DBQ Reconstruction
The union victory in the Civil War gave four million slaves their freedom, but reuniting the South with the North introduced a new set of significant challenges. The Congress' Reconstruction were the efforts to establish and protect citizens' rights of freedom. Democrats led to the failure of the Congress' Reconstruction by forgiving those who participated in the Civil War who were still in favor of slavery and inequality. This act of Amnesty led to three major obstacles for reconstruction: the emergence of the Ku Kux Klan, the development of black codes, and the Compromise of 1877.
The emergence of the Ku Kux Klan was one of the main contributors to the failure of the Congress' Reconstruction, leaving open spots for other major events that brought completely down the reconstruction. On November 23, 1868, in Tennessee, General George Thomas explained that the purpose of the Ku Kux Klan was to allow the Southern people that participated in the Civil War to come in union with those who had abandoned the thought of inequality. This gave them the advantage to bring back inequality and kill black men. (Document 2). By forgiving these Southern people, killing freedmen became easy. These people that were being forgiven had the same mentality from before the war, which was involved with the approval of slavery and the inequality there should be because black men weren't like white men. Kenneth Stampp, a history professor form the University of California at Berkeley, expressed himself in The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 about how in May 1872, the Congress developed an Amnesty act to reestablish the right to vote for the majority of those Southerners that had been forgiven. (Document 3). Giving the right to vote to these people, put the reconstruction in danger. The right of voting allowed Southerners to vote for someone that would still want slavery. Voting for someone with a mentality like that would just allow slavery back, and that's why The Congress'
The emergence of the Ku Kux Klan was one of the main contributors to the failure of the Congress' Reconstruction, leaving open spots for other major events that brought completely down the reconstruction. On November 23, 1868, in Tennessee, General George Thomas explained that the purpose of the Ku Kux Klan was to allow the Southern people that participated in the Civil War to come in union with those who had abandoned the thought of inequality. This gave them the advantage to bring back inequality and kill black men. (Document 2). By forgiving these Southern people, killing freedmen became easy. These people that were being forgiven had the same mentality from before the war, which was involved with the approval of slavery and the inequality there should be because black men weren't like white men. Kenneth Stampp, a history professor form the University of California at Berkeley, expressed himself in The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 about how in May 1872, the Congress developed an Amnesty act to reestablish the right to vote for the majority of those Southerners that had been forgiven. (Document 3). Giving the right to vote to these people, put the reconstruction in danger. The right of voting allowed Southerners to vote for someone that would still want slavery. Voting for someone with a mentality like that would just allow slavery back, and that's why The Congress'