Political And Social Effects Of Radical Reconstruction Essay

There were many political and social effects of Radical Reconstruction in the South. In the South, the Reconstruction Act triggered a stir of political activity among former slaves. These former slaves began to go on strike, held mass meetings and tried to end segregation on public transportation. The Union League was an organization laced with the Republican party. Thousands of southern blacks became a part of the Union League and the majority of black voters, that were eligible, registered to vote. By 1870, all people that were formerly from the Confederacy had been put back into the Union and most of them were also under the control of the Republican Party. In 1868 and 1869, they drafted their new state constitutions and were a big improvement over the old state constitutions. These constitutions were in conventions with a great amount of black representation. They created state-funded
Some of these people were northerners who came to the south after the war ended. Their opponents called them "carpetbaggers," this implied that they packed their things in a suitcase to move quickly to the South in order to gain the benefits of being in office. Most carpetbaggers were Union army veterans that decided to stay in the South when the war was over. Others were teachers, investors in railroads and land that sought economic opportunity, Freedmen's Bureau officers and others who traveled to the South in order to aid former slaves. However, most white Republicans were from the South and were extremely hated by former Confederates. These former Confederates saw them as treasonous "scalawags" and did not want them there. Most of these scalawags were non-slave-holding white farmers from the southern upcountry, however, there were few wealthy whites among them as well. Many of them had also been Unionists during the war or wanted to pass laws favoring farmers in debt with the Reconstruction