Was the Reconstruction Period a Failure
Was Reconstruction a failure?
As the bloody Civil War drew to a close, the period of reconstruction began to take shape across the states. There were many questions aroused following the war regarding the physical re-building of the nation, demobilisation and most importantly what was to replace the pre-war norm of slavery? America’s position on the latter, was of course both vague, with differing opinions from the North to the South, these differences which should have been settled with the outcome of the Civil War meant the war on the battlefield had transgressed to one on a social and political level. However as Michael Les Benedict quite aptly states that ‘winning had been more important than figuring out what to do afterwards,’ which resulted in a sporadic reconstruction being forced by dissimilar motives. When looking at how successful the Reconstruction period was in America one should consider the intentions behind such Reconstructing, this poses the question therefore of whether the period was one of rebuilding relations between the North and the South or between the slaves and citizens? This essay will look at therefore the attempt at creating an increasingly harmonious nation with the interruption of unstoppable de facto discrimination that made reconstruction a void period.
When discussing the reconstruction some decide to begin with the Emancipation Proclamation where Lincoln addressed the nation on 1st January 1863; “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.’ This of course was the primary leap into the unknown, however as this was not passed through Congress and there only being a few states state’s emancipated renders 1863 as an ineffectual starting date for the Reconstruction period. However what was important during this time was the role of African American’s in the war which shaped their position in post-war America. ‘By the wars end,
As the bloody Civil War drew to a close, the period of reconstruction began to take shape across the states. There were many questions aroused following the war regarding the physical re-building of the nation, demobilisation and most importantly what was to replace the pre-war norm of slavery? America’s position on the latter, was of course both vague, with differing opinions from the North to the South, these differences which should have been settled with the outcome of the Civil War meant the war on the battlefield had transgressed to one on a social and political level. However as Michael Les Benedict quite aptly states that ‘winning had been more important than figuring out what to do afterwards,’ which resulted in a sporadic reconstruction being forced by dissimilar motives. When looking at how successful the Reconstruction period was in America one should consider the intentions behind such Reconstructing, this poses the question therefore of whether the period was one of rebuilding relations between the North and the South or between the slaves and citizens? This essay will look at therefore the attempt at creating an increasingly harmonious nation with the interruption of unstoppable de facto discrimination that made reconstruction a void period.
When discussing the reconstruction some decide to begin with the Emancipation Proclamation where Lincoln addressed the nation on 1st January 1863; “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.’ This of course was the primary leap into the unknown, however as this was not passed through Congress and there only being a few states state’s emancipated renders 1863 as an ineffectual starting date for the Reconstruction period. However what was important during this time was the role of African American’s in the war which shaped their position in post-war America. ‘By the wars end,