Reasons Why The Reconstruction Era Failed

“All persons held as slaves within any States…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was created for any and all the enslaved men and women to be set free. Afterward, the idea of Reconstruction came along. Reconstruction was a time to rectify the loss that the states had sustained during the Civil War. But, resistance from the south, belief that freedmen should be treated differently, and poor leadership led the Reconstruction Era to a failure.

The idea of Reconstruction was favored by many of the northerners. It was forced upon many of the southern states and in return, there were even more “racial attitudes” steaming in the south. The north and south were furthermore pitted against each other based on these conflicting points of views. The newly freedmen had a choice of returning to their shareholders or living on the streets. Death rates shot up during this time as a result of many of the freedmen not supporting themselves and their families. The Freedmen’s Bureau was then set up for those with no resources. It provided proper housing, food, medical treatment, and education. Southerners were now enraged because they believed that those freedmen should not be equal to the white American citizens. This led to the ratifying of the 14th and 15th amendment in 1868 and 1870 respectively. The 14th amendment declared that anyone born in the United States remain an American citizen. The 15th amendment prevents any government official from denying any citizen among the states the right to vote due to their skin color, or their “previous condition of servitude”. The south did not want to cooperate with the north or their plan to reconstruct the states.

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Lincoln believed in self-reconstruction in the states. This meant that the states would work as a community to build back the damage caused by the Civil War. Unlike the Radical

“All persons held as slaves within any States…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was created for any and all the enslaved men and women to be set free. Afterward, the idea of Reconstruction came along. Reconstruction was a time to rectify the loss that the states had sustained during the Civil War. But, resistance from the south, belief that freedmen should be treated differently, and poor leadership led the Reconstruction Era to a failure.

The idea of Reconstruction was favored by many of the northerners. It was forced upon many of the southern states and in return, there were even more “racial attitudes” steaming in the south. The north and south were furthermore pitted against each other based on these conflicting points of views. The newly freedmen had a choice of returning to their shareholders or living on the streets. Death rates shot up during this time as a result of many of the freedmen not supporting themselves and their families. The Freedmen’s Bureau was then set up for those with no resources. It provided proper housing, food, medical treatment, and education. Southerners were now enraged because they believed that those freedmen should not be equal to the white American citizens. This led to the ratifying of the 14th and 15th amendment in 1868 and 1870 respectively. The 14th amendment declared that anyone born in the United States remain an American citizen. The 15th amendment prevents any government official from denying any citizen among the states the right to vote due to their skin color, or their “previous condition of servitude”. The south did not want to cooperate with the north or their plan to reconstruct the states.

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Lincoln believed in self-reconstruction in the states. This meant that the states would work as a community to build back the damage caused by the Civil War. Unlike the Radical Republicans in Congress, Lincoln did not believe in punishing any of the southerners. Lincoln was a very integral part in the future of Reconstruction and his vice president at the time, Andrew Johnson was left with the task of completing what Lincoln had started. Johnson took a very different political view, then Lincoln. Eric Foner describes Johnson in an article on Reconstruction as “one of the worst presidents to occupy the White House.” Even after the Civil War had ended, Johnson still believed that blacks were not equal. He allowed the Freedmen’s Bureau to fail because of minimal funding on his part. The Black Codes were also created. These laws required that all blacks have written evidence of employment. If they left their contract earlier than promised they would be forced to return any money they received and were most likely going to be arrested. Overall, everything that Johnson “accomplished” was unconstitutional for those unfortunate enough to be hated for their skin color.

In the end, Reconstruction is viewed by many as a failure to fulfill the promise of emancipation. Blacks were not viewed as equal citizens of the states as whites, there was poor leadership that made many unconstitutional decisions, and lastly, the tension between the north and the south allowed nothing to be accomplished. In other words, the Reconstruction period is indeed like today’s political views.