Evaluating Our Reconstruction Plan Despite the fact that our Reconstruction Plan improved many aspects of the original one, there were still some pitfalls within it. Our plan had the pitfall of requiring southerners to accept paying higher taxes in return of employing the modified Freedmen's Bureau. Southerners will dislike this as they'll have to pay for the freedmen's support. Since southerners are also racist, they will not appreciate having to pay for freedmen’s benefits. They will likely not abide by these terms, so a compromise might be necessary. Though, freedmen need additional benefits due to practically starting off of nothing in society. Another pitfall in our plan is the requirement that two-thirds of the population in the southern …show more content…
Our Reconstruction Plan differed from the original plan by making two-thirds of the southern states’ population take an oath of allegiance to the Union, rather than the ten percent that the old plan required. This makes it harder for southern states to be readmitted into the Union. The 10% Plan made it too easy for the South to rejoin the Union and gain political power once more. After being readmitted into the Union, southern political power rose drastically. This resulted in the South having more control over the former Confederate land, leaving black people to be controlled and taken advantage of due to the fact that their government was racist. With our plan, the South does not gain as much power and it will take time for all southern states to rejoin. Another aspect of the Reconstruction Plan that our group did better in was making sure new amendments were enforced. Increased and stronger military occupation in the South could make it so the new amendments were enforced and white supremacist groups would be controlled and ended. This did not happen with the original plan, meaning discrimination and terrorism against black people ran rampant. Though, the original Reconstruction had done better at making sure the Freedmen’s Bureau did not affect southerners as much. The original plan made sure that freedmen got their land without harming the South. With our plan, we provided more benefits, but at the same time would have made the South angry because we would have made them pay higher taxes. This could have led to another outrage and possibly another secession. If secession did not occur, then most likely white supremacist groups would have increased and done much more terrorist attacks. In conclusion, even though we significantly improved upon the initial Reconstruction Plan, there were
While this is true, the main reason for the Ten-Percent Plan was to quickly establish peace and not to punish the South (shown by Congress’ plan of reconstruction). Even though the plan created by the Radical Republicans would benefit African Americans and slaves, it would create conflict in the South. This is because the plan required Confederate states to abolish slavery, prevent Confederate from voting and holding government positions, and reorganize land and southern government before rejoining the Union. The plan created by Andrew Johnson gave more freedom to the state governments, which helps with compromising with the South, but didn’t give rights to African Americans. Lincoln’s plan, on the other hand, would reunite the North and South peacefully and quickly while giving rights to the African Americans.
Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction as one of his many goals was to regain representation by abolishing slavery. (Reconstruction Power Point). “…a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10 percent of its voters… had taken oath of allegiance to the United States and pledged to abide by emancipation.” (Piehl 353). After having the Ten Percent plan introduced and Lincolns assassination, the Thirteenth Amendment freed the slaves, weakening the south.
By 1877 the congressional reconstruction plan set in motion by radical republicans ended by the compromise of 1877 in the United States of America. The congressional reconstruction plan had aimed to better the lives of freedmen in the United States of America, and essentially equal to their white counterparts, I think it was unsuccessful attempt, because of how the lives of the slaves turned out to be and how it allowed for the creation of the Black codes. The reconstruction plan had aimed to abolish slavery, Freedman's bureau to raise living standards and lastly provide voting rights. Before the 13th amendment there was no law that stated that African Americans were free, they were called freedman, and the lives of the slaves weren't dogmatic.
After the Union won the Civil War, the United States went into seven year period, known as Reconstruction. The goal of Reconstruction was to rejoin all the states into the Union and to help rebuild the South. While the goal of Reconstruction was rightful, the final result of the period didn’t do much to put America into a better place than where it was before the Civil War. During Reconstruction, the radical northern abolitionists was pushing to make America a country where everyone was equal, and granting every citizen, regardless of their ancestry. The Northerns tried to make everyone equal members of society and give each and every one of them a voice in their own government.
One plan of Reconstruction that had an impact was Lincoln’s original plan. Lincoln’s plan was named The 10% plan. The 10% plan was the first plan to be used and was favored in the South because it was not severe and very easy. Lincoln’s plan was that 10% of white voters in the South had to take an oath of loyalty to the U.S. to be able to join it again and any Confederates who served would be offered amnesty, this included everyone but the leaders who would get punished but only minimal amount. If the state swore loyalty they would again be a U.S. state which means that they would get a representative in Congress.
When the Civil War ended, the southern states were obviously in difficulty because of it. The southern states were in ruins because of the war. The war was so chaotic that it destroyed so much businesses, homes, hospitals exc. It had a scar in history and even to this day, it still had its effects. So President Abraham Lincoln pulled thorugh with his promise and a successful plan was created, The official plan called the Reconstruction plan.
In my opinion I believe that the reconstruction was both a success and also a fail. The reason that it was a success was the simple fact that the United States got its name back again. The reconstruction era helped the United States become a unified nation. Another pro from this era was the fact that the North and the South no longer had any form of separation. During this time, three new amendments were added to the constitution.
After 4 years of a brutal war that ended in the Union's favor, the U.S. faced a new challenge rebuilding our country. Reconstruction lasted for 12 years and during that time we attempted to put our nation back together. Reconstruction's goal was for whites and blacks to live together in a non slave society. However the Southern states were not welcoming to this idea because they still believed in slavery and they believed it was the only way to live in peace. Despite the intentions of the Reconstruction era, the failure to address equality ultimately led to the idea of white supremacy and the oppression over African Americans.
In 1863, Reconstruction became apparent, officially starting in 1865. Because of Reconstruction, several things in the USA went wrong. The negatives of reconstruction were enormous. Several ideas, such as Johnson’s plan, Lincoln’s plan, and the Radical Republican plan (“Reconstruction”). Because of the plans crashing and burning, the USA was continuously getting worse, and more and more and more separated.
But after 30 years, there were none. Reconstruction was also a success because it Restored the U.S as a unified nation, as stated in Reconstruction (1865-1877) by sparknote, “Reconstruction was a success in that it restored the United States as a unified nation” This evidence shows that reconstruction was also a success because because it Unified the United States, there were new laws invented by it. Reconstruction failed mostly, but had some good outcomes, it failed because of the president and not treating racism seriously. But there were some good things that
Tensions were starting to get higher , many cities were from procrasination and were starting to get ruined , the Emancipation Proclamation had declarced force against the proclamation and abe lincoln said “forever free,” and the question of a national identity hung in the air. A plan for Reconstruction, the time period after the civil war that was marked by a sense of rebuilding, was desperately needed. Three different proposals for bringing the Southern states back into the Union were considered: President Lincoln’s, Vice president andrew johnsons ,and the Radical Republican Plan. President Lincoln began formulating a plan back in 1863 nearly 4 years before the war
Although many attempts were made to prioritize freedom and equality for all, these values were undermined by racist Southerners who wouldn’t accept equality. In the end, Reconstruction had failed and former slaves endured another hardship akin to slavery. However, Reconstruction still could have prospered. There are multiple events that, if they had occurred, Reconstruction would not have failed. For example, had the government continued to fund the Freedmen’s Bureau, then the South would have legislated their discriminatory laws much later, if not at all.
Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.
After the Union won the major battles that is when Lincoln had put the ten percent plan on the table, this plan was when ten percent of the state’s eligible voters pledge oath to US then they could join the Union. To begin with, there are a few reasons why one would say that reconstruction in the south was a failure. One of these reasons being that, even after the civil war in the South’s government passed laws to limit the rights of the free African Americans. In document C we can see this is evident where it states “No negro or freedmen shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission of his employers. Whoever breaks this law will go to jail and work for two days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.”
Abraham Lincoln’s vs Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Lincoln shared the uncommon belief that the confederate states could still be part of the union and that the cause of the rebellion was only a few within the states which lead him to begin the reconstruction in December of 1863. This resulted in plans with lenient guidelines and although they were challenged by Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln still rejected his ideas and kept his policies in place. Lincoln also allowed land to be given the newly freed slave or homeless white by distributing the land that had been confiscated from former land owners however this fell through once Johnson took office. After Lincoln’s death when Johnson was elected many things started to turn away from giving blacks equal rights and resulted in many things such a black codes which kept newly freed slaves from having the same rights as whites. When Lincoln first acted after the civil war, he offered policies that would allow the confederate slaves to become part of the union again and would allow a pardon for those states.