Civil War Reconstruction Essay

The Civil War was a brutal, extended battle of economies, morals, and rights. There was blood on the proud flag of stars and stripes, and the stain of corruption was not simply washed out by a cleansing ocean of radical hope. By the end of the Civil War, the North and South were complete opposites; night and day, industrial and agricultural, conservative and liberal. Since they were unified, they finally had something in common - their futures. During the Reconstruction period, the political, economic, and social aspects of the North and South determined how America would be rebuilt.
The reason for the discomfort and war in the first place -economics- was still a tension-filled topic in the later 1860s. In the North, for a brief period of
In the North, the corruption in the government was spreading to the White House. Officials were taking bribes and collaborating with corporations for money. There were more pressing issues, as well. While President Johnson was in office, Congress was populated by Republicans; especially Radicals, who greatly opposed every idea by the president. The feeling of loathing was certainly mutual, as Johnson vetoed their proposals, and dashed their dreams for a New America, a lot. Very little got done. However, both Congress and Johnson were in agreement that the South was being stubborn and causing disputes. In order to be resubmitted back into the Union, it was agreed upon that the states had to restore their constitutions and accept the new laws that the US government had passed during their absence. Three states refused to ratify the amendment abolishing slavery under certain conditions, and South Carolina denied the fact that the Civil War happened at all. Freedmen reported not feeling safe in their Southern homes. The headache of uncooperative states sent Johnson into a position of lost sympathy and national clown. The South’s election of old leaders sent the Republican’s heads spinning, and they were too busy with an attempt to impeach Johnson to notice the lack of actual construction below the Mason-Dixon line. The Radicals had their own ideas how to handle the South, with plans of universal suffrage and military