Sabeena Jagdeo Wealth, Superiority, and Segregation The post-reconstruction period in the United States was a time of advancement, and modernization. Industrialization, imperialism, and the progressive era were taking place, along with some more negative issues like, Jim Crow laws, and the continuing Native American conflict. It was a time where wealth and superiority were segregating the American people. The superior Americans, and the government were taking advantage of their fellow Americans, and were doing what was best for them, not what was best for all in the American community. The country was advancing, and was “destined soon to out-distance all others in the race”(Carnegie) in the eyes of the world, but in the American communities, …show more content…
Americans were being separated everyday due to wealth and the idea that certain people were “superior” to others. Some may look at the words wealth, and superiority, and may only think about the white, and African American relationships in the United States.
However, this was not the only case of segregation during this era. Segregation also occurred in the Native American, and immigrant communities, and as well, within the growing American business world. Segregation in United States history has always centered around whites, and African Americans, but the truth is segregation was occurring amongst many different groups in American society during the post-Reconstruction period. One of the groups who were continuing to separate rather than unite during this period was the Native and the whites. White Americans, and the government forced the Native Americans to leave their societies, and live on reservations, instead of being a part of the main American community, so …show more content…
that, they could advance “their” country, without the Native Americans being a threat or disturbance. One action that took part in destroying the unity between the two groups was the transcontinental railroad. It had been running since the Civil War, and was now contributing to American society greatly. The railroad helped Americans, and their possessions reach destinations around the country faster than they ever could before, but in the eyes of Native Americans, the railroad was destroying their communities. At this time they felt that “there way of life, will be first obscured, and then will vanish” (West) by the advancement of the railroads. White Americans were advancing their country, but did not think about the people living there before them. They were willing to look over anything in order to develop a strong and powerful country. White Americans wanted all the wealth, and power to themselves. During this time they believed that they were the superior race, and that everything should be run through them. By having these ideas in place, white Americans created more separation with the Natives because they did not feel equal to them. Rather than, fixing the damage that they inflicted on the Native communities, whites pushed them aside so that, they would create a better society for themselves. In the end, all they cared about was themselves, and by being selfish they established segregation between the two groups. The other major race that suffered during this time was African Americans. They had previously been released from slavery, but now they were facing social injustice. Jim Crow laws, were formed, which created stereotypes about blacks being inferior to the white race once again. White bathrooms, and water fountains were constructed along with separation in schools between the races. African Americans “were denied the most basic freedom that democracy promises”(Alexander) under these laws. Everywhere people went separation was found between the whites, and blacks. By creating these laws the American government set the process for the unity of the races backwards. People did not have the opportunity to unite because they were bound by law to be separated. This era created separation of the races, from the very beginning. THe government, and white Americans were only concerned about their well-being, and therefore, separated themselves from anyone, and anything that they felt would harm their well-being. Another substantial aspect of the post-reconstruction era was imperialism. Throughout this time the United States took part in the Spanish-American war, and had the essential decision of whether they should take foreign lands under their control, or let them be self-governed, or be under another foreign countries rule. In the end, the United States decided that they would take the foreign countries like the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, among others under their control. Although this was good for the American government, and their trade around the world, it had negative impacts in the American communities. The American people already had many issues of their own dealing with the current race problems with Native Americans and African Americans. Even outside of the United States “black soldiers in the Philippines were subjected to the same discrimination.” Adding another ethnicity into the mix who were not considered to be traditional “Americans” only added to the division among the American people. Americans were already separated during this time, and controlling other nations only added to the heartache. America could not find unity in their own country, and the idea of imperialism only constructed new ideas of separation. Conjunctly, with adding more dilemmas to the American society, imperialism also brought in new ideas like social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is considered to be “survival of the fittest”. Those who are “fit” to survive will, and the rest will die off. During this period, social Darwinism followers believed “that the success of western Europeans was a result of their being more suited to positions of power than other races and cultures.” This concept only furthered the division between the races. It made the white Americans feel like they were superior, and better than all other Americans. It gave them more power in the American society, and widened the gap of equality between the whites, and all other races in the United States. Andrew Carnegie claimed that “the rapid advancement of this branch of the British race, is the superiority of the conditions under which it has developed.” By being from European descent white Americans were perceived to be superior to all others in the country. With these ideas put in place by imperialism, white Americans were able to rule the country, and all other races in it because they felt like they were superior, and more fit to govern the nation. By feeling superior to others the whites segregated themselves from the rest of the community, and aided the division in the country. However, segregation did not only happen between races in post-reconstruction America. Industrialization was also becoming a considerable factor in American society, and by doing so it was creating a new class of Americans. A class that was wealthier and more privileged than the average Americans. Business owners like Rockefeller, and Carnegie dominated entire industries, leaving no room for ordinary Americans to succeed. All they cared about was themselves, and their growing wealth. Business owners stepped over average Americans, in order to ensure their security in the higher class. Furthermore, to ensure that they would gain the most out of their small relationship with the average Americans, they provided poor working conditions for them in their industries. The provided minimum wage, along with hazardous working conditions which could be fatal. They did little for the American people, and more for themselves creating a superior class. John D. Rockefeller even proclaimed “hope we can continue to hold out with the best illuminator in the world at the lowest price.” This demonstrates the true feelings of the business owners. All they cared about was their companies wealth. They were now superior to the average American, and only cared about protecting, and maintaining their position in the higher class. By doing this they created a superior class which separated themselves intentionally from the rest of the American community, during this era. Business owners did what benefited themselves, and broke the chance for unity of the American people by doing so. The post-reconstruction period in the United States was also considered the progressive era.
