Military Reconstruction Research Paper

Reconstruction was a time in American history where the South was brought back into the United States by way of the Military Reconstruction Act. This act was put into place to bring the South back in a forceful manner showing the power and strength of the United States. One of the conditions for a state to reenter the United States was that the 13th amendment had to be ratified, for a while this amendment was followed, until the military was pulled out of the South. The Military Reconstruction Act, Ku Klux Klan Act, and the election of Hayes were the three most important events in the Reconstruction period. After several plans and acts were drawn up to be put into place, finally the Military Reconstruction Act was put into effect. This act drew the South up into five districts, having a military governor leading each one. The military was there to make sure that the 13th and 14th amendments were being used, and African Americans were not being discriminated against. Each state was responsible for creating a new state constitution, giving African Americans the right to vote, and no military leader of the Confederacy Army was allowed to run for office. This plan was very effective while the military was in the districts. It gave the
states a set of rules they had to abide by to reenter the United States, which is what the Southern states needed at this time. The Ku Klux Klan was a very prominent terrorist group in the south that was terrorizing African Americans, and intimating them into not voting.
The Ku Klux Klan consisted of white, southern, democrats resisting reconstruction. This group burned down homes, churches, and school associated with African Americans. The Ku Klux Klan Act was set into place to state that all actions done by this clan were illegal. With nearly three thousand members, only six hundred were brought to trial, and most of them served little, to no time in prison. This proved to the South that without the military control it was up to the individual states to enforce the 13th and 14th amendments, and that was not a top priority for the
states. The third most important event in the time period of Reconstruction was the election of Hayes. There was a problem with the delegate votes from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, each of the states sent both sets of votes creating not one clear majority winner of the delegate votes. The Compromise of 1877 settled the dispute; this stated that the Radical Republicans would pull out military troops from the South if Hayes were elected. Hayes was the new president and the troops were pulled out. This led to the dissolution to all the work that had been put into the Reconstruction of the South. Now that the military was not there to enforce the new amendments the Southern Democrats redeemed power. Reconstruction was a time period were a lot of advancements were made in terms of civil rights for the African Americans, but the minute Reconstruction was over all the advancements seemed to go away with new laws put into place like the Jim Crow Laws.