Monday, March 4, 2013

Reconstruction: Success or Failure?

Was Reconstruction a success or failure? Relate the stated purpose to the end result.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

In my opinion, the success and failures of Reconstruction balanced each other out.

The successes of the Union include: 1. The reunification of the union
2. The establishment of the Freedmen Bureau, which provided health care, education, and other needs for poor people
3. The enforcement of education to everyone
4. The enforcement act of 1870, which banned the use to terrorism or attack to prevent anyone from voting
5. Etc.

The failures of Reconstruction include:
1. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which was a group of people who wore White robes and cloths from covered from head to toe and launched attacks on African Americans
2. Poverty
3. Black Codes, which were laws that severely limited the rights of Blacks
4. Taxes were raised to rebuild the South
5. Etc.

All credits goes to the following website: http://jehanne-cas.blogspot.com/2010/01/successes-failures-of-reconstruction.html

April Balobalo said...

I think Reconstruction was a little bit of both. Reconstruction did succeed in some things such as the unification of the Union. And that was one of the main goals that the Civil War had. As well as the freedom of slaves, which was not intended to happen but it did. Reconstruction was violent and caused a lot of negative outcomes as well. In the slaves viewpoints Reconstruction may have been a failure since they were really affected by it. The blacks now had limited rights, because of the Black codes, and KKK was formed which threatened many of the blacks lives. Even with all the negative outcomes, blacks did get some rights when the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment was passed. So Reconstruction to me was a success, yet it also was a failure.

Pauline Li said...

Depending on how you look at Reconstruction it can be considered either a success or a failure. In my opinion, Reconstruction was both a success and a failure. The goal of Reconstruction was to reunite the Union and to help "rebuild" the South. Reconstruction can be considered a success because the Union was reunited, even though they had entered the Union again easily without punishment. This wouldn't had been the case though if Abraham Lincoln was not assassinated. Although the blacks had gained freedom in the South, many struggled through poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy, which can be argued as a failure. Black codes also limited the rights of blacks in 1865 and 1866, which can also be considered a failure.

Anonymous said...

Reconstruction was a mixture of pros and cons. On the upside the Union restored thr south to the Union(maybe too willingly) after the Civil War. Lincoln made slavery illegal (although not all slaves in the South were free at the time). On the downside, when Licoln was murdered , his vice president Johnson did not follow through with African Ammerican progression, he did the complete opposite. Johnson was not oblivious to the cruel, illegal events happening to the blacks down South he simply did not care. Black codes emerged, still crippling blacks (free blacks by the way). Yes blacks were free and yes the South was restored to the Union but there was still an a great divide between people in the North ans South for instance the yeoman and the racial republicans continuiosly went at it. So in reality it depends on ones perspective if recontruction was a success or failure

mariah medina said...

In my opinion reconstruction was both a success and a failure. It was a failure because the original plan was to reunite the union and rejuvenate the country after the war, but in many ways ended up further destroying it. Many southerners still resented the north for abolishing slavery and destroying their economy. It was a success in the way that it abolished slavery and brought many rights to blacks such as, citizenship, and the right to own property and vote. Southerners found many ways to legally stop blacks from being "free"; so it was like taking one step forward to be knocked three steps back. Southerners halted the progression of the country as a whole so in that broad aspect it made reconstruction seem as though it was a failure.

Anonymous said...

To say whether Reconstruction a failure or a success, would depend on the way it is being looked at. Just like any other process, Reconstruction had its advantages and disadvantages. When Reconstruction was first discussed by Lincoln, he had no clear picture of how it would happen or if it would work. He just knew that he wanted the Union restored and the blacks to be free. Which thankfully did get accomplished. However, when he was assassinated, Johnson took office and made decision based on southern benefit. When he passed the black codes, the rights given to African Americans were once agin being controlled by the whites. They were able to organize political parties and build churches, but onky at the expense on being slaughtered by the KKK. So, even though the blacks were free and the south were readmitted to the Union, it did not stop the violence and controversy that would erupt as a result.

