ipl-logo

Revolutionary Reconstruction Pros And Cons

849 Words4 Pages

The Revolutionary Reconstruction After America was devastated by the Civil War, several critical developments were instituted into the general idea of revolutionizing the future of America in constitutional and social aspects. In the reconstruction period of 1860-1877, several of these conflicting proposals, such as the additions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and the essential compromises to balance governmental powers, loomed amongst the future of black citizens and the future of America. Although it is argued that these acts did not contribute long or short term benefits to the overall betterment of our developing nation, I believe that the majority of the implicated concepts provided concret reasonings to perhaps provoke the greatest …show more content…

African Americans were finally recognized as free citizens and we given the right to work, marry, and vote. However, the new hopes of the aspiring black community quickly diminished when reality came upon, and they were to be thought of again as slaves. Due to the implication of black codes and forced sharecropping, black citizens were technically forced to return the farms with restricted freedoms and a very slight income. Although it seemed to be a busted scheme to liberate the black community, numerous services, such as the Freedmen's Bureau, assisted to the improvement of black citizens. In Robert Butchart’s “ Freedmen's Education during Reconstruction,” he states that “the bureau assisted the aid societies in meeting the burgeoning African American demand for education.” (Butchart). This service provided hopes and inspirations for the black population to get an education and find new opportunities in the workforce. Overall, although the newly freed black society was not granted equal opportunities, the concluding results of these amendments and supportive organizations served as long term benefits for the improvement of America's future while revolutionizing the manner of which the black community lived their …show more content…

In “The Failure of Reconstruction,” the authors state that new laws “required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which broadened the definition of citizenship, granting “equal protection” of the Constitution to former slaves.” (Failure). These laws sufficed as a revolutionizing turning point for black citizens because they were guaranteed equal opportunities in all portions of America. By allowing fair citizenship, this may have potentially transformed the future for the African American population; therefore, once again proving that this time period revolutionized our country’s future. In a different aspect, our country also experienced revolutionary changes in constitutional means. In this time, our country was divided amongst the argument of the overall amount of state and federal powers. In Senator John Sherman's speech to congress, he stated that “The policy of this country ought to be to make everything national as far as possible; to nationalize our country so that we shall love our country… The [lack] of such nationality, I believe, is one of the

Show More
Related

  • Reconstruction Dbq

    491 Words  | 2 Pages

    From segregation and voting laws to sharecropping, reconstruction did not turn out to be the success it had the potential to be. Many years later, we are

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On Reconstruction

    750 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 19th century, slavery and the Reconstruction was a sore subject for the South. Reconstruction forged civil rights for African-Americans, but once the North’s influenced waned in the South, the South terrorized African-Americans and blocked them from accessing their newfound rights. While Reconstruction may have brought civil rights, those rights were quickly squashed by the South’s racism. Even after certain freedoms were securely gained, every new attempt to make African-Americans equal to the white populace was contested. A large group of people were happy to see slavery ended and civil rights rise.

    Read More

  • How Did Slavery Put An End To The Civil War?

    377 Words  | 2 Pages

    My dear nation, it has been twelve years since the terrible war that brought an end to slavery. Over those years, it has been a bit of a rebuilding process for our nation, more so in the south. The war left many towns in the South destroyed, with plantations burned and railroads destroyed. Soon after the war, the Freedman’s Bureau was established, and brought food to millions of newly freed slaves. It also started schools, and made efforts to settle blacks on their own land.

    Read More

  • The Crop-Lien System Analysis

    747 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the ending of the Civil War in 1865, America was in an era known as the Reconstruction. The Reconstruction lasted until 1877. Citizens were attempting to rebuild our nation following one of the deadliest war in American History. In this time, the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution were ratified. Although slaves were freed, African Americans still faced intense racial prejudice and discrimination.

    Read More

  • Who Killed Reconstruction?

    288 Words  | 2 Pages

    Who Killed Reconstruction? “The blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” said a Boston newspaper in 1873 saying that the Africans-Americans were too dumb to be in Congress or any political office. Three years later, was the 100th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. With the irony of the election of 1876 had officially crushed the African-American dream. In 1877, the Reconstruction efforts finally ended, so people were wondering who killed Reconstruction.

