Reconstruction Dbq

Reconstruction The end of Civil War in 1877 when the last federal troops were pulled out of the South is known as Reconstruction. Although the process could not begin to the end of war, attempts at restoring the war began long before. The Civil War was the most bitter war, it has been called the brother’s war, or the “War of Northern Aggression.” Over 600,000 Americans died during the Civil War and another 400,000 suffered wounds.

To properly explain the failure that is Reconstruction, one must begin with the President leading the era, Andrew Johnson. Johnson’s plans for reconstruction seemed to have purposely oppressed African Americans. As seen in Doc F, Johnson even went so far as to veto the Civil Rights Act, claiming that as a result of protecting the rights of African Americans whites would be the subject of discrimination. However, congress had done something never seen before in American history, congress had overrode the veto with a 2/3rds majority and the civil rights act became law. This only added to the list of positive changes happening to the African American population as they also received access to education and aid from the government thanks to the Freedmen’s Bureau. All the positive changes affecting the former slave population was, to no one’s surprise, short lived. Legally, all former slaves were now free, as seen in the 13th amendment, and they retained all the rights reserved for US citizens, supported by not only the 14th amendment but also the Civil Rights Act. But socially, they were discriminated against when it came to jobs and

Lincoln was the person who came up with the Reconstruction plan. As the leader of this newly reunited nation, Lincoln sought a very specific plan for reconstructing the South and solving all the issues they are facing. Lincoln’s ultimate goals were to reunify the states and ensure equality for all, including freed slaves. After all the rearrangement, all freedmen are allowed to vote, freedmen are now can be educated, and the South is known as a state that holds the most slavery, but now the South has changed into the state filled with impressive varieties. Lincoln was very passion about freed slaves and made every citizens in United State, especially the South has equal treating to everyone including voting.

Though the Civil War ended slavery, the results after it were catastrophic; the South had been left in ruins and the North was disinterested in continuing to reach out to the South. The Civil War occurred in the early 1861 and ended in 1865. Post Civil War life was tough, and both sides were at fault for this. Reconstruction had failed because the North had neglected its duties to help the South and a majority of the South did not want help from the North.

After four prolonged years of the Civil War that took place in America the nation transpired broken, and required much need of being rebuilt into a nation of one. The newly freed slaves, after the Civil War, moved to different cities, freed slaves built Black churches and communities; they were capable of attending school, and even became more involved in politics. With this new found freedom many documents, agencies, and associations also arose such as: the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, and the Black Codes. These documents and organizations played important roles during the Reconstruction Era. Arguably, the Reconstruction Era in America was extremely restrained. African Americans gained basic rights as humans, but given the bare

During the period of Reconstruction (1865-1877) in the Southern United States local government positions had been taken over by the Republican Party. Through local militants and, what can be deemed by today standards, terrorist by the mid 1870’s many of these Republican office holders had been run out of town. These local militants also used intimidation to keep blacks from voting in the south. By doing these acts the Southern Democrats soon regained control of political power in the south and would start striping away rights of the black community. Once Democrats were back in power intimidation was no longer needed to keep blacks from voting, they set up some of the first laws that were specifically deemed to restrict the civil liberties of

The Freedman’s Bureau can educate and protect the former slaves. The U.S. Congress will finally try their hardest to fulfill the promises which were made to the slaves which were to be education, given citizenship, a portion of the land and political standing. Which were vetoed by President Johnson.

The reconstruction after the Civil War was the attempt to reunite the North and the South. This reconstruction failed because the relationship between the North and South did not change. During reconstruction slaves were still treated the same way, the North and South still hated each other, and hate groups rose. Slaves were still treated the same way because landowners still had the slaves work for them, but instead gave slaves little food or money. The slaves also lived at the landowners house, and the landowners rent was very expensive. This made the slaves in debt basically becoming slaves again. The North didn't get along with the South because a confederate sympathizer, known as John Wilkes Booth, shot and eventually killed Abraham Lincoln