Annaya Frazier said...

The comment above was stated by Annaya Frazier ^^^^

Sageda Elabed said...

In my opinion, Reconstruction was more of a failure than a success. Reconstruction could be said to be a failure because after the Northern armies left the South, the South went back to what it was like before, except the fact that Blacks were technically free. Reconstruction also failed because the Supreme Court undercut Reconstruction legislation as early as 1868. Their declaration that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional removed further tools that the effort had depended on to guard the rights of the freedmen. In addition, strong white opposition in the South meant that the effort to enforce Reconstruction entailed a MILITARY effort which, over time, Northern whites were less willing to continue. Some messy encounters from white intimidation of black voters, lynching, etc. accelerated the disenchantment . (Racism played a role here, though over time ANY such military efforts against fellow citizens was bound to make people war-weary). Furthermore, Northern radicals and Grant's pro-freedmen policies lost significant power as the Grant administration was buffeted by accusations of corruption (which led to a break-off group of "Liberal Republicans" opposing his second term) and an economic depression. Overall, this is why Reconstruction could be more described as a failure rather than a success.

Christa Rivers said...

I believe that Reconstruction mostly failed. As Annaya said in her comment, Lincoln wanted the Blacks to be free and wanted the to be Union restored. Neither really happened. The states came back together but there was still this huge social divide. The Southerners were abusing their power with the enactment of the black codes (not that the abuse of power was new) and the northerners were asking the country what the point of the war was if blacks were just going to again be put in this state of subordination. The KKK was further controlling the Black people (i.e. killing them if they tried to vote) and the Black codes dictated and basically re enslaved the Black people. For example, in some not all southern states, Blacks were deemed vagrants, arrested, and forced onto a chain gang if they did not sign yearly labor contracts. Reconstruction fixed neither the social unrest and brokenness of the Union nor continued systematic oppression of Blacks (meaning it did not give them any real freedom).

ketie chen said...

Many would say that reconstruction could be viewed as a successful or failure. I say that reconstruction had more down sides than bright sides to it. I'm presidential reconstruction Johnson allowed the south to rejoin the union easy than it should have. He did not punish them enough to my belief because Johnson himself was a Southerner raised in TN, the south returned to their normal lifestyle even though without slaves many slaves were not freed and forced back on the planations by masters to work. Even though reconstruction brought the freedmans bureau it was not funded and had little support. They gave blacks the right to but many were killed because the south did not accept the fact blacks were going to be able to vote. Hate groups such as the KKK formed during this period and many blacks were lynched. So to end my statement I could say that reconstruction was more of a failure than a success.

Jenna Zhao said...

In my opinion, in order to say whether Reconstruction was a success or failure it would have to depend on the way it was viewed. I consider the Reconstruction a success- to some degree. The main goal of Reconstruction was to bring the rebel states back into the Union, and to help the freedmen become a part of society. Although there was a lot of abuse, and Reconstruction didn't go as smoothly as it was intended to be, these two goals were achieved as much as was possible. So, Reconstruction would have to be considered a success. Some wished for the rebel states to be punished while others wanted to states to return to the union without any form of punishment. There were endless possibilities on how this could have turned out. The congress, president, and individual states agreed on a plan. I considered the reconstruction a success because if you compare the condition in 1860 and 1875 there were major progression.

Unknown said...

I would say that reconstruction bothe failed and successed. Reconstruction was almost like a jumbled up mess of many people's ideas of what should happen to the southern states, freedmen, and the U.S overall. Descions and choices clashed, such as the freeing of the slaves but restrictions later made called the black codes. There's also in allowance of southern states back into the union, first they got back in with one problem, but they were restricted by congress(radical republicans) in government. There were some progressive advances but most were countered at a later date. Though this may sound like reconstruction failed, the goal of reconstruction was to get the southern states back into the union. And at the end of reconstruction in 1877, the compromise of 1877 omitted southern states back into the union and the northern troops out of the southern states. So their goal was accomplished just not in the best of a way as they hoped

Tina Giang said...

