Reconstruction Failure

Letting go of something you held so tightly on for the last two centuries can be very difficult. The South definitely was not eager to free all their slaves, especially when their entire economy was hinged on it. Slavery went through many changes between the American Revolution and the early nineteenth century. Between 1775 and 1830, the slave trade both expanded and decreased, creating challenges for both free and enslaved African Americans alike as they struggled to gain equal rights to their fellow American

Sharecropping becomes a minute step up from slavery when the fact that the workers rarely were paid if at all, that due to their debts, workers never owned their own land so they couldn’t support themselves, and that this practice

Sharecropping is when a landowner allows somebody to use their land in return for a share of the crops grown on the land. It was most common in the South after the Civil War. The freed slaves chose to be share croppers because farming was the only thing that they knew how to do. Instead of getting wages for working an owner’s land, most freed slaves preferred to rent land for a fixed payment, because they were afraid that they would still have to be told what to do. In the first years after the Civil War, most black people in rural areas of the South were left without land and forced to work as laborers on white-owned farms and plantations so they could earn a living.

Reconstruction was an attempt reconcile the country and bring it back together, however it was not the success Abraham had hoped it to be when initiated before being assassinated. The failure had many effects on African American communities in both the north on the south both negative and positive. Socially black slaves were freed but not really accepted into society. Black codes were utilized which placed pressure on African Americans about things like when to meet with friends and where they should live. Discrimination against black flourished as the Ku Klux Klan a group of people who wore robes and mask went around pretending to be the ghost of Confederate soldiers.

After World War II, civil rights became an increasingly important topic in American politics. The landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson had set a precedent for legal segregation and Jim Crow laws thrived in the South. Racism ran rampant across the country, affecting the lives of millions. This become increasingly problematic as America tried to convert more nations to democracy but lacked equality at home. President Harry S. Truman recognized this issue, and acknowledged that we could not support democracy in other countries while we allowed legal racism at home.

The Ku Klux Klan or KKK has created centuries of fear. They originated in Pulaski, Tennessee. The famous hate group was out to re establish white supremacy. The KKK has influenced local governments and people in power. It has also had an impact on American people and specifically black minorities.

Felipe Ferla US History 1: Lesson 7 The Reconstruction plan proposed by President Lincoln was a failure due to some factors regarding mainly the different mind-sets of the North and South. First, both in the North and South there were radicals that recurred to violent and extreme acts to impose their will. In addition, because, especially in the north they were a political party, they created laws that greatly affected the South and consequently the Reconstruction. Second, even though there were a number of laws declaring equality of black and white people, the population in the South still treated former slaves and colored people as inferior beings, limiting their work opportunities and preventing them from voting. Finally, and probably

Although the law changed, people were not as quick to the change, so African American were continually mistreated until others stood up for them and put their feet down just like Thurgood Marshall did in order to let African Americans gain equality. Marshall was a strong believer in the law and that things can and would change for the better like how he suggested "The Negro who was once enslaved by law

Jim Crow Laws which supported racial segregation. These failures during the Reconstruction made it harder in the North and the South. The Reconstruction Era was important because it attempted to give the African Americans a better life, yet there were successes and failures. If it wasn’t for the assassination of President Lincoln the successes would exceed the failures and the “Black Codes” wouldn’t exist.

slaves wherever they were, this new change brought great difficulty to the Southern black population. The Purpose of the Reconstruction Era was to create a society where blacks and whites could co-exist with slavery. Blacks did not know how to be free and whites did not know how to have freed slaves around them. The south saw the Reconstruction Plan as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it. After the war, many teachers from the south and north worked to educate the newly emancipated population.

To do this, they sent troops into the South, which they were not very pleased with. During Reconstruction, freed slaves still did not have the same opportunities that white people did. The Civil rights laws were made to protect former slaves and make sure everyone is equal, but still, the South cannot agree and continues to make life nearly just as bad as it had been before the war. In the document written by a former slave, he expresses how poorly they have been treated. When Lincoln was president, Reconstruction ran alot smoother.

On the other side of the Reconstruction, it was filled with missteps. While the Reconstruction gave the slaves their freedom, the idea of it was pessimistic. To begin with, the Southern whites rejected all forms of equality and the African Americans wanted nothing but freedom and land to call their own. The differences between the two races led to inevitable riots. The Reconstruction failed when the states adopted the Black Codes.

In the seventeenth chapter of A People 's History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn, he discussed the anger and emotion in African Americans. He implored how it can erupt in big ways. Even though, the government created reforms, they were not fundamental and the laws passed were not enforced. This developed two different ideologies in society about how to deal with the problem of discrimination and racism. In society, African Americans had been oppressed for a long time, leading to the ultimate question "Does it explode?"

In his third study, Volk states that the early abolitionist movement members, both black and white, represented a decided minority. One whose rights, were fragile indeed in a two-party system favoring the majority with racial prejudice. Those opposing segregation fought hard, succeeding at times, against laws in northern states that make interracial marriage or integrated schools and transportation systems illegal. the apposing party eventually convinced legislatures in a few New England states to integrate public amenities, including trains and busses, but Volk points out that blacks went through horrible conditions in the many years antedating these, sort of, victories. They “typically remained on ship decks exposed to rain, wind, extreme temperatures and rough seas.

This question truly depends on how one interprets the entire obstacles that took place during the Reconstruction. Case in point, blacks were not equal although, they were free officially, blacks remained fighting for their equal rights. The Jim Crow laws were put into place, black codes were developed and blacks were unable to exercise their voting rights. The Carpetbaggers came from the North only to gain economically from the South’s loss during the Civil War, leaving many southerners homeless. In addition the South angry and bitter, they felt there way of life no longer existed and rebelled against free slavery, forming white supremacy the Klu Klux Klan.