What If It Had Succeeded?”. In this case, Ms. Barmell expresses her opinion about why Reconstruction didn’t succeed in the U.S. Barmell addresses that many American schools were taught about the positive side of Reconstruction, how Abraham Lincoln ended slavery and the Union Army won the Civil War. However, not many individuals were taught about Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, Freedmen's Bureau, and so on. The main reason for this is because America is ashamed of its past, and history. Yes, the 13th amendment was ratified, but it still allows forced incarcerated labor that still exists in the U.S.…
In my opinion, there are many reasons that historian Eric Foner calls Reconstruction “America’s Unfinished Revolution”. What began as the Civil War had turned into a problem between two areas of different customs, the North and the South. While the Northern states, the Union, controlled most of the power and adopted the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments and other laws, the South quickly began to rebel. Thus, creating a “revolution” between the North and the South to establish their own government and laws; such as: Black Codes. Foner, like myself, views Reconstruction as a failure because in his words, it is both “unfinished and incomplete”. As we all know, Reconstruction did not fully establish all freedom for African Americans. It is an ongoing…
At the close of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States' government was faced with the tremendously difficult problem of re-integrating the Confederate States into the Union. Between 1865 and 1877 this problem was addressed by various forms of "Reconstruction," programs whose goals also included the rebuilding of the ravaged Southern economy, and the integration of freed slaves and other African Americans into citizenship and culture at large. Complicated by an incompetent president, corruption, and a backlash by southern culture, the success of Reconstruction as far as achieving its objectives is questionable. If we, however, look at the Reconstruction's achievements in culturally relative terms, we will see that it truly did make progress and pave the way for an eventual return to normalcy.…
The confederate states wanted to break away from the united states but failed. However, now they had to rejoin the union. The war had left the souths economy and society in destruction. It would take a lot of effort to reestablish states. The remaking of the states was called reconstruction.…
Each of the four articles portrayed a different explanation for why Reconstruction did not work out as planned by the United States Government. Thomas W. Wilson’s article reveals that the government preyed upon the South. Carter Woodson asserts that former slaves were not given a fair chance to make Reconstruction work, while Thomas Bailey blames the Radicals for pushing it on clueless, former slaves. Finally, Mary Beth Norton takes issue with the resistance of Reconstruction that the South held from the beginning. While each tells a varied story of their interpretation of why it failed, all agree that indeed, Reconstruction failed. Thus, former slaves were not given a fair chance to reconstruct their lives and the Southern states could…
One of the main reasons why Reconstruction failed was due to the poor condition of former slaves. The south viewed Reconstruction as humiliating to them therefore they did not welcome the new policies with open arms. However, in March of 1865 Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau to protect African Americans quality of life. The Freedmen’s Bureau would help ex-slaves move towards a life of being self-sufficient and blend into American Society.…
The Reconstruction period took place in the U.S after the Civil War where it affect the freed slaves in both positive and negative ways. The African American were freed during the Civil war due to the emancipation proclamation being passed. African American now are able to become citizens of the US. For example they are now able to vote and have their freedom and become politicians. In addition, the Civil War cause such great amount of damages down south where all the battles were fought and African American still faces racism..…
The Reconstruction period (1865-1877) was the era of rebuilding, the south, after the Civil War. In the South reconstruction meant rebuilding the economy, establishing new state and local governments and establishing a new social structure between whites and blacks. Abolishing slavery, what should be demanded of the Southern states, restoring political rights to the South, and what should be the responsibility of the newly freed slaves were the concerns doing the Reconstruction period. They also wanted to know how the economy should be rebuilt based on free labor. Reconstruction addressed how the eleven seceding states would regain self-government and be reseated in Congress. The laws and constitutional amendments that laid the foundation for…
The Reconstruction was the period during which the United States began to rebuild after the Civil War, lasting from 1865 to 1877. It was to repair the North and the South politically, economically and socially. After the Civil War, the South’s economy was completely ruined and needed help from the Union government; which they were trying to stay way from. The Reconstruction can be evaluated both as a success and a failure. Its successes were the restoration of the eleven confederate states back to the union, giving African-Americans (ex-slaves) their freedom and rights and providing aid to the freed slaves and poor whites. Its failures were the Anti-African Americans groups such as the KKK, the Black Codes, not protecting the rights of the freedmen and the southern corruption. Although African-Americans were freed and gained their rights because of 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, and the ex-eleven confederate states came back to the union, the Reconstruction was more of a failure than a success.…
Reconstruction is the period of time when America was rebuilding from the Civil War in a multitude of ways. The most challenging aspect of the Reconstruction was integrating the freed slaves back into American society and how everyone wanted to go about such a monumental change. Other more minor things that happened during the Reconstruction period (1865-1876) were: rebuilding everything that was destroyed during the Civil War, readmitting all of the seceded states back into the US, and reevaluating the current currency and making sure it was still in working order.…
Reconstruction was an era in which the country started to grow and expand as an industrial economy. There were many visions about the process of Reconstruction and how to go about it. Congress, President Johnson and the Supreme Court were the key three who visions were very different.…
The Reconstruction period has been one of the most challenging and controversial periods of the United States history, which led to substantial changes in social, economical, and political aspects of life of the US citizens. It has influenced every stratum of society, but African Americans were the group that was affected the most. There were many issues and concerns that African Americans were facing after the Civil War. Under slavery, most blacks lived separated from their relatives, so being able to safely reunite with their family was one of their main needs.…
What would have happened if Abraham Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated? This is a question that I have asked myself since the first time I had learned about this time in American history. It is this very question that the author of the article addresses. The initial view towards Reconstruction was that it wouldn’t have made a difference whether or not Lincoln had been part of the picture, many historians had believed that Lincoln would have clashed with Radical Republicans in congress much like Andrew Johnson had.…
Reconstruction was during the period of 1865 to 1877, where attempts were made to solve the injustices of slavery and its political, social and economic legacy and solving the problems that would arise because of the readmission of the eleven states into the Union and has been long portrayed by many historians as a time when vindictive Radical Republicans fastened black supremacy upon the defeated confederacy. Some gains were made by the blacks during this time; slavery was abolished in the South, The Freedman’s Bureau was established which helped to gain small rights and privileges such as schools for the blacks, the blacks also gained the right to vote with the Fourteenth Amendment, there was some advancement in political office of the blacks, and they also gained wages and temporary land.…
Reconstruction was the era directly after the civil war, in which the US began the rebuilding process. Overall, I believe this time in United States history was more of success rather than failure. Most importantly the union was restored, and that was the main objective.…