Reconstruction was a combination of both success and failure. Reconstruction succeeded due to the positive aspects of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendents, which abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, grants citizenship rights to the emancipated slaves, and states that voting rights in states cannot be withheld on the basis of race, color, or previous position of servitude. However, these rights (13th, 14th, 15th amendments) cause Southern whites to lash out and created the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). After the Civil War ended, the whites felt like they lost their superiority to the blacks. The main objective of white supremacy organizations, such as the KKK was to stop blacks from voting. When white governments had been established in the South, the KKK continued to undermine the power of blacks and targeted them. Also, the black codes created a limitation to the African American rights.

Princess Garrett said...

The point of reconstruction was to bring the union (specifically the south) back together. The road to reconstruction was not an easy one. But like Annaya said, once Johnson got into office, he did things that were in favor of the south. Which in a way worked against what Lincoln was trying to do before he got murdered. For example, Lincoln got the slaves free. Johnson however had the rights of those slaves limited to the point where they were basically continuing to live with their owners. Personally I think it was more of failure than a success.

Alex Shuster said...

Reconstruction was a violent time and had both positive and negative effects. One of the positives was that slaves were free, even though that was not the goal of the Reconstruction, but in contrast to the freeing of black slaves were the Black Codes which brought blacks back to the hardships before the Civil War the only difference was that the blacks were "free". Another positive was the the Union was restored but at the price of allowing Southern states back in after they fought against the Union and at this time the return of the southern states to the Union brought more bad than god because of controversy between the rapublicans and the southerners.Another positive was the 13th and 14th amendments. So in my opinion, Reconstruction was both a failure and a success.

Unknown said...

Reconstruction was both a failure and a success. Because of Reconstruction, the United States was restored as a unified nation. Although the U.S was a 'unified' nation, there was still a great divide, a racial one. On Shmoop it says, "Reconstruction was America's first experiment in interracial democracy for men." One can say this ultimately failed. The Southern states made facilities segregated and deprived the blacks of their right to vote. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment were passed but it was countered by the Black Codes. The Freedom's Burea was a great institution formed to help former slaves and poor whites but was eventually discontinued because of Southern white resistance, economic panic, and corruptness within the bureau. Because of growing opposition, the Klu Klux Klan was formed. The Reconstruction succeeded in trying to do many things, but would it would either be unacknowledged, countered, or failed. One great success of the Reconstruction is that it laid the foundation of public schooling in the South, for both races.

Ashani Scales said...

I don't really think it was that much of a success, but reconstruction had its good moments. The question that arises from this is who would actually run the nation now that the south had been re-admitted? Do they get punished for it? Is the north going to run it? The south? The government even? And the fact is that no one really knew. If the south were to gain power in office, they'd enforce the black codes, ultimately re-enslaving blacks. They would have gotten what they wanted. What makes it somewhat of a success is the 13, 14, & 15th amendments being passed, and reuniting with the south.

Amaya Hawkins said...

Reconstruction had the positive effects of freeing the slaves and making them citizens with the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. But, for the most part, Reconstruction was a failure. After Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson took office, Reconstruction went on a downward spiral. Codes were created that made it almost impossible for blacks to do anything, which pretty much put them in no better position than they were before. The Ku Klux Klan was on the rise and blacks were being tortured more during this time than they have in previous years.

Unknown said...

In my opinion reconstruction was a failure. Though new ideas and situations were started. Yes it was right in the sense of blacks being free of slavery but after Lincoln's assination, everything changed. Black rights were practically stripped. In one moment they were given one perk then in the next it was taken away and flipped upsode down so it could benefit whites in some way. The reconstruction effort was good I guess but it wasn't very beneficial