Essay on Recostruction – Success or Failure?

Reconstruction was a complete failure. I believe this because even though Lincoln abolished slavery, black men still did not have equal rights to white men. This reconstruction period was from 1865 to 1877. During this period, blacks were getting frustrated because they might have gotten freedom, but they still were being treated like slaves.

Lincoln’s plan to rebuild the South was that 10% of the state’s population to take an oath of loyalty to the United States. As seen in document one, Lincoln established the 13th amendment which abolished slavery.

The reformers who helped get this amendment added to the Constitution were all Republicans. When Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson became president. He tried to continue Lincoln’s plan. Although the radical republicans set him up and got Andrew impeached by using the Tenure of Office Act. This act means that the president can not fire a cabinet member without senate approval. Andrew Johnson apparently “violated” this act and was impeached because of it.

The next president was Ulysses S. Grant who had formerly been a general for the Confederate army. For obvious reasons, he favored the South over the North. Ulysses tried to abide by the presidential rules, but eventually (since the white house was in the North) the radical republicans got a hold of the reconstruction plan and were able to punish the South. The Radical Republicans made it difficult for the South to come back into the nation. For these reasons, sharecropping was created.

As \explained in document three, sharecropping was when the freedmen worked at the farm and in return, they received a percentage of the crops and was able to stay at the farm. Freedmen could sell the crops they were given and get money from them or keep them to eat. Sharecropping was like “slavery in disguise” because the freedmen were getting so little that it really didn’t make much of a difference. Freedmen’s Bureau was organized to help former slaves get healthcare, education, and jobs. This organization brought hope to freedmen because they were finally able to get help. Nevertheless, there were multiple difficulties for a black man.

Some of these hardships were called black codes. Black codes limited the rights of freedmen. One of the black codes was that they had to have a job. If they had no job, the black man would be sent to jail. They would also not get a rightful court case. They could sit through their case, but they were not able to sue anyone. But things started to turn for the better when the Ulysses S. Grant added the 14th and 15th amendment to the Constitution.

The 14th amendment granted citizenship for African-Americans. This worried the white Southerners because they were afraid that the freedmen would get too much power. They were afraid because the population of the African-Americans was much more populated than the white southerners. They didn’t want the freedmen getting too powerful because they know that then they will be able to rebel. As seen in document two, the 15th amendment gave the right to all males to vote. This means that whatever your color, race, or background, you are able to vote. This amendment terrified the White Southerners because now everyone is able to voice their opinion. This means that their elected officials may not be reelected because there are so many African-Americans that all the presidents, congressmen, representatives and all the other national elected officials will be pro-African-American. So, the white Southerners come up with ways to get around the 15th amendment.

One of the ideas was a literacy test which means that you could only vote if you knew how to read and write. Although, this completely backfired because only wealthy people knew how to read and write. So poor whites would not be able to vote. Another way the Southern white tried to get around the 15th amendment was through poll tax. This means that everyone had to pay to vote. But this also backfired because a lot of white Southerners also didn’t have a lot of money either. But the last way that the white Southerners went with was called the Grandfather Clause. This meant that if your grandfather was able to vote before reconstruction then you could vote. This worked simply because all of the whites, whether they had money, if they could read and write, most of them could vote because their grandfathers were white. This prevented most black men from voting because a lot of them came from slavery. Therefore they were unable to vote.

Another thing that made life harder in the South was the KKK, short for Ku Klux Klan. These people went around at night and terrorized anyone who supported the North. They would murder and beat anyone they found suspicious. No mercy was ever shown. News quickly spread about these people and eventually got around to president Ulysses S. Grant. He immediately sent out troops to arrest and take to jail anyone who they suspected to be apart of this horrible group. Thankfully the KKK stopped the murdering and beatings for a while.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end for the poor African-Americans. Jim Crow Laws were set in place to segregate the blacks from the whites. This meant that schools, bathrooms, neighborhoods, and public pools must be built separately for the African-Americans and the white people. This was set in place so that white people wouldn’t have to share or even look at a single black person all day.

All of these events took a huge toll on the freedmen. This is the reason why I believe that Reconstruction was a failure.   

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