The Failures and Successes of Reconstruction: Ids (Year, Chief Justice)
The Failures and Successes of Reconstruction: Ids (Year, Chief Justice)
The Failures and Successes of Reconstruction: Ids (Year, Chief Justice)
Dr. Hogge
APUSH
April 27, 2015
The Failures and Successes of Reconstruction
Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. During Reconstruction, though there was
very little that it succeeded in, its successes were vital to America’s stability at the time. It
helped the United States to fortify and become a unified nation after the Civil War. Because
of Reconstruction, the old Confederate states all drafted new state Constitutions that
acknowledged the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. In addition with
stabilizing the relationships between the states and unifying the country, Reconstruction
also settled an almost century old, as far back as the 1790s, issue of states’ rights vs. federal
rights. While Reconstruction achieved these great things, it failed in almost all of its other
ventures. For example, even though the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments
had passed, sharecropping – basically a form of slavery that tied African-Americans to land
that was owned by rich white farmers – in the South was very much legal and widespread.
Also, the Radical Republican legislation failed to protect many former slaves from white
persecution and it could not change the social views of the South. After the removal of
federal troops in the South in 1877 by President Hayes, the former Confederate political
and social leaders in the South almost immediate rose to positions of power. As the
Supreme Court changed and became more conservative, black codes, voter qualifications,
and other anti-progressive legislation was passed that basically reversed all the rights that
the African-Americans had gained during the Radical Reconstruction in the South. In the
beginning, Reconstruction met many of its goals, but as time went on northerners grew
tired of the radical reform and fighting for civil rights. Because of this, the South went
unchanged in its political and social views and Reconstruction failed to be a lasting help for
African-Americans in the South.
Documents:
1. The Former Slaves Confront Freedom (pages 4-6) in reader
Explains and shows how, although nationally African-American freedom was
achieved, the social structure in the South allowed for little change.
2. Black and White Legislature (pages 19-20) in the reader
Describes the reaction and effect of black suffrage being forced upon the South and
how newly freed slaves were exploited by both unionist Southern whites
(scalawags) and Northern carpetbaggers that traveled around doing farm work.
3. Henry Lowther Falls Victim to the Klan (page 30-32)
Example of how the social society in the South changed very little to help the
African-Americans. With the Ku Klux Klan’s “reign of terror” beginning, it is clear
that Reconstruction did little to help the African-Americans in the South.
Successes:
Reunification of Union
o After four years of separation and civil war finally rejoined
Restored and unified them as: United States
Southern and Northern Economy
o Expanded
South’s loss of slavery created job opportunities
Carpetbaggers – Northern, traveling, farmhands
o Disliked by Southerners
New Laws
o Thirteenth Amendment
Abolished slavery in all “within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction”
o Fourteenth Amendment
Granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the
United States” that included former slaves
Provided “equal protection under the laws” for all citizens
o Fifteenth Amendment
Prohibited states from disenfranchising voters “on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude”
Assistance for the poor and homeless
o Freedmen’s Bureau
Education
o Provided to all
o Forced upon in the south
Compromise o 1877
o Republicans would be in charge if they rebuilt the South
o Tie between Hayes (R) and Tilden (D) over votes in Florida, Louisiana,
and South Carolina
Special committee made in Congress to resolve election
Hayes President
o Compromise of 1877 passed by Democrats since
they thought Hayes hadn’t actually won
Dismiss troops in the South
Rebuild Southern railroads
Let the South be free
Enforcement Act of 1870
o Reinforced 13th Amendment through “bann[ing] the use of terror, force,
or bribery to prevent people from voting because of their race”
Failures:
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
o Reason for Enforcement Act of 1870
o Violently attacked many African-Americans and made a spectacle
Wanted slaves and laborers
Worried about rising African-American rights
o Just one of many forms of racism in both South and North
Poverty
o Many white Southerners lost lands and lost slaves cannot afford
workers lost economic opportunities
Trapped in poverty cycle
African-Americans had few job offerings
o Sharecropping/tenant farming
“trapped” African-Americans to the land
one of the few sources of work for them
very complicated and made African-
Americans very little money for a lot of work
Basically countering 13th Amendment
Industrialization
o Very slow in the South
o Still heavily farming
Taxes
o Raised to rebuild South
Brought corruption
Because of corruption little went to rebuilding the South
Social/Political Restrictions
o Black codes were restriction on how freedmen should live
o Jim Crow laws supported discrimination and racial segregation
Both countered basically 14th Amendment
o Poll taxes and reading tests
Restrictions on Southern voting
Basically countered 15th Amendment
Supreme Court
o Became more conservative
Slaughterhouse Cases
New Orleans suffering due to dirty drinking water due to
Crescent City Live-Stock Landing and Slaughter-House
Company
o Ruled in favor of Crescent City
Used 14th Amendment since Crescent City
rented space to local butchers must allow
butchers of any race to “sustain their lives
through labor”
o Showed issues with amendment and inclined
Southerners to want Radical Reconstruction
stopped
U.S. vs. Cruikshank (1876)
White Democratic insurgents that attacked Black
Republican freedmen that gathered to resist Democratic
office takeover
o Ruled to overturn white convictions
Made precedent that 14th Amendment (due
process and equal protection cause) applied
only to state action not individual citizen
action must rely on state courts for
protection
U.S. vs. Reese
First voting rights case under 15th Amendment and
Enforcement Act of 1870
Set precedent that 15th Amendment did not grant right of
suffrage, but prohibited exclusion due to race
o Invalidated section 3 of Enforcement Act since it did
not include words about race, color, and servitude
ruled as exceeding scope of 15th Amendment
While Reconstruction was initially good at reaching its goals, as time passed many of its
ruling were twisted and overturned as the government changed from Radical Republicans
to more conservatives causing it to fail in many of its ventures for racial rights in the South.