What is Reconstruction? Reconstruction was the restoration of the seceded states and the integration of the freedmen into American society during and especially after the Civil War. (1865-1877) Most people believe that reconstruction started and ended at the same time in all states, but in reality different Southern states had a different start and end time of reconstruction phase. Union imposed the reconstruction policies as and when a particular state was seized from the Confederate control.Reconstruction was concerned with the re-inclusion of former Confederate states into union, safeguarding the civil rights of freed slaves, fate of former Confederate officials and their civil status and the issue of according suffrage to these freed men. President Abraham Lincoln had announced ‘Emancipation’ in 1863 to weaken the Confederate war effort and achieve the aim of abolishing slavery. Starting from 1863, Lincoln took critical steps to reconstruct the Southern society by installing reconstructed governments in captured Confederate states that …show more content…
However, he followed a much more moderate policy and allowed former Confederate officials to enter important government posts and Congress. He also pardoned many war criminals and did not carry out many war crime trials. He also did not forcefully pursue the agenda of societal reforms regarding race equality in Southern states and many Southern states enforced black codes that put freed black slaves at a much lower pedestal in society. His soft stance on these issues was viewed very negatively by Northerners who were already angry over Lincoln’s assassination at the hands of a Confederate apologist. He was vehemently opposed by radical Republicans in Congress. He however, vetoed many of the sterner legislations brought forward by the radical
Lincoln made sure to keep new states from becoming slave states, yet he didn’t make it illegal for states that already had slaves. This brought tension because this made it harder for the south to gain western political allies. This caused the slave states to secede and become the United Confederate States. They adopted Jefferson Davis as their president.
1. The Emancipation Proclamation On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln enforced a new order, the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves behind the Confederate lines. It only applied to the Southern states that were rebelling and not the states that were already occupied by the Union. It allowed free slaves to fight in the Civil War and now the Union had another reason to fight; to give freedom to the slaves.
In the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, he declared that all enslaved individuals in Confederate territory were to be set free. Although the immediate impact of this proclamation was limited due to its jurisdiction, it served a practical purpose in reshaping the war's trajectory. By positioning the abolition of slavery as a central goal, Lincoln aimed to weaken the Confederacy economically and politically. In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln's practical
During the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln made a second Emancipation Proclamation. On September 22nd, 1862, after the battle of Antietam he issued a opening Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free. This is when the Union Army gave freed slaves “Forty Acres and a Mule”. Then General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House, in Virginia which put an end to the Civil War. After the Civil War most of the South was destroyed so Abraham Lincoln made a plan called “reconstruction” that later turns into “Reconstruction Act of 1867”.
Despite having all the power and influent he would have hoped for, he was still not comfortable and felt like he deserved more. To acquire more influence, he led his army declaring strong affirmative on states that were perpetrating atrocities slavery to black people. Unlike Caesar, Lincoln embraced the idea of politics when he joined a Whig of the legislature and created a platform with his opponents to debate important issues that were facing American at the time. While Caesar endorsed the slave trade, Lincoln was against slavery as he regarded it unfair and racial oppression. In fact, in 1962, he initiated emancipation proclamation, which allowed all victims of slavery in part of southern America to be freed which the southern resisted with worries of losing the slaves.
As much as the proclamation aided the slaves in the Civil War it didn’t do much during reconstruction. After the war ended the blacks were forgotten about as the country tried to heal from the major loss and the North and South were trying to become unified again. Before Lincoln’s death he made many concessions to the South, however, extremist Southern states
Johnson did support a federal law on voting rights, but the final bill was so watered-down it had little efffect.
And when Southern leaders were reelected to their old positions at the federal level, the Radical Republicans in Congress refused to seat them. The midterm elections gave the Radicals enough votes in Congress to override Johnson's presidential veto, ending the short-lived era of Presidential Reconstruction. But despite his political weakness on the home front, Johnson's administration did have some successes in foreign policy by defending the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico and purchasing Alaska from Russia. He failed to acquire several island territories.
As Commander in Chief, Lincoln initially wanted to ameliorate relations with the Confederacy by having them return to the Union and cease rebellion. So President Lincoln was cautious to abolish slavery. As he once wrote in a letter, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery.” Fearing the South’s advance in the War, President Lincoln utilized the Union victory at Antietam, to deliver his decree. The Emancipation Proclamation did three things: it undermined the Confederacy's slave economy, created an influx of soldiers for the Union and made the Civil War explicitly about the institution of slavery.
The Emancipation Proclamation The President Abraham Lincoln wanted to preserve the Union rather than the removal of slavery while the Civil War began in 1861. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January, 1863, and it said all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” The Emancipation Proclamation was a big turning point for the war, transforming the fight to save the nation into a battle for human freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation did three important things to the Civil War. It changed the main goal of the Civil War, it allowed the slaves to serve in the Union Army and it affected European nations.
Reconstruction was the rebuilding of the nation after the Civil War. It was President Lincoln’s method of reuniting the south and north back together. This consisted of methods and rules for the states of the south to rejoin the north. During reconstruction, there were several amendments established in favor of African Americans, such as the 13th amendment that ended slavery, the 14th amendment which said everyone was equal, and the 15th amendment which stated all men could vote. Although reconstruction could be seen as a good thing, when reconstruction failed it caused Jim Crow Laws, Sharecropping, and KKK.
He favored a moderate policy that would conjoin the South with the Union without any punishment for treason. Many resisted Lincoln’s plan, saying it was not harsh enough while others did not know if Lincoln was being too lenient. The Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans were caught in a conflict. One important event of the Reconstruction Period was the Wade-Davis Bill. This was formed by the Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans.
With the Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln made the cause of the war getting rid of slavery. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It was more symbolic than anything because the North didn?t control the southern states. By 1864, Lincoln was sure he?d serve for only one term. George B. McClellan challenged Lincoln for the presidency.
The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).
Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.