Monday, November 4, 2013

Policies and Intent

While Reconstruction was a period that saw dramatic changes in policy-making, it is generally regarded as a failure by historians.  While the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments abolished slavery and clearly defined citizenship rights for all Americans, its scope gradually diminished to the point that blacks' legal status in the South was virtually the same as it was in the antebellum period (if not worse). 

Why does Reconstruction seem so promising at first, only to fail a decade later?  What were the forces both driving Reconstruction policies as well as resisting them?  In your opinion, did any of the Reconstruction policies have a hidden agenda?  If so, what was it?

12 comments:

  1. It seems so promising at first because there were so many people that were talking about it and so many people wanted to do something about it. Reconstruction was something that everyone wanted to be done and everyone was trying to do whatever they could to help reconstruct the states and their citizens. There were many forces that were driving reconstruction policies and resisting them. Reconstruction addressed how the eleven seceding states would regain self-government and be reseated in Congress, the civil status of the former leaders of the Confederacy, and the Constitutional and legal status of freedmen, especially their civil rights and whether they should be given the right to vote. Violent controversy erupted throughout the South over these issues. I do think that the Reconstruction policies had a hidden agenda. They were probably waiting for other things to happen in the country before reconstruction could take place. Things such as other people stepping up like MLK to take a stand over slavery, instead of government officials.

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  2. Even though reconstruction seems so promising at first maybe the reason why it failed a decade later was because it happened to fast after the war and people didn’t have the time to “grieve”. In the article it talks about how "the new governments threatened the very freedom of the former slaves." This is a problem because the whole point of the war was to abolish slavery however the idea of racism cannot be abolished. The reconstruction period came too soon because a lot of radical groups started to form who were made up of a lot of southerners and pro- slave people. And I do think that most of the reconstruction policies did have a hidden agenda. I agree with Christina because the government officials were hoping that everyday common citizens would step up against segregation so that they wouldn’t have to because if a white political official got involved in segregation movements then the within the government there would be a lot more fighting.

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  3. I totally agree with Meghan the war happened way to fast. At the time the war ended they were still divided. So there were just as many problems as there was during and before the war. So basically even though people said it was over, it was still going on in some sorts. A argument that was still going on at the time was slavery. people believed that equaling the rights of African Americans happened to quick. Because the emancipation proclamation freed all slaves and the people who grew up on slavery were very mad about this and they thought that this process should have happened over a long period of time. Now me personally, I believe that this should of ended long before all this because something like this should have never happened to begin with.

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  4. Even though the war ended and the two sides stopped fighting, the North and the South were still divided somehow. First of all because of the recent emancipation proclamation that made the south so upset because even though some blacks were still living in the South, they could not use them as their workers anymore.
    The fact that America brought the slaves from the nightmare of slavery to be as equal as whites was maybe too fast for a time of war. Because of that, there were many different opinions and views of the Reconstruction. That is why Reconstruction seemed to be a fail a decade later.

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  5. I agree with chandler in how even though the end of the war seemed promising, it didnt mean that either side had changed its mind, the south still felt the same way as it had previously. Because the southerners still had farms that needed to be worked on, they still felt the same way about slavery as they had previously , and due to their minds not being changed it meant reconstructing very difficult because the sides were still divided. There was also a huge tax installed, something that the south had wanted to avoid in the first place. Another thing is they forgot to take in account "black suffrage" . The new governments threatened former slaves rights .

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  6. Even though the reconstruction was a seemingly promising project at first, i would say that the goal of the reconstruction was unrealistic because even though slavery had been abolished, the sense of racism towards african american people was not something that could be abolished from people's perspectives. Therefore, except for the fact that slavery has been abolished, the Blacks were pretty much treated the same way as the antebellum period. In addition, the reconstruction failed because parties of southern groups started to get power. The fact that the Congressional Reconstruction increased all the southern states political power exemplifies the point.

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  7. I believe Reconstruction was a failure because the United States just rushed into it. It was wrong to assume there wouldn't still be turmoil and friction between the North and the South right after the war. What was even more unrealistic was the thought that blacks would just suddenly be equal to whites in American society after 150 years of oppression in both regions. It was just a huge change and a lot for the nation to take on so abruptly.

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  8. Reconstruction seemed to be doing so well at first because Lincoln was still alive and in power. He was popular among all the Republicans, except for the radicals, and had just won a war, so he did not have that much trouble reinstituting governments in the South. He was also more lenient to the South. But when he was assassinated that all changed. Johnson became President and a tumultuous period in our government ensued. The Republicans sided together against Johnson and after he vetoed their fourteenth amendment and tried to fire federal office holders friendly to the radicals, they impeached him. A government this unstable was not able to surpass the strong tensions that remained after the Civil War. The Northerners wanted to take everything away from the Southerners to punish them, and the Southerners did everything in their power to not follow the Unions new civil liberty laws. They created their own laws that formed a society similar to South Africa under apartheid. Also, many new Southern "governments were riddled with high Confederate officials" who were against civil liberty laws and the redistribution of land to former slaves. Tensions in the South heightened so much that in New Orleans, white citizens and policemen rioted and killed many former slaves.

    Since the freeing of the slaves greatly increased the legal Southern population, Southern representation skyrocketed in congress. Some of the amendments seemed like they were made to ensure that Republicans remained in power. For example, no Confederate officials were allowed to be in the government, and all men, regardless of race had suffrage. If the Southern states allowed African-Americans to vote, this would in theory lead them to vote for Republicans, which would lower the amount of Democrats in Congress.

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  9. Before the assassination of Lincoln, the reconstruction seems hopeful and promising, although he was still under great pressure. After his death, politicians rapidly split into two groups, one support the reconstruction, the other did not. The reconstruction presents great unfairness toward the South, which could be potential dangerous for the South's economy and postwar recovery. Politically, the more rights were given to the blacks, the more influence it will have on both parties. I am not really sure about these parties and still confuse about each of their goal.

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  10. Reconstruction absolutely failed. The assumption that the country would somehow just magically mend itself was a total misconception and the idea that the long with standing turmoil between the North and the South would simply dissolve after the war. The North and the South remain to have differences even in present day and the idea that those differences would be worked out shortly after the war is insane. After Lincoln died, the reconstruction process seemed a lot more distant than when he was alive. Lincoln was pulling everyone together to support a reconstruction but his death caused an immediate divide of politicians, for and against reconstruction. The war that was being fought to "abolish slavery" did succeed in that in some ways, but at the same time, blacks were still segregated after the war and were still considered lesser than whites. It took decades after the war and many more vital events in history to enforce equality between whites and blacks. The nation had a lot to deal with in a very short amount of time; in an ideal world the nation would have been introduced to the change slower.

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  11. reconstruction seemed so promising because those proposing it knew how to talk the talk. Everyone wanted this foreseen goal but no one really worked for it. They kind of thought it would just fall into place. They kind of just brushed the conflict between the north and the south under the rug hoping it would resolve itself, which it obviously couldn't and didn't. Lincoln was kind of like the glue holding this operation together and after his death reconstruction pretty much fell off the table. He's credited with ending slavery, which is somewhat appropriate but he didn't really fix much. They kind of started strides but they were facing very long term resolutable problems. ideally, Lincoln would've faced these issues head on and made plans for their further solutioning.

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  12. reconstruction was used as a fresh start for a old fashion and obsolete south region. It allowed the north to establish railroads and transportation means. only problem with reconstruction was that once time passed the south enacted jim crow laws that completely undermined the laws new civil rights clauses. its hard to rehabilitate a country when all they do is disrupt and ignore the rules you have implemented.

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