The Successes And Failures Of The Reconstruction Era

The “Reconstruction Era” Is the timeframe in United States history from 1865–1877 that was proceeded by the 1861-1864 Civil War. (* Note: many prominent scholars/historians in the last few decades now believe Reconstruction efforts most likely began during the war approx. 1863.)

By the end of the Civil war, The Northern Union’s Annihilative Stratagems had eradicated southern crop and plantations, and decimated entire cities. The South was engulfed in political Pandemonium, social turmoil , and fiscal Putrefaction. Hyperinflation had precipitated a loaf of bread costing several hundred dollars, and Southerners starved to death by the thousands. Those that managed to not starve did so by relinquishing their homes, property and even clothing for food.
Reconstruction would consist of Three Primary Goals. To "protect the rights of the freed slaves, reconstruct the collapsed economy of the South, and to command the loyalty of the ex-confederates. The reconstructive responsibilities would be divided between Presidential Reconstruction and later the Congressional reconstruction
.PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION (18-63/65 to 1867). President Lincoln had rudimentarily started these goals with his “Ten-Percent Plan”. Which proclaimed that each southern state would be rejoined with the Union after 10 percent of its voting population had sworn future allegiances to the United States. However his plan lacked any substantiated provisionary measures for the social or financial reconstruction. After Lincoln was assonated, President Andrew Johnson would estrange Congress with his Reconstruction policy agenda. He advocated for a Magnanimous policy toward the South. He pardoned most Southern whites, appointed interim governors and established preliminary guidelines for the construction of new state government. Johnson advocated that the government of each state should determine appropriate treatment of blacks, and under the support of President Johnson, southerners made attempts to reinstate slavery. This prompted an unofficially organized group known as “Northern Radical Republicans” to approach congress. They believed that southern society needed to be completely transformed to ensure that the South would not attempt to secede again. In 1866/7, President Johnson battled with Congress and the Radical republicans for control of Reconstruction, where he ultimately lost.
Congressional Reconstruction. The Radical republicans held control of Congress, and were able to pass a series of laws and amendments to protect the rights of blacks under federal constitutional law. “The 13th Amendment” abolished slavery, and the “Civil Rights Act of 1866” in addition to the “14th Amendment” granted blacks citizenship, and Black Men would gain the right to vote under the “15th amendment”. In 1867, Congress superseded President Johnson and passed an act that would place the former “Confederate states under control of martial law” until they accepted the constitutional amendments that would guarantee former slaves their entitlement of civil liberties. To ensure President Johnson would not continue to pose a threat to their reconstruction program, Congress passed several laws that constrained Johnson’s presidential empowerment. Johnson would be unable to commission Supreme Court justice, his Military authority was confined, and under the ” Tenure of Office Act” he would not be permitted to remove Senate appointed Office members without Senate permission and approval. Johnson’s ultimate demise came when he blatantly disregarded the “Tenure of Office Act” in August of 1867 and removed the “Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.” Republicans approached congress with the intention of impeaching President Johnson. Despite falling one vote short of the 2/3rd congressional override voting mandates, Johnson was disparaged and would no longer be able to interfere with Congressional Reconstruction. *Interesting fact* upon his death, a copy of the U.S. Constitution was placed in his coffin underneath his head by his wife.
The Successes of Reconstruction. Reconstruction effectively managed to permanently dismantle the confederacy and reunite the nation, which denoted the world officially construing America as “The United States”, as well As the Monumental construction of the 13th, 14th, and15th amendments. Additionally many African Americans were able to engage in state and local governments, which help structure equal rights and facilitate the construction of railroads, schools and hospitals. It would also give rise to Northern philanthropist who strived for improvement In African Americans education and literacy.
The Failures of Reconstruction.
However, despite the monumental accomplishments, reconstruction failed to dismantle the resistance of white supremacy. Numerous white southerners formed vicious organizations such as the White supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, who used violence and intimidation to prevent black from voting as well as the whites advocated for them. Poverty also remained highly prevalent in the south, as they had benefited minimally from industrialization and were primarily still reliant on an “agricultural economy.” The widespread loss of many southerners land consequently created a dependency which precipitated reliance on borrowing and taking out liens just to survive. This reliance facilitated exploitation through sharecropping and tenant farming which created endless debt enslavement. Even worse, in 1890’s The “Jim Crow Laws” disemboweled the decade of Civil rights efforts made by the Radical Republicans by undermining the 14th and 15th amendments as the Supreme Court stipulated that the 14th and 15th Amendments were only applicable at a federal level. This would deprive African Americans of education, and hindered social and economic progression for over half a
century.

The weakening of the Northern reconstruction commitment and the fall of the Reconstruction era.

Northerners had become exhausted with the decade of Reconstruction efforts, and with the Supreme Court continually overturning Republican legislation. The KKK’s constant scare tactics, relentless beatings, lynching’s, and full scale massacres had induced uneasiness on Republicans. Unable to protect themselves, The Republicans had been reliant on protection from Washington and the Northern Union and with the removal of the remaining Union troops in 1887 the few remaining republicans left office. The North had also focused their concerns on their own economic problems from war and the depression and were redirecting focus on Profit seeking from “the gilded age”. The South had also made no efforts to secede, and a more subtle theory, suggest that there was also a decrease in Northern support that spawned from a growing belief that Blacks posed a danger, citing the violent Radical labor strikes in the 1870’s.