While Reconstruction was a period that saw dramatic changes in policy-making, it is generally regarded as a failure by historians. While the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments abolished slavery and clearly defined citizenship rights for all Americans, its scope gradually diminished to the point that blacks' legal status in the South was virtually the same as it was in the antebellum period (if not worse).
Why does Reconstruction seem so promising at first, only to fail a decade later? What were the forces both driving Reconstruction policies as well as resisting them? In your opinion, did any of the Reconstruction policies have a hidden agenda? If so, what was it?
Reconstruction may just have happened too fast and too soon after a time of crisis. The article even states that no other nation that abolished slavery in the nineteenth century had granted slaves equal rights to those of whites. Coming right out of a devastating war while trying to patch up the country was already an incredibly difficult task to complete and even harder with all of these Reconstruction policies. Many southern sympathizers and pro-slavery people obviously still existed right after the civil war which paved the way to an inevitable formation of radical groups opposing reconstruction. These radical groups started to unfortunately spread racist ideas which in turn created more trouble than before for blacks.
ReplyDeletei believe that the reason why Reconstruction is looked good at first but failed later on was because the country was still divided after the war. As the war ended the two sides stopped fighting but the ideal war was still going on. The North put its ideals on the south with the emancipation proclamation and the south "rebelled" in the way they rejected or manipulated the reconstruction ideas and governmental actions. I also think that the fact that many blacks were still in the south made the south upset as well because the work of three white men could be done by one black man in half the time and that kind of efficiency it very good for business. That fact only added fuel to the "fire" that was and still is racism today. This was the era od the founding of the radical white supremacist groups such as the KKK and i think that is why reconstruction is looked upon as a failure.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, there were many opposing views to this "Reconstruction" idea. In the article it states, "The future status of the Thirteenth Amendment was assured, but paradoxically the future status of the reconstructed states that had ratified it was not. The new governments were riddles with high Confederate officials." This is a major problem towards a successful Reconstruction. On top of this, "the new governments threatened the very freedom of the former slaves." The contrasting opinions for what is right for society, I believe, is the foundation for why Reconstruction seemed to backfire and fail a decade later.
ReplyDeleteLike Nicki said, maybe it was too soon for America to bring slaves from the horrors of slavery to an equal level as whites. It would anger many people who had grown up believing themselves to be better than slaves.
ReplyDeleteThis, of course, led to groups like the KKK spreading their ideas among other people. This is why reconstruction is considered a failure by historians.
Because it was necessary to include southerners in the Reconstruction, it was hard to recreate an equal society. People in general just were not ready for blacks to move up the social ladder. They went from being sub human to putting their masters in jail. It seems like equal rights was less of a progression, and reconstruction proved to be to abrupt to set the foundations of an equal society.
ReplyDeleteThe Reconstruction Period came immediately after the economic and landholding collapse of the country. There was still a very bitter taste in the mouths of Southerners, Southern sympathizers, pro-slavery supporters, etc. No matter what Amendment was added to the Constitution, many people believed that black people were not truly human. Trying to join the country and repair the damages so fast was a poor choice, and brought about an unsuccessful Reconstruction.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of people were happy about the Reconstruction programm at first, because it reunited the South and the North very quickly. People felt as if the United would be complete again. But in the same time, while the governments of the southern states agreed in the 10% plan that Abraham Lincoln had made to make it easy to reunite the States, the people in the Southern States didn't felt at all like reuniting with the Union. The gap between south and north remained. And reconstruction also failed in reconstruct the Southern Economy and giving African Americans equal rights. Examples like the death of Till Emment, decades after the reconstruction, show us that Blacks were not socialized at all.
ReplyDeleteI can conclude that the superficial appeal and later collapse of the reconstruction was due mostly to the division of the american people post-war. The vast spectrum of views,beliefs, and ideals ripped the reconstruction plan in half, much like 2 hands hold a piece a paper and ripping it down the middle. With one hand representing the Union and the other the former Confederates.
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