...The idea of reconstruction was to put the nation back together and readmit the states. Reconstruction as a thought had great intentions but was an overall failure. William A. Dunning claimed that the main cause of Reconstruction was “ignorant, illiterate blacks were thrust into positions of power for which they were entirely unfit.” However, there were numerous failures that had nothing to do with how educated blacks were. Contrary to what William A. Dunning thought; Reconstruction failed due to depression, laws were not enforced in order to cause change, and the weaknesses of the individuals who directed Reconstruction. Depression hit Reconstruction in many different forms. The depression of 1873 faced the supreme court with Slaughterhouse...
Words: 639 - Pages: 3
...1st, 2016 HIS-202 Trochim Reconstruction Reconstruction was a time era, 1863 to 1877, in American history where there was an attempt to resolve issues from the Civil War. It was a period of putting back the pieces. The Confederacy and slavery were demolished and the development of the Constitution strengthened the rights of citizens. The movement tackled the return of southern states that had estranged, the status of previous confederate leaders, and the Constitutional status of the African-Americans. Controversy on how to handle the situations and by the 1870s Reconstruction had been considered a failure for the lack of equally integrating the recently freed slaves into the legal, political, economic and social system. The Dunning School perceived Reconstruction as a failure for different reasons. They claimed Reconstruction took freedom and rights away from qualified Caucasians and gave it to unqualified African-Americans. Revisionism focused on economics, and ultimately downplayed political and constitutional issues. They claimed that the movement was an attempt by financiers, railroad builders, and industrialists to use the Republican Party to control the national government for their own selfish economic needs. There has been much debate as far as which interpretation is best. Dunning’s interpretation is best because although it views the failure of Reconstruction, it also draws attention to what Reconstruction achieved. Reconstruction allowed for former slaves to...
Words: 1428 - Pages: 6
...Major damage was done to the South during the Civil War, so Reconstruction was done to mend the war devastation. While repairs were being done for the ruined South, Reconstruction has even met some opposition; those obstacles served to have as much long-term effects on Reconstruction as the support. Because of the events that affected Reconstruction, there has been debate on whether Reconstruction was a success or failure. Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War was, despite some of its successes, was a failure in history, because of Andrew Johnson’s Presidency, interference by the white people who were against Reconstruction, the Democrat party, and what happened with the rights of the Afro-Americans. To begin with, Andrew Johnson...
Words: 682 - Pages: 3
...The Undefined Reconstruction When thinking about the era of Reconstruction after the Civil War what comes to mind? It is known as a period of rebuilding and piecing together broken parts. In this case, America was broken into two parts and needed fixing. The question is did Reconstruction succeed in doing so? Some may say that the Reconstruction was a failure and didn't actually put an end to slavery and still left the country divided. Others may say that it still took a step towards the right direction and fixed issues. When we assess the outcomes, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment would now take a step towards ending slavery and giving African American the rights they deserved. However many groups like the KKK arose because of this and White...
Words: 1011 - Pages: 5
...Guillén Mr. Laird A.P. U.S. History 21 January 2010 Reconstruction: A Post-Civil War Failure Viewed as an era as a whole, Reconstruction takes place between the years 1865-1877 or between the Civil War’s end and the Union army’s withdrawal from the South. Reconstruction’s main goals were to integrate newly freed slaves into society, readmitting Southern states whom had seceded from the Union, and recreating Southern property as to better its conditions. At war’s end, the process of reconstruction sought out to solve the challenge that the disembodied Union now faced: what the status would be of postwar freedmen. While the North continued occupying Southern territories, Reconstruction shared very few successes. However, Reconstruction failed to meet its greater purpose. The process of Reconstruction was incompetent in integrating freedmen into American society because of its unstable and strained economy, its political disadvantages and its desire to redesign Southern social structure completely. Financial matters played a key role in Reconstruction’s failure, leading way to public hostility and corruption. Government industrialization plans helped rebuild the Southern economy however; the plans cost a lot of money to the government who financed such plans using tax revenue. Unable to keep up with the ever-growing investments, tax rates skyrocketed resulting in an antagonistic public opinion on Reconstruction. Conditions during this period were bad enough; the Civil...
Words: 899 - Pages: 4
...States history. It caused extreme amounts of damage in the South. Leaving cities in ruins, and families without homes or the ability to support one another, or even themselves for that fact. People had no food, no clothes, and no shelter. Something had to be done to rebuild this disaster, but with every plan always comes a failure at some point. That is what I am going to be discussing with you today. The failures and successes of the Reconstruction. Failures come with everything in life, especially the reconstruction! When the congress gave President Andrew Johnson two bills to sign he vetoed not one, but both of them. The first one regarding the extension of the...
Words: 615 - Pages: 3
...Reconstruction And The New South Sandra Michelli HIS 125 June 23, 2013 Paul Sunderman Reconstruction and The New South 1. Columbian historian Eric Foner (1983) quotes W. E. B. DuBois in calling Reconstruction a “splendid failure (p. 16).” After studying the events of the late 19th century, defend whether or not you agree with his position. What are the long-term implication? “A Splendid Failure”, a statement made by the African American Historian. W.E.B. Du Bois has been used to describe what some see as the best way to describe the results of the Reconstruction Era. So the question one has to ask is if this remark is actually true. Was Reconstruction a 100% failure or where there some success that came out of this time period in American History? I would say that it was neither, that in fact there were some success and there were some failures. The best way to describe my point is to use what the Military calls and After Action Report and see what these success and failures were. In looking at success of the Radical Reconstruction period the first one that stands out is in fact some say the reason the United States split and ended up in the bloody Civil War. That being the fact that Slavery was abolished. It was now once and for all illegal for a person to own another person as property. Schools for blacks were being created that had not existed before. Schools such as Salem University which was founded in Mississippi in 1872 would not have existed had access...
