How Did The Process Of Reconstruction
The period after the Civil War in the late 19th century is most commonly known as the period of Reconstruction. After the Civil War, the defeated South was left in complete ruin; physically, socially, and politically. While black Southerners, who were for the most part former slaves with little to nothing but the clothes on their backs, tried to start a new life as free persons the white Southerners strived to restore “local and regional autonomy and white supremacy.” (Brinkley, 371) Aids under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson were the first government steps towards Reconstruction in 1864. A number of tendencies and events led to the undermining and eventually the end of Reconstruction efforts by 1877. Reconstruction was nothing more than just an envisioned change in the social structure from the dominant white Americans to the lower class African
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Americans because after the all the efforts, Reconstruction failed.
The first attempt began with Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, and his “Restoration” plan.
He started with some form of amnesty to Southerners but Congress did not agree with his further actions of “Johnson governments” and his attempt for restoration ended there. Meanwhile, the South grew angry over the North’s reluctance to abolish slavery and their refusal to grant suffrage to any blacks. Meanwhile, black codes controlled the South. Black codes allowed local officials to imprison unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy, and hire them out to to private employers to satisfy the fines. (Brinkley, 376) That’s when the congressional plan came into play and reacted by expanding the Freedmen’s Bureau to nullify the forced agreements of the black codes. Shortly after, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act, declaring blacks as citizens of the United States which was shortly after incorporated into the Constitution as the fourteenth amendment. The fifteenth amendment was ratified soon after, granting suffrage to any citizen, disregarding any account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (Brinkley,
378) These efforts weren’t quite enough to reach any sense of equality for African American Southerners. Though they were given positions in Congress under the “Negro Rule,” the African American population was greatly misrepresented with only a total of 20 representatives between 1869-1901. Efforts in the restoration of landownership in the South also failed. Freedmen’s Bureau had settled nearly 10,000 black families on their own land, which was mostly abandoned plantations but was shortly returned by government to the original white owners. The per capita income of African Americans during Reconstruction rose thirty-five percent but the total profits of Southern agriculture declined. Blacks as well as poor whites were also trapped into the crop-lien system, which was a credit system that merchants used to entangle farmers into constant debt, forcing them to give up a lien or a claim on their crops as collateral on the loans. In 1872, General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for president. With that said, politics began to take over the North’s attention with
Americans because after the all the efforts, Reconstruction failed.
The first attempt began with Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, and his “Restoration” plan.
He started with some form of amnesty to Southerners but Congress did not agree with his further actions of “Johnson governments” and his attempt for restoration ended there. Meanwhile, the South grew angry over the North’s reluctance to abolish slavery and their refusal to grant suffrage to any blacks. Meanwhile, black codes controlled the South. Black codes allowed local officials to imprison unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy, and hire them out to to private employers to satisfy the fines. (Brinkley, 376) That’s when the congressional plan came into play and reacted by expanding the Freedmen’s Bureau to nullify the forced agreements of the black codes. Shortly after, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act, declaring blacks as citizens of the United States which was shortly after incorporated into the Constitution as the fourteenth amendment. The fifteenth amendment was ratified soon after, granting suffrage to any citizen, disregarding any account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (Brinkley,
378) These efforts weren’t quite enough to reach any sense of equality for African American Southerners. Though they were given positions in Congress under the “Negro Rule,” the African American population was greatly misrepresented with only a total of 20 representatives between 1869-1901. Efforts in the restoration of landownership in the South also failed. Freedmen’s Bureau had settled nearly 10,000 black families on their own land, which was mostly abandoned plantations but was shortly returned by government to the original white owners. The per capita income of African Americans during Reconstruction rose thirty-five percent but the total profits of Southern agriculture declined. Blacks as well as poor whites were also trapped into the crop-lien system, which was a credit system that merchants used to entangle farmers into constant debt, forcing them to give up a lien or a claim on their crops as collateral on the loans. In 1872, General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for president. With that said, politics began to take over the North’s attention with