Shayna Valentine

Dr. Nabours

American History II

October 10, 2021

The Reconstruction Era

The Reconstruction era, which lasted from 1865 to 1877 and marked a key chapter in the history of civil rights in the United States, was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865). Reconstruction, as directed by Congress, abolished slavery and ended Confederate secession in the Southern states; it presented newly freed slaves (freedmen; black people) as citizens with (ostensibly) the same civil rights as other citizens, rights guaranteed by three new constitutional amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Reconstruction also refers to Congress’s attempt to reform the 11 former Confederate states, as well as the Union states’ role in that transformation.

Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, who led the Republican party in opposing slavery and fighting the war, Vice President Andrew Johnson took office. He had been a strong Unionist in the South, but suddenly embraced the ex-Confederates and became the Radicals’ and Freedmen’s most powerful opponents. He wanted to leave the rights (and destiny) of former slaves in the South primarily in the hands of the returning states. While Lincoln’s final speeches outlined a big vision for Reconstruction, including freedmen’s suffrage (the ability to vote), Johnson and the Democrats were fiercely opposed. Johnson’s Reconstruction measures were largely successful until the 1866 congressional elections, which came after a year of violent attacks against black people in the South, including rioting in Memphis and the killing of freedmen in New Orleans. Republicans won a majority in Congress in the 1866 elections. They were now in a position to push for the 14th Amendment’s adoption. They centralized the preservation of equal rights for freedmen and dissolved rebel state legislatures, mandating the adoption of new state constitutions across the South that protected freedmen’s civil rights.

Republican coalitions took power in nearly all of the former Confederate states and immediately set out to reform Southern society by deploying the Freedmen’s Bureau and the United States Army to construct a free-labor economy to replace the slave-labor economy. While negotiating labor contracts and establishing schools and churches for freedmen, the Bureau secured their legal rights. Thousands of Northerners moved to the South to serve as missionaries, teachers, businesspeople, and politicians in the social and economic reconstruction efforts. Many "shortcomings and failures" of Reconstruction have been noted by historians, including the failure to protect many freed blacks from Ku Klux Klan violence prior to 1871, starvation, disease, and death, and the brutal treatment of former slaves by Union soldiers, while offering reparations to former slave owners but not to former slaves. [3] Reconstruction, on the other hand, had four major achievements: the restoration of the Federal Union, limited retaliation against the South immediately after the war, black property ownership, and the establishment of national citizenship and legal equality.

Wartime Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction, and Radical or Congressional Reconstruction were the three phases of Reconstruction, which finished with the Compromise of 1877, when the US government withdrew the last of its troops from southern states, effectively ending the Reconstruction era. The presidents conducted the first phase of Reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 to 1877. Abraham Lincoln had led the North admirably through the war and sought to bring the country back together. His assassination, however, put an end to his hopes for national unity. He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson. Radical Republicans. After the 1866 elections, the second phase of rebuilding began, with Congressional Reconstruction, 1866-1873, stressing civil rights and voting rights for freedmen. Erstwhile Confederate States of America

During the Reconstruction era, racist violence and arduous labor played a part. Black people were essential in the rebuilding phase since they built their own institutions and more. They were also employed in the war against the Indians. “The anti-black terrorism that marked the era was condoned – and frequently sponsored- by local governments.” Despite the fact that the age was supposed to be the end of slavery, it was nevertheless practiced. I had assumed that racism existed even after the ‘abolition’ of slavery, and that black people continue to face discrimination to this day. Every victory, though, was marred by bloodshed. African Americans rebuilt their families, went to school, and established their own institutions. During the presidential reconstruction, black men did not vote. Many African American men exercised their citizenship privileges in 1867, during Congressional rebuilding. After the civil war, the period of reconstruction promised black independence and civil rights. "Those enslaved can marry, earn income, change employers, and earn property," according to legal freedom. African Americans forged their own path to liberation through their own education. Only men were able to vote at the time, but politics piqued the interest of entire families and communities.

The 1876 Compromise effectively put an end to the Reconstruction era. Southern Democrats failed to keep their commitments to defend black people’s civil and political rights, and the decline of federal involvement in southern affairs resulted in widespread voter disenfranchisement. Money allocated for reconstruction projects was misappropriated by individuals. The focus of Reconstruction was shifted due to a lack of government unity. Southern states were unable to administer Reconstruction projects due to their poverty.

Reference

Kolchin, Peter (2018). "The Business Press and Reconstruction, 1865–1868". Journal of Southern History. 33 (2): 183–196.

C. Gabriel Jackson(2017), "The ‘Voting Rights Act of 1867’: The Constitutionality of Federal Regulation of Suffrage During Reconstruction", 82 North Carolina .