The Northern Neglect: South, Ruined Reconstruction

The Northern Neglect “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” --W. E. B. Dubois. The Civil War was history, and the North had won. Slaves were freed, known as freedmen, and given full American citizenship. The country needed help to come together and build back up after the disasters of the war. This building up was called Reconstruction. Which of the two, the North or the South, destroyed the rebuilding of the country? The Northern Neglect killed Reconstruction because of extreme racism and Grant’s ignorance towards the rebuilding. One reason the Northern Neglect ruined Reconstruction was because of the country’s extreme racism towards the blacks. There is a political cartoon on the cover of Harper’s Weekly, March 14, 1874, and it shows the North’s thoughts towards African Americans (Richardson 517). It shows the thoughts of the politicians that were freedmen that were fighting and being reckless. It is intended to mean that blacks are lazy, dumb, “fat cats”, corrupt, angry, and a threat to society. The North and South both agreed on the thought
The reasons for this were because there was extreme racism and President Grant ignored the rebuilding for a period of time. Though the KKK and South corruption played a big part of the ending, Reconstruction wouldn’t have ended if it weren’t for the North, because they were the ones still moving it along in the first place with their hope. The North had started Reconstruction, so it makes sense that the North had to have finished it, and it did. One of the many causes of the North ending Reconstruction was because people lost hope. The fact that the blacks were to be free and the nation would start new and forget about the past was all too good to be true. The nation had to find their balance between the Southerners and Northerners where they could have a good