The radical reconstruction that took place after the civil war was America’s first attempt at an interracial democracy. Reconstruction included three major initiatives which were reconstruction of the union, transformation of southern society and enactment of progressive legislation favouring the rights of freed slaves.
The process of the reconstruction of the union began before the end of the civil war in 1863. As the union made many victories President Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation of amnesty and reinstruction in which was the framework for his ten-percent plan. Lincoln hoped that the proclamation would rally northern support for the war and persuade confederate soldiers to surrender. The plan set out that each secessionist state …show more content…
As an alternative to the Ten-Percent Plan, Radical Republicans passed the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864. Under the bill, states could be readmitted to the Union only after 50 percent of voters took an oath of allegiance to the Union. Lincoln effectively killed the Bill by refusing to sign it. Although, Congress did successfully create the Freedmen’s Bureau, which helped distribute food, supplies, and land to the new population of freed slaves. Anyone who pledged loyalty to the Union could lease forty acres of land from the bureau and then have the option to purchase them several years later. Most southerners regarded the bureau as a nuisance and a threat to their way of life. Plantation owners threatened their former slaves into selling their land, and many bureau agents accepted bribes, turning a blind eye to abuses by former slave owners. Despite these failings, however, the Freedman’s Bureau did succeed in setting up schools in the South for nearly 250,000 free …show more content…
White supremacists in Tennessee formed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK,) a secret organisation meant to terrorize southern blacks. Race riots and mass murders of former slaves occurred in Memphis and New Orleans that same year. From 1867 onward, African-American participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters in an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South. The KKK are still around today, which conveys their significance as people in the US are still against minorities having equal rights.
During Presidential Reconstruction, white supremacist Congressmen passed a series of laws called the black codes, which denied blacks the right to testify against whites, marry white women, be unemployed, and even to wait around in public places. Black Codes were passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866. These laws had intended to restrict African Americans' freedom and compelling them to work on low
The process of the reconstruction of the union began before the end of the civil war in 1863. As the union made many victories President Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation of amnesty and reinstruction in which was the framework for his ten-percent plan. Lincoln hoped that the proclamation would rally northern support for the war and persuade confederate soldiers to surrender. The plan set out that each secessionist state …show more content…
As an alternative to the Ten-Percent Plan, Radical Republicans passed the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864. Under the bill, states could be readmitted to the Union only after 50 percent of voters took an oath of allegiance to the Union. Lincoln effectively killed the Bill by refusing to sign it. Although, Congress did successfully create the Freedmen’s Bureau, which helped distribute food, supplies, and land to the new population of freed slaves. Anyone who pledged loyalty to the Union could lease forty acres of land from the bureau and then have the option to purchase them several years later. Most southerners regarded the bureau as a nuisance and a threat to their way of life. Plantation owners threatened their former slaves into selling their land, and many bureau agents accepted bribes, turning a blind eye to abuses by former slave owners. Despite these failings, however, the Freedman’s Bureau did succeed in setting up schools in the South for nearly 250,000 free …show more content…
White supremacists in Tennessee formed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK,) a secret organisation meant to terrorize southern blacks. Race riots and mass murders of former slaves occurred in Memphis and New Orleans that same year. From 1867 onward, African-American participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters in an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South. The KKK are still around today, which conveys their significance as people in the US are still against minorities having equal rights.
During Presidential Reconstruction, white supremacist Congressmen passed a series of laws called the black codes, which denied blacks the right to testify against whites, marry white women, be unemployed, and even to wait around in public places. Black Codes were passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866. These laws had intended to restrict African Americans' freedom and compelling them to work on low