Introduction
The period immediately following the Civil War (1865 -1877) is known as Reconstruction. Its promising name belies what turned out to be the greatest missed opportunity in American history. Where did we go wrong? And who was responsible? Renowned American history professor Allen Guelzo has the surprising answers in this eye-opening video.
This video was made in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust. Learn more about the Reconstruction at Battlefields.org: bit.ly/2NzppkE
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Script:
The American Civil War ended in 1865. And a new conflict immediately began.
The North won the first war. The South won the second. To truly understand American history, one needs to understand how this happened, and why.
The years immediately following the end of the Civil War—1865 to 1877—are known in American history as “Reconstruction.” What should have been a glorious chapter in America’s story—the full integration of 3.9 million freed slaves—instead became a shameful one.
It began with the assassination of Republican president Abraham Lincoln. One week after the Civil War effectively ended, the one man with the political savvy and shrewdness to have guided Reconstruction was gone.
His successor was Vice-President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat. Johnson was the rare Southern politician who stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Lincoln added him to his reelection ticket in 1864 as a gesture of wartime bi-partisanship. But Johnson was wholly unprepared for the task.
Under his Reconstruction plan, the defeated rebels would be allowed to return to power, almost as if they had never left. The only requirement to rejoin the Union was that they agree to ratify the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery.
This was fine with the old Southern Democratic ruling class. By agreeing to abolish slavery, they would actually increase their political power. Whereas the Constitution’s old 3/5ths clause limited slave states to counting only 3/5ths of their slaves for the purpose of determining representation in Congress, after the Civil War, the Southern states were able to count 100% of the freed slaves.
This would ensure the return to Congress of Southern Democrats, and in even greater numbers than before the rebellion, allowing them—with the help of their Democratic Party allies in the North—to fight Republican efforts to secure the citizenship rights of the former slaves.
Johnson’s plan set off three years of bitter political warfare. The Republicans in Congress created their own Congressional Reconstruction plan. Still in the overall majority there, they reorganized ten of the Southern states into military occupation zones, requiring them to write new state constitutions that recognized black civil rights before they could be readmitted to the Union.
Over fierce Democratic opposition, the Republicans also managed to pass two new amendments to the Constitution—the 14th and 15th Amendments—guaranteeing due process in law and voting rights in elections. Those rights enabled the former slaves to help elect new state governments, to hold office, and even to send the first black representatives and senators to Congress—all Republicans.
Most important, in 1869, with the help of 500,000 votes from newly-enfranchised blacks, a new Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, took office. Grant was solidly behind the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
But a new problem arose: Disgruntled Southern whites organized themselves into ad hoc militias to terrorize Southern blacks and their white Republican supporters into silence. The largest and most famous of these militias went by a still-familiar name: the Ku Klux Klan.
For the complete script, visit www.prageru.com/video/reconstruction-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
Video
The American Civil War ended in 1865.
And a new conflict immediately began.
The North won the first war.
The South won the second.
To truly understand American history, one needs to understand how this happened, and why.
The years immediately following the end of the Civil War—1865 to 1877—are known in American history as “Reconstruction.” What should have been a glorious chapter in America’s story—the, full integration of 3.9 million freed slaves—instead became a shameful one.
It began with the assassination of Republican president Abraham Lincoln.
One week after the Civil War effectively ended, the one man with the political savvy and shrewdness to have guided Reconstruction was gone.
His successor was Vice-President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat.
Johnson was the rare Southern politician who stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War.
Lincoln added him to his reelection ticket in 1864.
As a gesture of wartime bi-partisanship.
But Johnson was wholly unprepared for the task.
Under, his Reconstruction plan.
The defeated rebels would be allowed to return to power, almost as if they had never left.
The only requirement to rejoin the Union was that they agree to ratify the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery.
This was fine with the old Southern Democratic ruling class.
By agreeing to abolish slavery, they would actually increase their political power.
Whereas.
The Constitution’s old 3/5ths clause limited slave states to counting only 3/5ths of their slaves for the purpose of determining representation in Congress, after the Civil War, the Southern states were able to count 100% of the freed.
Slaves.
This would ensure the return to Congress of Southern Democrats, and in even greater numbers than before, the rebellion, allowing them—with the help of their Democratic Party allies in the North—to fight.
Republican efforts to secure the citizenship rights of the former slaves.
Johnson’s plan set off three years of bitter political warfare., The Republicans in Congress created their own Congressional Reconstruction plan.
Still.
In the overall majority there, they reorganized ten of the Southern states into military occupation, zones, requiring them to write new state constitutions that recognized black civil rights before they could be readmitted to the Union.
Over fierce Democratic opposition.
The Republicans also managed to pass two new amendments to the Constitution—the 14th and 15th Amendments—, guaranteeing due process in law and voting rights in elections.
Those rights enabled the former slaves to help elect new state governments, to hold office, and even to send the first black representatives and senators to Congress—all Republicans.
Most important, in 1869, with the help of 500,000 votes from newly-enfranchised blacks, a new Republican president, Ulysses S.
Grant, took office.
Grant was solidly behind the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
But, a new problem, arose: Disgruntled Southern whites organized themselves into ad hoc militias to terrorize, Southern blacks and their white Republican supporters into silence., The largest and most famous of these militias went by a still-familiar name:.
The Ku Klux Klan.
President Grant fought the Klan and other like-minded terror.
Groups.