Words: 1019 - Pages: 5
...great leaders have come and gone, all of them bring different objectives and plan for our future. As we move on, though, so does all of their “Radical Movements”. One such movement was reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period in our nations time some of us would like to forget. Can it really be said, though, that reconstruction was a complete failure? That all it did was make times hard for freed slaves in the U.S. I for one think that Reconstruction was both a success and a failure. When reconstruction first began in 1865, the people of America had just gotten over the brutal and destructive Civil War. In actually, reconstruction...
Words: 1477 - Pages: 6
...necessity that we remain in control with complete power over both the north and the south. In order to achieve this we must implement a reconstruction of the United States. Restoring the south to the way it was prior to the war is an important issue that we must address and it should take president over the other issues that will arise on the path to reconstruction. In order to rebuild the South to its pre war stature we will need to establish new states, establish new governments, and rejuvenate the economy of the south. The affect of the civil war on the south has been total devastation that includes economic devastation, land devastation and personal devastation. There has been a complete shutdown of all transportation of goods which means that the goods and materials can not be moved from one place to another. For example, the steel that was created in Alabama can not get to Georgia where it is needed to build factories. The main points of my reconstruction plan are that we need to punish the South for their acts of treason in not supporting the Union and we need to ensure that we protect the rights of the freed slaves. If we do not impose stricter polices the South will revert back to the same social and political way of thinking that started this war in the first place (Allard, 2006). What are the consequences of the reconstruction plan that I am proposing? One consequence is stricter federal intervention the South. Confederate officials will no longer be allowed...
Words: 797 - Pages: 4
...The Reconstruction Era was from 1865 to 1877, following the Civil War. In this era, the United States experienced reconstruction to help restore its socioeconomic and physical environment from the aftermath of the war’s damage. Some goals included ensuring civil rights to free African Americans through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, reuniting the Southern States into the Union, and trying to restructure and build the ties between the state and federal governments. However, Reconstruction also led to the failure to protect African Americans through the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, and the economic success that was gained during Reconstruction was not evenly distributed and was unstable. Reconstruction became successful...
Words: 544 - Pages: 3
...Reconstruction Ramon Diaz HIS/125 12/8/2013 Kristopher Daniels 1. Columbian historian Eric Foner (1983) quotes W. E. B. DuBois in calling Reconstruction a “splendid failure (p. 16).” After studying the events of the late 19th century, defend whether or not you agree with his position. What are the long-term implications? After having an opportunity to research and study the facts of the events of the late 19th century, I definitely have to agree with W. E. B. DuBois quote, which calls Reconstruction a “splendid failure”. When President Lincoln introduced the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863, the three main goals were to restore the Union, transform southern society, and enact some type of progressive legislation protecting the rights of blacks. Soon after the Civil War ended the process of reconstruction began and some progress was made. A number of new liberal laws and amendments were enacted by Congress that protected the rights of all blacks under constitutional law. This laws and amendments included; the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment which granted blacks citizenship, the Fifteenth Amendment which gave black men the right to vote, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which banned racial discrimination in all public places. By the end of the 19th century, the Nation was reunited once again, and all the states in the south had abolished slavery in their own individual constitutions...
Words: 932 - Pages: 4
...Reconstruction of the United states of America was a big failure and here are some reasons why. The government never had taken the biggest step and that was land redistribution. After the civil war slaves were left with no economic rights and basically became peasants to society and had no lives and couldn't live like they would of liked to. “Freeing slaves also led to crippling the land and the foundation of the south.” The reconstruction of the south lasted between the years of 1865 to 1877. Republican legislature failed to protect people who were once slaves from the white people that had been apart of the persecution committee. The supreme court eventually came to totally get rid of anti-progressive legislation to reverse the rights...
Words: 1005 - Pages: 5
...Historians have long debated the question of the failure and successfulness of the freedman’s Bureau. Some have come to agree that the Bureau was both shorthanded and underfunded. Historians biggest criticism of the Bureau is that it failed to secure land for most freedmen, this intern made the freedmen vulnerable to Southern white manipulations and contributed to the loss of their newly won civil rights. However, by using these scholarly I will be able to prove the argument that the freedman’s Bureau was more of an unpredictable and a fail attempt by the U. S government. These scholarly sources will help look at...
Words: 1664 - Pages: 7
...Rights. Of course, there some progress was made, most notably during Reconstruction (1865-1877) wherein the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were passed by Congress, but all of this work was reversed by the subsequent Redemption period. There is much debate as to why Reconstruction failed; some believe that it was the lack of economic power in the black community that caused the failure. This idea is echoed by Robert Cook who states, "One of the principal reasons why southern blacks were unable to thwart the conservative counter-revolution…which occurred in the...
Words: 325 - Pages: 2
...After the Civil War ended in 1865, a series of “repair” started. Reconstruction, happened between 1865 to 1877. It attempted to rebuild the broken nation politically, economically, and socially. Also, it was meant to rejoin the South and the North together. The Union congress felt the south should be punished before they rejoin the nation and have all their rights reinstated. However, it had made some success during the Civil War, but there were more failures at some degrees brought by the South. The Confederacy attempted to appease many of the conditions to become states again; they still didn’t want to give the former slaves actual rights. In many ways the Reconstruction era can be considered both a failure and a success. But it ended the...
Words: 1208 - Pages: 5
