Amid Radical Reconstruction

Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.

1860 through 1877 America witnessed a bloody war that resulted in several constitutional and social developments, all attempting to break the established black subordination social order prevalent in the South. By 1877 the Civil War and Reconstruction had ended, and the social revolution had failed. There are two key parts to a revolution: force, and its use to bring a new order to society. There was certainly force during this time period, with Confederate lost and the Union’s military presence in the conquered land, the South had no choice but to accept the Constitutional Amendments and other acts that Congress had passed. However, for every policy that Congress had forced on the South, there was a loophole or an act of violence that fought against it.

The South after the Civil War suffered the most. Since the war had been fought almost entirely on Southern soil, the North did not have to face the task of rebuilding. The South sustained immense damage, entire cities laid in ruins, and thousands of people lacked the ability to provide food and shelter for themselves. The Reconstruction was necessary because it helped the South become part of the union again. The Reconstruction proved to have many successes. Through President Lincoln’s efforts the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were all ratified.

The Thirteenth Amendment took some time to pass. Johnson really didn’t want blacks to have rights. He did everything in his power to make sure African Americans didn’t have freedom. After slavery was abolished the black codes came up in the summer of 1865 in the South. These codes were basically promoting slavery once again but using a different name.

Following the ending of the Civil War in 1865, America was in an era known as the Reconstruction. The Reconstruction lasted until 1877. Citizens were attempting to rebuild our nation following one of the deadliest war in American History. In this time, the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution were ratified. Although slaves were freed, African Americans still faced intense racial prejudice and discrimination.

Resistance to Reconstruction was incredibly aggressive and violent since Southerners were extremely appalled by the radical social transformations that were resulting from Reconstruction, so those Southerners terrorized and killed the Republicans and the black people responsible for the changes. Black people were supposedly guaranteed equality before the law by the 14th amendment, however, their rights were not always upheld. Southerners would kill black people over minor actions, like not yielding to whites on sidewalks or attempting to buy land. A terrorist organization, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), formed in 1866 to punish people who “defied the norms of white supremacy”. Ordinary black people were killed by the KKK alongside black and white

The late 19th century and early 20th century was time of great social, economic, and political change in the United States (U.S.). This time era was impacted by two major evens, the Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. The Civil War physically divided the South and the North, and created a dysfunctional country. In an attempt to mend the country the government entered an era of Reconstruction. Simultaneously, the Industrial Revolution was growing and expanding.

Reconstruction was an attempt by Abraham Lincoln to rebuild the war-torn South. Its goals were to fix the economy, allow new freedmen to exercise their freedom, and restore white Southerners’ loyalty to the Union. Although the passing of the 14th and 15th amendment ensured that African-Americans’ rights are protected; white Southerners found ways to prevent them from enjoying their rights, such as the establishment of the KKK and the creation of Black Codes. The Government attempted to fight these problems with laws, such as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. In spite of these revolutionary efforts; laws passed by the Government failed to be effective.

The goal of the reconstruction politically was to integrate Southern states/rebel states back into the U.S., and socially was to integrate the freed slave population to the society. However, ex-confederates of the South resisted this because of the fear of complete turnover of their lives, and to maintain the social hierarchy, where African Americans remained at the bottom by default due to their race. Several organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed to resist reconstruction and preserve white supremacy. Congress responded to the resistance by establishing the Freedmen 's Bureau, whose aimed was to build public schools and universities, provide food and medical care, political equality between blacks and whites and equal access to the judicial system. Lincoln planned to be lenient

This was the beginning of the period known as radical reconstruction. Radical reconstruction demanded former slaves the right to vote. The radicals made a commitment to the idea of equality. They became dedicated to strengthen the Republican Party in the south and determined to keep ex-confederates out of the office.

The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 may have given some 4 million slaves their freedom, but the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) introduced a new set of significant challenges. Northerners assumed that martial law and the military’s role in the south would end in 1865. They expected the southerners to acknowledge defeat by treating blacks justly, rejecting Confederate leaders, and embraced southern Unionists. None of these things happened. Encouraged by President Andrew Jackson’s Reconstruction policy, which imposed no server penalties on the south, unashamed southerners elected former Confederates to state, local, and national offices, formed militia units composed of ex-soldiers, passed

Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan became prominent in the south. however, this was no longer something reconstruction could help former slaves with. Eventually, Hayes was elected after Johnsons’ impeachment and the Reconstruction era ended. The reconstruction ended in 1877 due to the Compromise of 1877 and the pulling of republicans alongside union troops out of the deep south. though the reconstruction attempted to unify the country back together as one by allowing confederate states into the union under strict conditions, and to help former slaves by granting basic human rights there were still many issues present throughout the

The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.

Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans