Reconstruction DBQ

Imagine Being forced to work hard labor day and night for someone who treated you badly. How you you feel if you were forced into slavery and then laws changed to worse conditions? Four million African American Slaves may have gained their freedom, but the process of rebuilding brought the South significant challenges. Conflict continued between the North and the South as the whites resentment towards the South lead to violence. After the destruction of the Civil War, the United States an immense challenge of rebuilding. The Reconstruction Era started after the War ended which was in 1865. For all Americans, Reconstruction was a time of fundamental changes. As for the freed slaves it was unsuccessfully achieved socially, economically, and politically.

During the Reconstruction period, between 1865 and 1877, the nation had a lot of work to do. After the Civil War, their was a huge impact left on the south. All slaves in the south were set free to help the union win the war. This did not make everyone happy. They had to learn to live and support themselves on their own.

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

After the Civil War conditions were really bad because a lot of homes and personal properties were destroyed. Because of the War the Union lost 370,000 troop members and the Confederacy lost 260,000. Total 375,000 troop members were injured. Many civilians in the South died because of access to food was infrequent. I believe Reconstruction was necessary because after four long years of war they should move on from it and reunite as one.

The Reconstruction Era was the time where they tried to fix all the issues from the American Civil War. They were dealing with the issue of the Southern states wanting to rejoin the Union, the leaders, and of course what rights the freed slaves had. The northerners wanted to punish those in the South, and the southerners wanted to just keep their way of life the same. The northerners were angry because the Southern states were allowed back into the Union by Lincoln trying to bring them all back together quickly, which the Radicals were against. Then came letting the freed slaves vote and have rights.

This was a huge relief for America considering how long the North and South had conflicts with each other. After the war the South was destroyed and needed the years during the reconstruction to rebuild itself. Meanwhile, during the following years, the South was so focused on regaining what they had lost during the war they were not concerned about battling with the North. The South had over three million newly freed slaves to focus on rather than trying to gain their power back. Therefore, the North and South were finally at peace during the reconstruction because the South was focused on rebuilding their society rather than gaining control over the

The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

Noah Dominguez 9/17/15 Ss;2nd hour/Eng:3rd hour DBQ Reconstruction North or South. Who killed Reconstruction? Looking these ruins that still lay here, I just sigh with disbelief. In 1876, after winning the war, America was on a complete roll.

They were had no desire for blacks to have rights and felt that they should be slaves. By attacking, burning their homes and killing blacks in the north and

The National Women Suffrage Association, as you can no doubt tell, was National. Led by the high-minded members, nameely Stanton and Anthony, the NWSA wanted a federal way to gain rights.

As the Ku Klux Klan’s membership grew, organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which fought to end racial discrimination and segregation, grew as well. With these two growing groups pushing for opposite ideals, tensions continued to increase. The NAACP pushed for reform and rights for African Americans and the Ku Klux Klan combated their progress with lynching and

The Reconstruction Era of American history was plagued by many problems. One of the most important problems being the recently released from slavery Freedmen. Freedmen were in a tricky situation in which they had just been released from their owner and had nowhere to go, but the Federal Government made many successful attempts to help them out. The Government helped alleviate all the problems Freedmen had from their finances to basic needs and rights, and in doing so, made the period of reconstruction more helpful than harmful for Freedmen. The events of reconstruction were helpful to freedmen as they were not only freed from slavery, they were given rights directly from the federal government.

Reconstruction transformed African Americans lives and improved their lives while it was happening. The thirteenth amendment made it so that all African Americans were freed, but they didn’t always benefit from that. However, most southern states passed “Black Codes” that restricted the rights of African Americans. Though African Americans were granted rights, under the fourteenth amendment their rights were often violated. During Reconstruction, African Americans were better off than they had been before and better off than they would be in the years following Reconstruction.

You can see how reconstruction was supposed to help the newly freed slaves while the definition of reconstruction says that it was, “ensuring the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans,” (Terms to know, On reconstruction.) This shows how some of the intentions of reconstruction were supposed to help bring newly freed slaves safely into the society. The newly freed slaves would have been fond of the idea of being brought safely into the society. You can see this again when it says, “Presidential reconstruction began in 1865 with the ratification() passing of the thirteenth amendment freeing slaves, and continued lincoln’s signature of the bill that created the Freedmen's Bureau. The Bureau was to feed both black and whites in the south, establish schools to teach former slaves to read and write, help them find paying jobs, and shield them from discrimination,” (Stage One: Presidential reconstruction 1865 - 1866.)

The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,