But the fight required an extended military intervention to keep the peace, and that cost time and money.
Grant also had to deal with Northern Democrats, who were sympathetic to Southern racism.
With.
Each new election—1868, 1870 and 1872—they gained more congressional seats and more power.
And then, in 1873, a major financial depression, began.
Economically desperate, anxious to put the remnants of the Civil War behind them, voters gave control of the House of Representatives back to the Democrats in the 1874 midterm, elections.
Grant left office in 1877., Soon after, the last Republican state governments in the South were overthrown.
Black voters were disenfranchised, “Jim Crow” racial segregation became the order, and the South returned to social and economic backwardness.
What.
Could we have done better? First,? We should have imposed a real occupation on the defeated Confederacy, until a new political generation grew up in the South, which learned a newer lesson about race and rights than white supremacy.
Second.
We should have gotten landownership into the hands of the freed slaves and brought the South into the same world of free, markets, economic, mobility, small-scale manufacturing and industry that Lincoln’s Republicans advocated.
But.
The truth is that the North had won the war.
But.
The South had won the peace.
That’s, the real story of Reconstruction.
I’m Allen Guelzo, professor of American history, at Gettysburg College, for Prager University.
FAQs
What was the main cause for the end of Reconstruction answers? ›
While many factors led to the end of Reconstruction, the official end is generally attributed to the Compromise of 1877. The compromise resulted from a long process that included political turmoil, continuing division over race, and economic difficulties.
What were the solutions that the Reconstruction tried to fix? ›Serving an expanded citizenry, Reconstruction governments established the South's first state-funded public school systems, sought to strengthen the bargaining power of plantation labourers, made taxation more equitable, and outlawed racial discrimination in public transportation and accommodations.
Do you think Reconstruction was a success or failure why or why not? ›Reconstruction was a success in that it restored the United States as a unified nation: by 1877, all of the former Confederate states had drafted new constitutions, acknowledged the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government.
What were the problems with Reconstruction? ›Violence, mass lynchings, and lawlessness enabled white Southerners to create a regime of white supremacy and Black disenfranchisement alongside a new economic order that continued to exploit Black labor.
What were 2 factors that led to the end of Reconstruction? ›Some argue two decades. But there were specific reasons why Reconstruction came to an end and those had to do with violence, corruption, race, factionalism and the election of 1876.
What best explains why Reconstruction ended? ›Reconstruction ended with the contested Presidential election of 1876, which put Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in office in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South. Republicans and Democrats responded to the economic declines by shifting attention from Reconstruction to economic recovery.
What was the main failure of Reconstruction? ›The failure to stop violence and protect the political gains of Reconstruction was a policy failure: the U.S. government failed to coordinate and plan to suppress a nascent insurgency; failed to deploy enough troops or use the troops with consistency; failed to consider other options to secure the rights of Black ...
What are the 3 key issues of Reconstruction? ›Reconstruction encompassed three major initiatives: restoration of the Union, transformation of southern society, and enactment of progressive legislation favoring the rights of freed slaves.
What caused the need for Reconstruction? ›Reconstruction began when the first United States soldiers arrived in slaveholding territories and enslaved people escaped from plantations and farms; some of them fled into free states, and others found safety with U.S. forces.
What were two reasons Reconstruction failed? ›The combination of white intimidation, a significant economic depression in the South, and the Democratic Party winning control of the House of Representatives in 1874, resulted in Reconstruction beginning to fade away.
Was Reconstruction a success explain your answer? ›
Reconstruction was a success. power of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Amendments, which helped African Americans to attain full civil rights in the 20th century. Despite the loss of ground that followed Reconstruction, African Americans succeeded in carving out a measure of independence within Southern society.
Was Reconstruction a success yes or no? ›Reconstruction was successful in helping to reunite a divided country. Equally important, the concept of "civil rights" was established during this period.
What are 2 negatives of Reconstruction? ›On the negative side, however, Reconstruction led to great resentment and even violence among Southerners. Terrorist organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan, struck fear into the hearts of African Americans and anyone who cooperated with the Republican governments.
What was the most important Reconstruction issue? ›One important issue was the right to vote, and the rights of black American men and former Confederate men to vote were hotly debated. In the latter half of the 1860s, Congress passed a series of acts designed to address the question of rights, as well as how the Southern states would be governed.
What were the cons negatives about Reconstruction? ›- Deeply embedded racism in the South.
- Economic weakness.
- Johnson issued pardons to rebels in the South who then re-asserted authority.
- Black codes.
- Sharecropping.
- The KKK.
- Lacked support in political positions.
- Homeless and unemployed.
President Hayes' withdrawal of federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina marked a major turning point in American political history, effectively ending the Reconstruction Era and issuing in the system of Jim Crow.
What is one reason for the end of Reconstruction in the South quizlet? ›Reconstruction came to an end due to the Compromise of 1877 , which was set because of political disagreements ( between Radical Republicans and President Johnson ) not yielding results in the South .
What events led up to the end of Reconstruction? ›Rutherford B.
Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tildon in 1876 but won in the electoral college when Democrats agreed to his election on the condition that Reconstruction and the military occupation of the three states still being reconstructed be ended. This deal was known as the Compromise of 1877.
The formal end to Reconstruction was brought about in the disputed 1876 Presidential election. The Democratic candidate, Tilden, won the popular vote, but neither candidate initially had a majority of electoral votes due to disputes over returns in Florida, Louisiana and S.