    Read More

  • New Deal Dbq

    1921 Words  | 8 Pages

    Following his presidency, President Truman’s “Fair Society” and President Johnson’s “Great Society” programs continued to seek economic security and successfully raised the middle class of all groups, yet Liberals had limited political power, making discrimination and poverty still weighing on the backs of Black men and women. Though generally successful in ending the Depression and offering aid for most Americans, in the face of conservatism, sexism, and racism, Black men and women were disproportionately held back from reaping the benefits of the New Deal

    Read More

  • Political Participation During The Reconstruction Era

    1260 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many historians, researchers, politicians, and scholars have considered reconstruction as turning point for the ratification of equality laws that would eliminate racial segregation for equally rights. However, a close follow-up of the controversial developments that occurred immediately after the end of the Civil War in 1865 indicates dissimilarity. The reconstruction era might have made a history of enabling African Americans to vote and become state legislatures, but some major political personnel consider Reconstruction as a failure, which led to non-ending political controversies, murder, and assaults indicating general failure. Robert Smalls and Wade Hampton are some of the major political people who participated in the continuity of the Reconstruction era and their actions and words prove its failure, as explored in this study. However, their consideration of black freedom contrast because Smalls demonstrates the harmful actions of

    Read More

  • Of Agency And The Failure Of Reconstruction By W. E. B. Du Bois

    725 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roxi Wessel American Political Thought 5 April 2023 Agency and the Failure of Reconstruction W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction pushes back against the prominent historical interpretation that Black people had no agency in their lives before and throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. His chapter “Back Towards Slavery” in particular illustrates how this agency, and thus Reconstruction as a whole, was thwarted by Southern efforts to diminish the political and economic power of Black people as they attempted to establish themselves as honest laborers. Throughout Black Reconstruction, Du Bois underscores the complex relationship between economic and political affairs, especially surrounding issues of Black freedom and democracy.

    Read More

  • During The Reconstruction Era Analysis

    1133 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).

    Read More

  • Reconstruction Act Of 1860

    380 Words  | 2 Pages

    Recently the country has been handed the decision of whether or not to end reconstruction. To find this answer, it must be determined whether or not the southern states fulfilled the requirements of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, if the states “in good faith” implemented the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and if federal troops are still needed in the southern states. As of now, the southern states have proved themselves to have successfully fulfilled the requirements of Reconstruction Act of 1867 as evidenced by their significant steps towards racial equality regarding political power. After this act came into action, the African Americans were given real political power for the first time. This lead to public schools, enacted civil rights

    Read More

  • Civil War Reconstruction

    1285 Words  | 6 Pages

    The period right after the civil war can be characterized as an active period, fraught with policy and action with the purpose to consolidate the nation. Congress and the president of the united states approached this reconstruction era differently. New definitions for the status of African Americans arose from the ashes of the war, quantified by the ratification of the 13th 14th and 15th amendments. Consequently, there was a adverse southern reaction to this change that led to several antiblack protocols, especially exemplified by the Jim Crow system Considering this historical information, one can see that the nation was in fact not successful in rebuilding the relationship between Americans of African and European ancestry.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Jim Crow Laws On African Americans

    1246 Words  | 5 Pages

    The struggle for acceptance among the African American population has been a long and tedious journey. From their enforced enslavement, to “emancipation” in 1863, African Americans have not only fought to gain their rights, but to keep them. Since the end of Reconstruction, African Americans have fought for rights equal to those of their white counterparts. This fight intensified following World War II when black soldiers returned home to the irony of having fought for freedom in Europe, while having few freedoms of their own in the United States. Although there has been extreme progression due in part to the Civil Rights movement, there still remains a strong and persistent disadvantage for African Americans.

    Read More

  • Essay On Failures Of Reconstruction

    835 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Good Lord Bird Symbolism

    1393 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 1776, the United States became a free nation independent from Great Britain. It represented a world where all individuals were equal and had the opportunity to start anew. However, that was not the case for African Americans. They did not receive the same opportunities as white citizens and did not get their “freedom” declared until 1865 with the creation of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery (The Library of Congress). To this day, the portrayal of African Americans is used as a tool to enhance the image of a white man or woman.

    Read More

  • The Successes And Failures Of The Reconstruction Era

    515 Words  | 3 Pages

    The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

    Read More

More about Revolutionary Reconstruction Pros And Cons

Open Document