The Congressional Reconstruction aimed at blocking Johnson’s lenient policy. Two bills were passed by Congress to “counteract Southern resistance and the oppression of freedmen” (Keene, 416). The first bill was Freedmen’s Bureau, which expanded its powers and continued for two more years (Keene, 416). The Civil Rights Act was the second, which declared citizens as those born in the United States (Keene, 416). Both periods of Reconstruction are equally

The Freedman’s Bureau lasted for only seven years, and with the northerners “waving the bloody shirt,” the southerners just wanted them to get out of their territory. The reconstruction finally ended with the Compromise of 1877. With this compromise, a Republican became president, even though the Democratic candidate won, and the northerners left the southern lands. The plantations began to go under without the free labor, and the newly freed slaves were homeless with no money or place to live. With some begging, Andrew Jackson agreed to give the plantation owners their land back. The former slaves returned to their plantations and now tried sharecropping. Against their liking, the children had to continue working the fields. Things continue this way until the Civil Rights Movement many years later.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “By these recent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority – reconstruction – which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty.” (Fitzgerald 4) Abraham Lincoln was right, Reconstruction was full of hardships. The Civil War ended in 1865 and created a split in the North and South. The South had to rejoin the Union. Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress all wanted a different plan for Reconstruction. Although Reconstruction ended in 1877, its legacy lived on to present day.

The condition of the South was poor, majority of the battles were fought in the South which caused it to destroy the lands, crops,roads and infrastructure. Most of the male populations fought the war and they were left with women with children. At the time all slaves were free; they couldn’t depend on slaves or men to help make the crops better , which caused no money was coming in for the families of the south. Reconstruction was needed because, we as a country needed to fix this problem.That’s when Lincoln came with the 10% plan. He needed 10% of the south's population to readmit the union. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln and the North lashes out with anger towards the south. The first success in reconstruction was the 13th,

Many things were put into play to ensure true reconstruction for both the states and Blacks. Leading up to the Reconstruction Lincoln put into play a couple of things. Pre reconstruction was created just before the reconstruction era to some plans into place to ensure full usage of the reconstruction era. some plans put into place to consisted of the Emancipation Proclamation and the ten percent plan. Programs and place that were put into place during the Reconstruction era included the forty acres, Freedmen 's bureau was established, freedmen 's savings bank was created, the pardons policy was created, the 13th amendment is ratified. It was the 1st of December in the year of 1865 that President Andrew Johnson declares the reconstruction act complete. Although Johnson declared it to be the end of reconstruction many movements followed ensuring the best outcome for the era, there also movements that were created in resistance to what the civil war stood for, The end of the war resulted in the the growth of the south, the founding of Ku Klux Klan, the civil rights bill was passed, racial violence increases, state 's returned to the union, and many more.

The lack of change in the south frustrated the republicans in congress, so they took the reconstruction in their own hands. Thaddeus Stevens was a radical republican who was a member of the House of Representatives. Stevens wanted to take all the land away from the white southern owners and give it to all the freed slaves. This was not passed. A bill that was successful in being passed was the Civil Rights Act in 1866. The Civil Rights Act states that all people born in the United States are citizens regardless of their race. President Johnson attempted to veto the law as it was discrimination against whites. This angered Congress and the President 's veto was overridden by Congress in a two-thirds majority. The civil rights bill was now law. Next, the 14th amendment was added to the constitution. The 14th amendment granted citizenship, equal protection under the law and expanded the Bill of Rights to all people of color in the United States. Congress then passed the Reconstruction Act over Johnson 's veto. The Reconstruction Act divided the south into 5 military districts. Each district would have

After the devastation of the Civil War there were many different opinions about how the United States was to become one nation again. Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War when former Confederate states were brought back into the Union. During this time period, the South was hostile because they were upset about the emancipation of slaves, the major decline in its economy, and the destruction of its territory. There were also now freed African Americans trying to integrate into a society which they had known only as slaves. The major objectives for this period of Reconstruction were to bring freed people into the Union, repay the South for the damage caused by the Civil War, and to reunite the Union. The failure of Reconstruction was a result of limitations to changes in the Constitution, lack of opportunities for freed African Americans, and the use of print media to continue stereotypes and portray biases against others.