Issues During Reconstruction

Reconstruction refers to the period, between 1865 and 1877, of rebuilding the United States both physically and mentally. It witnessed America’s first experiment in interracial democracy, of which the south did not like. The Reconstruction period was based around many issues of which the most important was what to do with the now freed slaves. The issues of readmitting the states of the Confederacy and what to do with Confederate leaders were just a couple of the many other issues faced during Reconstruction. It was a period of great hardship, both mentally and physically, as the South was being forced to accept new social standards.
Less than a year before Lincoln did his famous speech, the Emancipation Proclamation, he announced the first
comprehensive program for Reconstruction, the Ten Percent Plan. This was a very lenient plan in contrast to the Reconstruction plans announced after Lincoln’s assassination. It called for only one-tenth of a state’s voters to take an oath of loyalty to be reestablished as a state of the Union. It also required that new state’s constitutions to prohibit slavery. Later, congress ratified the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, to formally abolish slavery, give freed men as equal rights as whites and give former slaves the right to vote. Lincoln was then assassinated less than a week after the Civil War ended, which resulted in much harsher Reconstruction plans.
Lincoln’s vice president, and soon the be president, Andrew Johnson briefly continued Lincoln’s policies. Although Lincoln’s plan was to allow suffrage to only whites, Johnson took it a step farther. His plan was to pardon all Southern whites and give them all of their political rights and property back, except for slaves. He also allowed the readmitted southern states to form their own governments and manage their own affairs. This quickly led to the black codes, laws that controlled the labor and behavior of African Americans. The North was furious over these new codes and the rise of power towards the previous leaders of the Confederacy. Congress quickly ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments, refused to seat representatives and senators elected from southern states and enacted bills such as the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights bills. Congress also passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which Edward Stanton was in charge of enforcing. Johnson vetoed these bills and tried to remove Stanton which caused a rupture between him and congress and ultimately led to Johnson's impeachment from office. The Civil Rights Act became the first significant legislation in America to ever become law over a presidential veto.
After Johnson’s impeachment, Congress took a strong hold of Reconstruction in the South.
During the Congressional Election of 1866, Radical Republicans came to power. They wanted to punish the South, and prevent the ruling class from continuing in power. The Radical Republicans then passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. This act removed the right to vote and seek office by “leading rebels.” This cleared the way for the Southern Unionist, southerners who supported the Union during the war, to become the new leaders. The act also divided the South into five military districts under commanders directed to protect black property and citizens. It also outlined how the new governments would be designed. Under this act, southern states were then required to ratify the 14th Amendment to be readmitted to the
Union.
By 1870 all of the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and nearly all were controlled by the Republican Party. Under these new regulations, laws and amendments passed by congress, African Americans were now freed and able to vote and run for public office. Many African Americans ran for public office, some succeeding in getting a position, as well as Union army members. The now freed African Americans formed the overwhelming majority of Southern Republican voters. As things were changing for African Americans, many white supremacist formed organization based on fear to prevent these changes from happening. Many of the organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan, were formed out of hatred and fear of the changes made and strove to end it. These organizations committed massacres, lynches, rapes, pillages and other terror based activities purely to end the advancement of African Americans.
Although federal legislation passed during the administration of President Ulysses S.
Grant in 1871 took aim at the terror organizations, white supremecy gradually reasserted its hold on the South. Support for Reconstruction waned, and racism was still a potent force in both the South and the North. Republicans were also becoming more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued. After ten years of holding out against the terror organizations, Congress and Radical Republicans were growing weary of federal involvement in the South. The withdrawal of federal troops in 1877 brought renewed attempts to strip African Americans of their newly acquired rights. For the first time since the Civil War, the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives. With this Democratic win, reconstruction was brought to an end and white supremacy was restored throughout the
South.
With the end of Reconstruction brought the beginning of another long string of hardships for blacks. Although the southern states held onto the Reconstruction Amendments in the state constitutions, they held little power as the white supremacists once again held blacks under reign. A new rigid structure of racial segregation sprung up, and black freedom went down. The new system had blacks locked into a system of political powerlessness and economic inequality. Blacks were segregated in both public and private facilities of all kinds, and southerners justified this by having a hostile and biased historical interpretation of Reconstruction as a tragic era of black supremacy.
Not until the 1960’s, in the civil right's movement, would the country try to again attempt to fulfill the political and social agenda of Reconstruction. Often called the Second Reconstruction, its achievements were far-reaching. Because of both of these Reconstruction periods, racial segregation has been outlawed, blacks vote on the same terms as whites, and more black Americans hold public office than ever before.