The Era of Reconstruction

The International High School at Lafayette

American History
Mr. Joel
Unit 4- Civil War and Reconstruction
Nat-adji Bello, Winsky Moses
 Introduction of the reconstruction:

In 1865, the American Civil War came to an end

and the period of Reconstruction began. The purpose

of Reconstruction was to restore the Southern states

to the Union and to insure the rights of the recently

freed blacks. From the start, the President and the

Congress clashed over which branch of the

government should have control of the

Reconstruction process. This became an important

issue, which went beyond the concerns of

Reconstruction itself. Specifically, the struggle

between Congress and the Presidency was

concerned with determining the relative power of the

legislative and executive branches. During the

course of Reconstruction, Congressional power

became dominant in the U.S. government. This

dominance was to continue throughout the

Reconstruction period, until 1877 (Document 1).

Historical Context

The National Government (Abraham Lincoln)

sent big business to help reconstruct southern states

like Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and also

experiment giving land to ex-slaves in South

Carolina. But the southern people wanted to benefit

and reconstruct the land (Document 2). Lincoln’s

Believed it would simple restore the south and he

could get back the Union. After The Assassination of

Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson amnesty

proclamation (May 29, 1865) was more severe than

Lincoln's; it disenfranchised all former military and

civil officers of the Confederacy and all those who

owned property worth $20,000 or more and made

their estates liable to confiscation; Andrew Johnson,

enacted new laws and constitutional amendments

(Document 3). One of them was to give the

southerners the right to vote and hold office.

The positive effects of the Reconstruction:

The reconstruction of the state society in the

southern state they had to build everything again,

but three amendments to the constitution affected

entire nation in the different reconstruction state,

also the army is trying to recruit freedmen and it will

protect free states.

After the emancipation proclamation issued the

reconstruction politics. And the confederate came

under to control of the union army.

President Abraham Lincoln set up the reconstructed

governments in several southern to during the civil

war. Abraham Lincoln was in the dollar bill”. In

February, 2 that change to the half dollar could be

made congreeiomal approval by February 9 the leach

to discover the organs of the branch design

(Document 4).
Negative Effects of Reconstruction

The bad handling by Andrew Johnson led to his

impeachment on February 24 of 1868 on eleven

articles of impeachment detailing his high crimes and

misdemeanors. Violent opposition from the Ku Klux

Klan and similar groups, In time, the North

abandoned its commitment to protect the rights of

the former slaves, Reconstruction came to an end,

and white supremacy was restored throughout the

South.

Black Codes, laws passed on the state and local level

in the United States to limit the basic human rights

and civil liberties of blacks; which led to Jim Crow.

Many freedmen were killed in an attempt to

"recapture" slaves and

The South faced economic turmoil caused by printing

CSA bills and carpetbaggers (Document 5).

Conclusion

For all Americans, Reconstruction was a time of

fundamental social, economic, and political change.

The overthrow of Reconstruction left to future

generations the troublesome problem of racial

justice.

For much of this century, Reconstruction was widely

viewed as an era of corruption and misgovernment,

supposedly caused by allowing blacks to take part in

politics. This interpretation helped to justify the

South's system of racial segregation and denying the

vote to blacks, which survived into the 1960s. Today,

as a result of extensive new research and profound

changes in American race relations, historians view

Reconstruction far more favorably, as a time of

genuine progress for former slaves and the South as

a whole (Document 6).

Works Cited

Document 1 “Introduction”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_er
a_of_the_United_States)

Document 2 “Abram Lincoln Plan”

(Reconstruction: Lincoln's Plan —
Infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A08606
 45.html#ixzz17cuHEKTG)

Document 3 “Andrew Johnson Plan”

(Reconstruction: Johnson's Plan — Infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0860646.h
tml#ixzz17cuuKcBf)
Document 4 “Positive Effects of Reconstruction”
(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20090216173238AA8NFSt)

Document 5 “Negative Effects of Reconstruction”

(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20090216173238AA8NFSt)
Document 6 “Conclusion”
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/intro
duction.html)