The progressive era in America was a time of fear and conservatism. Progressives wanted to conserve what was already in place, by changing it a little so that, the previous values would remain in place. By trying to do this, progressives created issues such as poor working conditions and child labor, during industrialization, along with, racism, classism, and many other things during all aspects of the period. The progressive era had many other issues, but these are a few which impacted the segregation of the American people the most. The progressives essentially created all the issues between the different groups in American society. They progressed to the idea of racism, forcing the blacks to continue to be segregated from the whites, and were also anti-immigrant, creating problems with American imperialism in order to preserve the ideas of the past. Progressives also enforced the idea of classicism, which again affected industrialization, and the different races in the American community. The gap between rich and poor started to widen during this time as business owners became wealthier, and most others were “struggling to get by as wage laborers” (Bacon). The progressives helped segregate the American community during this time, in order to preserve the American values already put in place by their
predecessors. To many people thought this period in American history was going to be about a“ promise that blacks would not only rise up in status but be included in the nation's civic life. It opened new avenues for the working man to improve his station by starting his own business, or by moving out west to work his own farm. And it set forth the ideal that for the first time in the nation's history, rather than allowing disenfranchised slaves to count toward a given state's representation in the federal government … , each man would be accorded a single vote” (Bacon). However, it was entirely the opposite of these dreams. From the beginning to the end, Americans were segregated from each other, without a chance to unite as one, and be equal. Like Michelle Alexander said, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” During this time yes, America became modern. They were growing, and becoming more powerful, but in the inner-American communities things took a turn for the worse. Segregation was taking place among races, nu also within them, as the the gap between the rich and poor widened. Every aspect of the American society was starting to separate during this time because of wealth, and superiority. Ultimately the American community separated during this period because Americans learned to care more about themselves, and less about their nation as a whole.
Reconstruction could be considered one of the largest projects ever undertaken. The mess that was the south, left in the ruins of a bloody war, called for drastic measures. The inquisition that begs to be asked is whether or not this venture was a success. Unfortunately the answer isn't as simple as "yes" or "no". Although many promises were broken, the much-debated goals of Reconstruction are still present in the minds of today's leaders as we continue to rebuild our country.
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.
During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them.
What role(s) did African Americans play in achieving the "rights" outlined in this document by the late 1870s?
Decline of the Second Reconstruction The Second Reconstruction is broadly defined as the time period in America after the passing of the Civil rights act of 1964, which brought about the necessity for an efficient transition into racial and sociopolitical equality. During the following years this was not achieved and several movements were constituted that attempted to bring this wish into reality through enthusiastic albeit unsuccessful political, social and cultural actions. The following is a chronological narrative and sociopolitical analysis of those attempts. Prelude: Nixon Administration and the Suppression of a Revolution In the late 1960’s American politics were shifting at a National level with liberalism being less supported as its politics were perceived as flawed, both by people on the left who thought that liberalism was not as effective as more radical political enterprises and by conservatives who believed that liberal politics were ostensibly crippling the American economy.
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
By the time period of 1900-1920 America was almost fully industrialized. At this time, America was going through a Gilded Age where everything looked good on the outer perspective however on the inside, there were many issues within society. The Progressive Era consisted of people who wanted to reform society politically, socially, and economically. Progressive reformers and the federal government were successful in bringing about reform at the national level by gaining some women's rights as well as African Americans trying to better their reputation in society, improving working conditions, and fixing the American economy.
... 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.
Bruce Catton made the statement that when the two sides of the nation went to war they destroyed one America, inventing another, which is still forming in the present. The war changed the political aspect of the country expanding the federal government. While local state governments still exist in the present, its power had, is much more restricted than what it was in the pre-war years. Such examples like the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were passed during Reconstruction; they showed the power that the federal government had in post-war America. Though the amendments promised voting rights and anti-discrimination laws towards African Americans, the federal government forced the Southern States to accept these amendments amongst other regulations to become part of the Union, showing the true power that the government had over the nation and the states. Society and the economy of the nation were have affected the South though farming and sharecropping still existed, life like that of the Antebellum years was over, leading to industrialization to begin to take place in the South. Such social issues as racism still affect and affected the nation well into the mid-twentieth century with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, which saw its main emphases of events in the 1950s and
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
Reformers known as Progressives attempted to undo the problems caused by industrialization. The Progressive movement sought to end the influence of large corporations, provide more rights and benefits to workers, and end the control possessed by party leaders. At the national level, Progressivism centered on defeating the power of large businesses. The Progressive Era was a period in American history in which improving working conditions, exposing corruption, improving the way of life, expanding democracy, and making reforms were the objectives at hand. With the emergence of the Progressive Era, two important figures gradually emerged as well.
The Reconstruction implemented by Congress, which lasted from 1866 to 1877, was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. The South, however, saw Reconstruction as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it.
America has gone through many political, social and economic crises throughout her lifetime. One revolutionary movement called as Reconstruction after a civil war was established. Reconstruction refers to the era or period after the civil war when the United States was rebuilding and reuniting. Reconstruction was one of the complex situations in the US history. All the citizens had anticipated for the better nation from the reconstruction. Millions of people at that period were optimistic and hopeful because it was the greatest time of the transformation of social, political and economic status of a nation. Reconstruction was assumed to possess an enormous accomplishment in the US history, but it was not entirely successful in making that
The progressives were in the Unites States to improve it a place to live. They were there with a specific end goal to free the Unites States from defilement and corruption. Their development was between the 19th and 20th century. The progressives strived to exhibit a determination to the confusion caused by Industrialism in America. In this period, the dissemination of cash was inside the rich (Industry proprietors). The Low Income class residents worked for longer hours for low compensations; likewise, they worked in a perilous space ("The Dangerous Business"). A great deal of organizations had no enthusiasm for the welfare of their laborers in light of the fact that their point was benefit expansion. Laborers additionally needed life surviving