Success And Failure Of Reconstruction After The Civil War

Makenzie Tuttle

Crews

APUSH

10 December 2014

Civil War Essay

As the Civil War drew to an end in 1865, plans were being made for the economic, social, and political reconstruction of a region that faced war and many years of racism. It was a time in which the United States would put the broken pieces back together and the Southern states would rejoin the Union. Reconstruction involved many political leaders, goals, and accomplishments. Its outcome can be argued as both a success and failure.

The separation of the Union and Southern states lasted four years before becoming one again. Abraham Lincoln had his own idea of Reconstruction. To rejoin, a state had to have 10% of voters commit loyalty to the Union and recognize the Thirteenth Amendment.

In addition, high ranking officers of the state could not hold office or carry out voting rights unless the president gave permission. With Lincoln’s assassination, his exact plan was never put into place but Andrew Johnson, a Radical Republican, had a plan that closely related to Lincoln’s. Johnson’s plan required that a majority of a Southern states electorate must swear allegiance to the Union while Lincoln’s plan only called for 10% requirement. The Confederacy was destroyed for good and all Southern states that had seceded were readmitted to the Union. This was a start to success.
The federal government proscribed slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment.

Following this, freedmen had different reactions to their freedoms. Many fled from their masters and when they did, the Freedman’s Bureau helped them transition from slave life to a free life providing them with food, shelter, and clothing. Education was also another success that was provided by the Freedman’s Bureau. All were eligible and many in the south were forced to be educated. Through the Fourteenth Amendment, freedmen received the right to citizenship along with the rule that protected all Americans under the law. The Fifteenth Amendment was also adopted, gave African American men the right to suffrage. Congress passed the Electoral Count Act in 1877 to establish a special committee that would recount the votes between Democrat, Samuel J. Tilden and Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes. Democrats were upset with this until they realized they could strike a bargain with the opposition to complete political objectives. The Compromise of 1877 resulted in the agreement between Democrats and Republicans to let Hayes become President in exchange that all federal troops be removed from the south. This removal led to a downward spiral for

Reconstruction.
In the grand scheme, Reconstruction was a success but a failure in precise ways.

With Hayes’s removal of troops from the south, it left the freed blacks without protection, therefore many former Confederates and slave owners were able to regain power which led to the return of the policy of the old South. When former Confederates regained their right to vote, Redeemers won public offices and began to undo social and economic reforms. Southern politicians passed the Black Codes that would restrict how a freedman should live their life such as when one could meet with friends. Politicians also allowed the sharecropping system and tenant farming to continue. High interest rates, unpredictable harvests, and dishonest landlords often kept the tenant farmers in debt that carried over, year after year. Other complications, such as who got what, were brought on because laws made it very hard and sometime even illegal, for sharecroppers to sell their crops to anyone besides their landlords. Reconstruction also left numerous in poverty because many white Southerners had lost their lands, leaving them and the newly freed blacks without economic opportunities. This trapped many in a circle of deficiency. Eventually the Northerners became tired of fighting for Reconstruction. Majority of blacks were still missing resources, education and social standings. Reconstruction had ended at this

point.
Although Reconstruction is argued as both a success and failure, it was a step in the right direction. It was a success with many flaws. The nation was restored and slavery was put to an end forever, Southern whites still managed to regain power and restrict black Americans. African Americans would continue to face a long lasting struggle for true equality.