Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

After the ending of one of the savage war in American history: the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era was just around the corner with the introduction of new goal set for the American society. The Reconstruction Era is described as an era of turbulence in which there was an attempt but failure was victorious. There were few goals that the Reconstruction had. The first was to transform or reconstruct the South, the second was to strengthen and pass down laws, which will aid freemen, and lastly was to restore the Union back again.
By late 1863, President Lincoln set his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in which it agreed pardon to Southern states if they are willing to swear a loyalty oath. However, Southern states would also have to

agree to the abolition of slavery. Lincoln’s proclamation angered Radical Republicans, which thought Lincoln should set a harsher sentence for Southern. Unfortunately, President Lincoln assassinated in April 14, 1865, which caused Andrew Johnson to become President and take over the Reconstruction Era. However, Johnson’s reconstruction plan restored property rights to Southerners that swore an oath of loyalty, the only problem was that in his reconstruction plan he did not address any aids towards civil rights or voting rights of former slaves and freedmen.
Although such problem arose with the well-known racist President Andrew Johnson, Congress passed down a few progressive laws and amendments, which benefited and protected African Americans.

Amendments and laws such as the Thirteenth Amendment passed on 1865 prohibited slavery in the U.S. The fourteenth Amendment with the Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship to anyone regardless of race born the U.S. The Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 that allowed American men to vote regardless of race, and Civil Rights Act of 1875, which attempted to banned mistreatment, discrimination, and racism against blacks. Thankfully, we still possess these amendments nowadays, which have helped strengthen our rights. Unfortunately, there has been dispute about the Civil Right Act of 1866 along with the Fourteenth Amendment, for politicians are in dispute over American- born children with undocumented immigrant

parents.
Moreover, in order to set a limit to Johnson’s power, Congressed passed down some laws. One of these being the Tenure of Office Act in which it ensures that the president would need to appoint with the Senate in order to remove an officeholder and the Senate would have to agree. However, Johnson violated this Act and was able to escape charge of crime by one vote. With the widespread of violence across the Nation and an amount of Northers whom retreated from the idea of an equality state, the Reconstruction Era was soon to be doomed. The Ku Klux Klan emerged to terrorize African Americans and began a campaign of murder. It was not truly over until President Rutherford B. Hayes assumed office in 1876 and the following year ordering the withdraw of federal troops in the South.
The Reconstruction Era was a mixed achievement, with certain downturns and awesome laws left for future generations to come.

By the end of this ere, the North and the South were once again reunited. Northerners were tired of the Reconstruction and were becoming uninterested in the recent violations of civil rights of African Americans. Liked previously mentioned, this era was an attempt to become something great but fail in doing so. It promised Blacks rights that would be granted almost a century later. An era that although failure was present it left Americans believes about the kind of America we would like to

be.

Bibliography

• Foner, Eric. "Why Reconstruction Matters." The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2015. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/opinion/sunday/why-reconstruction-matters.html?_r=1.

• Faragher, John Mack, and Mari Jo Buhle. "Chapter 17/Reconstruction." Out of Many: A history of the American People. Sixth ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Pearson, n.d. (413-37). Print.

• "Opinion | Five myths about Reconstruction." The Washington Post. WP Company, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-reconstruction/2016/01/21/0719b324-bfc5-11e5-83d4-42e3bceea902_story.html?utm_term=.ba538b618f09.

• Crashcourse. Reconstruction and 1876: Crash Course US History #22YouTube, 18 July 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nowsS7pMApI.

• Selcer, Richard F. Civil War America, 1850 to 1875. New York: Facts On File, 2006. Print.