Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure

518 Words2 Pages

With America in jeopardy and suffering from a strict economic depression, a solution had to be created. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln there was dispute over the election of 1876 and then the Compromise of 1877 was created. This was informal, unwritten agreement made by the members of Congress that ended the era of Reconstruction. After much debate and many votes received, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes beat out Samuel J. Tilden and became President of the United States. Since the compromise took effect before Hayes was sworn in, Republican Ulysses S. Grant removed the soldiers from Florida. As soon as Hayes entered office, he withdrew the rest of the remaining soldiers from South Carolina and Louisiana. An important clause in the compromise was called the home-rule. This made Republicans agree to cease from creating conflict in the South’s local affairs. Originally, Hayes supported Reconstruction until he came to believe that this was creating more and more hatred within the southern people. Southern Democrats did not necessarily carry out their promise, which resulted in complete denial of rights for blacks, including the right to vote for nearly a century. Consequently, The compromise marked the end of the Republican Party’s support of civil …show more content…

Many were tired of the Reconstruction that lead to the loss of interest in supporting black civil rights. Changes within the political powers appeared to be useless as many Radical Republicans passed through Congress. The Republican Party deserted their remainder of their support for equal rights for African Americans. Because of this, many African Americans viewed the Reconstruction a failure due to the fact the Federal government withdrew from enforcing their ability to exercise their rights. All through the 1890’s, African Americans in some areas of the South continued to serve and vote within the government

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