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Historical interpretations on the reconstruction period
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The Civil War was at most one of the darkest hours in United States history. Bloodshed and loss quaked the land of our forefathers in a way we could not imagine. In the wake of the battles, the Union forces found new hope in their victories and came out on top in the victory of the war. In the hope to reconstruct the United States Abraham Lincoln proceeded with the new idea of reconstruction. The main idea was to give the freed slaves more rights and try to condone for the sins of the past and present. This was a short-lived initial plan, as the hopes and plans changed when Andrew Johnson took to presidency. His views of reconstruction conflicted towards the reconstruction, and the plan soon was updated to fit the new president’s beliefs. The …show more content…
During my earlier education, I was taught that the Reconstruction was set in place to make the United states once more a whole. The Reconstruction alleviated the rights from all ex-confederate soldiers in various ways. The right to vote, to being able to bear arms. My earlier knowledge was very limited, there was a plethora amount of information taught towards the subject, but did not tell the story in an entirety. A lot of my previous learnings still apply in correlation to the newly broadened learning towards the post-Civil War events. The differences between the learnings of my past to the present is that the Reconstruction was more dark and unfathomable compared to that of what I had previously learned. In an entirety, the reconstruction was intended …show more content…
The main purpose in the gain of civil rights in many activist’s mindsets is that they would acquire more votes if they were to blacks the right to vote. With the ratification of the 14th Amendment, this was proven true and the republicans gained more supporting votes due to this. The Civil Rights movement was not only limited to the black community, it sparked the ever going fire in the hearts of many women to acquire this right. By comparing the knowledge that I had gained through my earlier teachings to that of what I have learned now regarding the Reconstruction it is easy to understand why this would not want to be taught to many students of this era. This was considered one of the darkest hours in American history. The reconstruction did not live up to its name, many believe that it was only a continuation of the war. the casualties grew and new found associations were born out of the aftermath and still never died after they supposedly
The most critical issue raised by the North’s victory was the South acceptance of transition of freedom for former slaves. Since most of southern whites did not agree with the idea of freedmen, they created several ways to foreclose the blacks to exercise their rights. The South utilized dirty tactics to preserve the idea of slavery, such as laws as the black codes, lynching and other violent ways promoted by groups known as Ku Klux Klan.
The thesis “The New View of Reconstruction”, Eric Foner reviews the constantly changing view on the subject of the Reconstruction. The postwar Reconstruction period has been viewed in many different lights throughout history but one fact remains true, that it was one of the most “violent, dramatic and controversial” times in US’s history (224). In the beginning of his thesis, Eric Foner talks about the way the Reconstruction was though as before the 1960 as a period of intense, corruption and manipulation of the freedman. After mentioning the old way of thinking before the 1960’s, Eric Foner reveals the reason for this train of thought, the ignored testimonials of the black freedman.
In the book The Reconstruction there were three main ideas that the North wanted to address during the reconstruction after the disaster caused by the Civil War. The first act brought to motion was the restoration of the Union in which Abraham Lincoln created the Ten-Percent Plan. The Ten-Percent Plan meant that each Southern state would be each allowed back to the Union only after 10 percent of the voting population pledged their future loyalty to the United States, also all Confederates excluding high-ranking government and military officials would be forgiven although Radical Republicans wanted it to be 50 percent of the voting population to pledge loyalty to the United States. President Lincoln and Andrew Jackson as well as congress agreed that the Southern states had to get rid of all slavery in their new st...
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
After the war, President Abraham Lincoln’s main goal was to reunite the nation, restore, and heal the wounds that the aftermath of the Civil war had left behind. Many northerners were against the proposal that he made, to just let the south come back as they pleased because they thought it was unfair to not receive any kind of punishment for le...
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.
Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.
Even before the war ended, President Lincoln started to think about reconstruction because he already thought about how the war would end. He wanted to build a strong Republic in the South. To end the war, he made a proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction for those areas of the Confederacy were ere was ran by Union armies. What Lincoln did was when ten percent of the population would sign a loyalty oath, he would reinstate that state into the union. In order to get this ten percent he wanted the knowledgeable blacks to vote. Voters the were able to elect delegates to give changed state constitutions and create new state governments. All southerners except for high line Confederate army officers and government officials were granted full amnesty. Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property which excl...
In fact, the whole idea of "reconstruction" was in fact "deconstruction". Reconstruction was not to "heal the nation's wounds," or to economically revitalize the South (which it did not). Indeed, Reconstruction was economically destructive to the South. The purpose was to continue the economic plundering of the Southern states for as long as possible, and to establish a national Republican party political monopoly.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” These famous words from Abraham Lincoln speak true to America during the Reconstruction of the South. After winning the Civil War, the North wanted to help repair the war torn cities and farms in the South that were left from the war. This happened when the Reconstruction Acts of 1866 were passed because of Congress overriding President Andrew Johnson’s vetoes. Reconstruction is the rebuilding of the South and what to do with the former slaves. The North killed Reconstruction because of the President Grant’s corruption and the Panic of the 1873.
His goal was to rebuild the South peacefully and quickly rather than punish the South. President Lincoln wanted to help the South and its folks. He wanted to abolish slavery. He made the abolishment of slavery possible by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was the executive order and document that freed all African-American slaves in Confederate states. With this document, President Lincoln announced that any African-American slave that was fit condition to fight could be accepted into the Union Army. This statement made it possible for African-American slaves to have a chance to fight for their freedom. President Lincoln’s opinion on political power was to leave the South alone and let them vote. He did not want to penalize the South, he wanted to help them. With this in mind, he planned to give the South back the land that they had lost to the Union Army; as well as keep the Southern lifestyle similar to what it was before. The few chances that Lincoln made were the establishment to free the African-American slaves and the unison of the North and
After a bloody Civil War, the Union arose less enthralled than expected. It was now time to clean up the mess coming forth from 624,000 casualties. Reconstruction, occurring from 1865 to 1877, was a challenge. President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson, and Congress had devised plans, but none were able to be agreed upon. The radical views of the Senate were viewed as too harsh for the two mellow Presidents. Attempts were made at industrializing the previously dilapidated South, but the defiance of the South remained. Reconstruction proved to be a failure because racial violence broke out, Laws endangering Africans’ rights were created, and Southern Economy remained hurt.
The progress of civil rights throughout history was a difficult one. There were limitation nonwhites faced and what was done to take a stand against it. There were numerous failures and obstacles that had to be overcome in order to get to the place we are today. During the “Second Reconstruction”, which lasted from the end of the WWII till the 1960s, there were vital elements that led to progressive change. Among these were the actions of the president, the courts, congress, and most importantly the people.
Reconstruction after the United States Civil War was a substantial failure. This time period was supposed to be an era of positive reform and improved civil liberties yet was plagued with corruption and lack of steady change overall.
Reconstruction was a time of major change for African Americans. This included economic, social, and political progress. Reconstruction was beneficial to everyone, even though African Americans were the ones who benefitted the most. A public school system was established to give equal education to all children, no matter their age, race, or color. The Southern economy had to be rebuilt after the Civil War. An interracial democracy was introduced into politics. People have said Reconstruction is responsible for reuniting the United States. For the first time in our history, African Americans felt like they were wanted and had a purpose in the United States.