Evaluating Reconstruction As the Civil War was drawing to a close in 1865, President Lincoln began making plans for the physical, economic, social and political rehabilitation of a region marked by four years of war and 200 years of racism. Republicans in the federal government felt responsible for restoring public infrastructure, private property, food production, medical care and housing - all while the workforce and economy were in shambles. Furthermore, they wanted to change many characteristics of Southern society and politics.
Even though most of the programs were aimed at helping the South, many white Southerners resented the suggestion that their world needed to be reconstructed at all and fought against any changes imposed on them …show more content…
In the early years of Reconstruction, the new state governments had many competent but inexperienced leaders. A few were carpetbaggers motivated by greed and corruption. Southern whites were often uncooperative with new legislation passed by blacks or Yankees. The vigilante groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, emerged to maintain white supremacy and intimidate black voters or any whites who supported them. And although there was some industrialization, the region remained committed to an agricultural economy and used sharecropping as a legal means to ensure that blacks would still work the land that whites still owned.
As soon as former Confederates had their right to vote restored, so-called 'Redeemers' won public office and began to systematically undo most of the social and economic reforms. These were white, Southern Democrats who vowed to undo Reconstruction and restore the Old South. They passed voting restrictions and 'Black Codes' to suppress the rights and opportunities of African Americans at the state and local levels. Jim Crow laws made segregation legal. The Supreme Court supported these actions, generally saying that the 14th and 15th Amendments only applied at the federal level. And though the Radical Republicans had worked for nearly a decade to secure equal rights, the House of Representatives changed hands in 1874. Under Democratic leadership, government spending was cut and many Reconstruction programs were hurt or
Even though most of the programs were aimed at helping the South, many white Southerners resented the suggestion that their world needed to be reconstructed at all and fought against any changes imposed on them …show more content…
In the early years of Reconstruction, the new state governments had many competent but inexperienced leaders. A few were carpetbaggers motivated by greed and corruption. Southern whites were often uncooperative with new legislation passed by blacks or Yankees. The vigilante groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, emerged to maintain white supremacy and intimidate black voters or any whites who supported them. And although there was some industrialization, the region remained committed to an agricultural economy and used sharecropping as a legal means to ensure that blacks would still work the land that whites still owned.
As soon as former Confederates had their right to vote restored, so-called 'Redeemers' won public office and began to systematically undo most of the social and economic reforms. These were white, Southern Democrats who vowed to undo Reconstruction and restore the Old South. They passed voting restrictions and 'Black Codes' to suppress the rights and opportunities of African Americans at the state and local levels. Jim Crow laws made segregation legal. The Supreme Court supported these actions, generally saying that the 14th and 15th Amendments only applied at the federal level. And though the Radical Republicans had worked for nearly a decade to secure equal rights, the House of Representatives changed hands in 1874. Under Democratic leadership, government spending was cut and many Reconstruction programs were hurt or