Assignment 5: U.S. History to ReconstructionIn 1861 most Southerners thought that the Confederacy was favorite to win the war. The Confederacy’s sheer size – 750,000 square miles – was a major asset, making if difficult to blockade, occupy and conquer. Confederate forces did not have to invade the North: they simply needed to defend. The fire-power of the rifle-musket meant that battlefield tactics now favored the defender. The Union, having no option but to attack, was bound to suffer heavy casualties. Southerners hoped that Northern opinion might come to question high losses. If Northern will collapsed, the Confederacy would win by default. Geography gave the Confederacy an important strategic advantage. In the crucial theatre of the war – North Virginia – a series of rivers provided a barrier to Union armies intent on capturing Richmond, the Confederate capital. Slavery, which might seem to be a Confederate weakness, enabled the South to enlist more of its white manpower than the North.…
Immediately following the civil war, there was great controversy over what to do with the states that attempted secession from the United States. It was clearly not as simply as reinstating their statehood, as this would send the message that not cooperating with the federal government is acceptable. In order to facilitate the reentry of the states into the union, an era of reconstruction ushered in. This would be a time of many ambitious efforts by congress to expand the civil rights of African-Americans. It proved to be a failed effort, overall, because little permanent change occurred. Although reconstruction did manage to raise great controversy and spark some change, it was ultimately a failure, for African-Americans, despite having laws put in place to grant them civil rights, failed to achieve long-term racial integration. It also proved to be short-lived, and its collapse in the mid-1870s, would have immense impact on the future of the south well into the 20th century.…
In the timespan of 1860, the beginning of the Civil War, to 1877, the end of Reconstruction, many social and constitutional developments took place. Such developments included secession of the south, disputes over civil liberties such as voting, the ending of slavery, and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. These expansions were very revolutionary to an extent but due to the intrusion of white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, couldn’t fully prosper.…
After the Civil War, there was huge amount of attempts to alter the society in the Southern states. The main ideas in the North were to merge blacks into society as quickly as possible.But of course the South was not as eager. In fact, the South wanted to expire all chances for the Reconstruction effort because they knew what it was leading to. Due to their social lack of interest in equal rights, their political violence towards blacks and their opponents The South killed Reconstruction because of their lack of interest in equal rights, their violence towards the North and blacks, and the North’s growing absence of sympathy towards blacks.…
The Civil War began in 1861 due to many political issues between the Northern states, the Union, and the Southern states, the Confederates. Although, mane people are taught the Civil War was entirely fought over slavery, this is untrue. The North sought to regain control of the South and to keep the Union together, while the South had no interest in the Union and wanted to keep their way of life the same as it had been for generations. The status of African American’s during the war gradually became the major issue between the Northern states and Southern states, these conflicts shaped the goals for the outcome of the war in 1865 and the years of Reconstruction to follow.…
The Reconstruction was a success in the terms of the abolishment of slavery; however, beyond 1877, the events that took place during the reconstruction did little to put the racial animosity at rest and did little for mending the hypocrisy of the nation.…
During the Civil War, thousands of slaves sought refuge and freedom in the Northern states. The North refused to return the slave and protected them to deprive the South of man power (Scott et al., 2006). However, the influx of runaway slaves required the Republican party to define the “status of the ex-slaves (Scott et al., 2006, p. 435). Since the Republican Party dominated Congress, they acted to abolish slavery by putting pressure on the President. In response, Lincoln gave the states an ultimatum to stop the fighting and rejoin the Union and they could keep slavery, and if they refused, the fighting would resume and he would emancipate the slaves (Scott et al., 2006).…
The political era that we are currently in, reconstruction, is no longer necessary. Reconstructions purpose has been fulfilled as the South have obeyed the rules they have received. To continue Reconstruction would be a financial waste as the South has obeyed both the Reconstruction Act of 1867 and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.…
Anger and hatred were not the only consequences of the Civil War. After reconstruction had begun in 1865, the South had to fix their destroyed economy and states. Thus, there were numerous disputes between Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Congress, essentially being how to get the Southern states back into the Union, how to fix their destroyed economy, and the new rights African American’s should have. Nonetheless, Abraham Lincoln’s assassination only sparked even more…
After the Civil War, the United States started a process that would eventually cause more problems than before. Congress tried to come up with compromises and laws that would bring the South back into the Union. This would be called the Reconstruction Period. There were plans like the Ten Percent Plan, Freedmen’s Bureau, and even amendments added to the Constitution. However, as all of these plans were being enforced, hate groups and separation of blacks was also occurring. The Black Codes and the Jim Crow Laws took away the freedom of African-American groups and this would continue on until the present day. A major issue in the United States is racism and this can be traced back to Reconstruction where it all started. It created the allowance…
At the end of the civil war in 1865, the government of the United States had to solve some delicate problems. How should the former confederate states be treated after their defeat? What should happen with the freedmen, the former slaves that were supposed to live as citizens now? Should the southern states be punished, should they reenter the Union and which conditions would they have to fulfill therefore?…
Following the Civil War, Radical Republicans in Congress held tight control of the fragile nation, forcing policies past a Southern Democratic President and into law. These Reconstruction programs had a few goals in mind, and many, especially the more moderate, Republicans focused primarily on restoring the Union. Additionally, radicals attempted to grant full civil liberties to former slaves. In general, all pursuing Reconstruction wished to reiterate the unity of the United States, and most, especially from the North, wanted to grant partial civil rights to African Americans. However, in trying to reform the South, while the Northerners did succeed in passing much legislation, they did little to reform culture in the South. Consequently,…
I think that the whole reconstruction era went just the way it was supposed to. Just to think that something so small of a change could have rewritten history for bad or for good. I think that if lincoln could have carried out his plan then we would live in a completley different world then what we do today. I we have had enforced the laws as hard as we could have then the south could might as well of risen back up for another war. And what if we lost this time? We could might as well be living in a country with segregation and or a communist country if marshall law was declared. Which means that all industries would be owned by the government. Another scenario would be that we had a country divided into two halves like Korea with slaves crossing…
The Reconstruction era of the United States was a time of relief for many. The civil war was finally over and slavery was abolished. Although the norths victory was very much a loss to the south. The thought of paying people for farm work or any kind of work at all was a devastating thought. This lead to radical groups such as the KKK which preyed on the lives of black people. This extreme group threaten the lives of many family’s that thought they were freed from the oppression. The reconstruction period although a time of healing and victory for many was also a time filled with hatred and oppression.…
The period after the Civil War was a very difficult time in the United States' history. This time was known as the Reconstruction period and it was a very controversial time. There were many issues that had to be addressed such as what to do with the free blacks in the south and how states would be readmitted to the Union. This era saw the rise of the Radical Republicans. The government was going through changes, southerners were going through changes, and blacks were going through changes. Whites in the south were left without people to work their plantations. Slavery was indeed a very important topic during this time. Many of the reconstruction plans that were proposed required states to prohibit slavery in order to be readmitted to the Union.…