Reconstruction Dbq Essay

In the years 1861-1865, the United States had a Civil War between the North and South. As a result, the North won, and the period after the war was called Reconstruction. It was called Reconstruction because the North’s goal was to Reconstruct the South, but there were many issues in this era. Slavery, and giving Social, Political, and Economic rights to African Americans were one of the most debated issues in this period though. Between the Radical Republicans, who wanted to give full citizenship and rights to African Americans, and Andrew Johnson, who did not want to give African Americans, there were a lot of issues that came about during this time. With all of the issues that occurred during this time, Reconstruction was not successful

The first document that shows this is Document H, this document shows Black Codes in Louisiana. Black Codes are restrictive laws created by southern states to restrict African Americans’ freedom. There were many of these laws, such as not being able to own a house or live in a town without permission from a white owner, or that African Americans have to be in the service of a white person or former owner. This shows the failure of Reconstruction because people were finding ways to restrict African Americans’ rights, which violates the 14th Amendment, which states that all citizens born or naturalized have full rights and citizenship. Another document that shows this is Document I. This document shows what the Ku Klux Klan is. The Ku Klux Klan (or KKK) was a white supremacy group, that used violent steps to undermine the republican party and prevent equality for African Americans. This shows how Reconstruction failed because African Americans were still treated very unfairly, even when they were not

This is first shown in Document D, which was the Freedman Bureau, an organization that provided food, housing, and more for African Americans’. This was a good idea and would’ve helped out African Americans a lot, but it didn’t work out exactly as planned. Some of the issues with this were lack of funding for all of it and persistent racism in the South. So even though people made attempts to help out African Americans’, it didn’t work out completely in their favor, proving that Reconstruction did not protect African Americans’ economic rights. Furthermore, Document F explains “The Sharecropper Cycle of Poverty.” Sharecropping was a loophole in that southern plantation owners found out how to basically have slaves again, even when it was illegal. The owners would provide food and land to the sharecropper (African American) but when it was the end of the year, the owner would tell the sharecropper that he owed more than the sharecropper could pay. And since the sharecropper had to pay his debt back, he would have to come back another year and do it all over again. This clearly breaks the 13th Amendment, which doesn’t allow people to work for free other than for punishment for a crime. This proves that Reconstruction was a failure because slavery essentially came back, just in a different