job. Before reconstruction was put in place, African Americans in the South were left roaming helplessly and hopelessly. During the reconstruction period, the African Americans’ situation did not get much better. Although helped by the government, African Americans were faced with a new problem. African Americans in the South were now being terrorized and violently discriminated by nativist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Such groups formed in backlash to Reconstruction and canceled out all the positive factors of Reconstruction. At last, after the Compromise of 1877, the military was taken out of the South and all of the Reconstruction’s efforts were basically for nothing. African Americans in the South were back to the conditions they started with.
America has gone through many different struggles and positive changes. There have been so many different revolutionary moments in America. One of these revolutionary moments was Reconstruction after the civil war. Reconstruction had different periods such as Emancipation and Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction, Radical Reconstruction, and the Compromise of 1877. The period of Reconstruction had many goals and accomplishments. Reconstruction did come to an end and just like most revolutionary moments in history Reconstruction was labeled both a success and a failure. Though human equality was the main goal of the Reconstruction period in the South after the Civil War, it proved to be an attempted
As a nation, America has faced some troublesome times through her life span. As history goes on, people never forget about the Reconstruction era. Reconstruction was refers to the efforts made in the United State between 1865 and 1877. As the saying goes, ¨All good things must come to an end¨ which is exactly the case. The reputation Reconstruction has is labeled both a success and a failure.
On one hand the slaves were free, and on the other hand they were not given equal rights, and they were discriminated for the color of their skin tone. In other words, Reconstruction was a mixed success, which combined both positive and negative impacts. By the end of the era, the North and South were once again reunited, and all southern state legislatures had abolished slavery in their constitutions. However, it some sense, Reconstruction was a failure because blacks were not provided equal rights and opportunities. Racism and segregation did not end at all. On the other hand, there was a huge change to the country as the US was completely in a chaos stage during the civil war. Despite some obstructions, it can be concluded that the Reconstruction was somewhat beneficial for African American. As time passes, many schools and colleges were founded for blacks, and many other doors were opened to uplift their life. Overall, all these outcomes can be considered as a huge
When Reconstruction began in 1865, a broken America had just finished fighting the Civil War. In all respects, Reconstruction was mainly just that. It was a time period of “putting back the pieces”, as people say. It was the point where America attempted to become a full running country once more. This, though, was not an easy task. The memory of massive death was still in the front of everyone’s mind, hardening into resentment and sometimes even hatred. The south was virtually non-existent politically or economically, and searching desperately for a way back in. Along with these things, now living amongst the population were almost