Reconstruction Dbq Essay

Reconstruction was the twelve years after the civil war. Those twelve years were full of readjustment fixing the ruin the United States had fallen into. The problems that had the United states in disarray were how to, rebuild the South, reunite the states, and ensure the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans. The civil war left the South in shambles, and newly freed slaves struggled to adjust to their new freedom. Most Southerners hated reconstruction and everything else about the North. Freed slaves felt that reconstruction was going to help them so in general, they felt good about reconstruction.

Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.

The Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.

When reconstruction ended, we all could say we were united under one nation. This ensured that blacks would always be free from going back to the life of a slave; although, many people were so against reconstruction it caused a lot of hate in the south towards the blacks. The black people were given rights that were much like the rights that white people had. The southern states had new constitutions and recognized the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments’ after reconstruction ended in 1877. Education was provided to the blacks, not just the whites. Freedmen’s Bureau was created which helped the homeless people that were poor.

During the late 1800s, because the South had been decimated by the end of the Civil War, .the Reconstruction Period was initiated to aid the South’s recovery. Although the Civil War did abolish slavery and unify the North and the South, the war not resolve racial prejudice, the South’s damage, and the African Americans’ economic instability. The Reconstruction Period was initiated in order to prevent economic instability and the structural ruin, because since slavery was abolished, and the South was completely dependent on slaves, therefore slaves could not work for the South to maintain the economy, and slaves also could not fix up the damages done to the structures done to the South during the war. By starting the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing

The Reconstruction was important to American history because it gave all different types of people their rights. The fourteenth amendment, The Dawes act and The Homestead Act all have things in common. All of these acts involve something to do with race and or forcing people out of their homes or land.

Some benefits African Americans had during the Reconstruction period was it helped them with gaining full freedom after being freed from slavery. It gave the Blacks rights and made sure they got their constitutional right to vote especially and made it harder on Whites to deny them this given right. Reconstruction left out women in general. The Northern whites were able to manipulate the situation so that those representing would be White, putting them above the Blacks.

I’ve never done a research paper throughout high school so this task was definitely a “roadblock” for me. I started off looking for topics in my handy dandy history book; the Give Me Liberty!: An American History Seagull 4th edition by Eric Foner. What seemed to catch my eye was the Civil War Era. The Civil War has always been one of the most fascinating issue to me behind WWI and WWII since I was in middle school. I knew this is where I wanted to base off my essay. There is obviously a lot of events that happened in the Civil War, so I knew I had to be more specific on my topic. This was probably the most difficult part of this assignment so far. Some general topics in mind was the Thirteenth Amendment, Freedman’s Bureau, and Reconstruction.

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).

The Civil War allowed the United States to make the changes necessary to unify the country. In addition, it began one of the most transitional periods in the United States’ history. This period, the Reconstruction, brought about many political, social, and economic changes, which were both beneficial and disagreeable. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Panic of 1873, and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan are just a few examples of heavily impacting events for the United States.

The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life. Reconstruction was a program used to help the south rebuild and join

April 12, 1961, marked one of the most historical events that have ever occurred in the United States -the Civil War. This war was fought by the Union (Northern states) and the Confederates (Southern states). Several factors contributed to the clash of both sides, such include: trades, tariffs, states’ rights, and the idea of slavery. After four years of fighting, the Southern states lied under complete destruction. On May 9, 1865, the fighting was over -the Union had won the war. Soon after the war was over, President Abraham Lincoln introduced his reconstruction plan to reunite the nation, and have it function the way it used to.

The reconstruction to the constitution created a new way of things. A big thing was equality to everybody no matter what you were or supported. Reconstruction was in a way to some people was the golden opportunity to purge the nation of slavery and create “ perfect republic”. People like Thaddeus Stevens thought citizens should enjoy equal and political rights. Creating the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments empowered a new different state. It gave people the freedom to choose what they do with their life and their possessions without discrimination or unfair treatment toward them and their families. Thus giving people the choice of government, groups, and leaders to follow towards and believe. Either Anarchist, or following people like Malcolm X, The weather underground, or joining Sons of Liberty.

Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet

The reconstruction period was a time of cause and effect. It was a time when in order to rebuild the strength of society economically, socially, and politically after a the loss of life and stability in the civil war. In the socratic seminar we discussed how the during the reconstruction period the goal was to ‘fix’ the south as in the eyes of the government, they were the cause of the problem.