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Failure Of Reconstruction Research Paper

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The effort placed towards Reconstruction lacked the cohesion necessary to reconstruct the South. Southern elitist desperately clung to illusions of their sovereignity to the Union and viewed Reconstruction as a perversion of the natural order of life. The Radical Republicans of the North set out disconcert and impoverish rebellious Confederates and African Americans wanted the freedoms and equality entitled to them under the newly amended constitution. These conflicting visions for the ideal America produced a period marked by violence and failure.

A significant portion of the Southern white male population had been killed or seriously injured during the years of the Civil War. Southern soldiers returned home, weary from war, to find their …show more content…
Freedmen looked to Reconstruction to manifest their dreams of Freedom. Freedmen were the most devoted to Reconstruction because the quality of their existence was intimately linked to its success. The Freedmen’s vision of post war American provided them with social and political fully autonomy. The paranoid Social Elitist fear their newly freed slaves would have revenge on their minds. However, the only people with revenge on the brain proved to be bitter Confederates. Freedmen immediately began educating themselves, a punishable offense prior to the Reconstruction Era. Literate men and women of color open schools to teach young and old …show more content…
The Reconstruction Era supporters included Freedmen and Radical Republicans, yet both were not equally invested in reformed. Although the Radical Republic supported Freedmen liberties there were still cultural barriers separated them. Radicals already possessed there rights and were not nearly as committed to Reconstruction success as Freedman. Southern Elitist were completely opposed to Reconstruction and did everything in their power to impede progress. The conflicting visions of Reconstruction led to failures such as the establishment of Black Codes, Jim Crow and Share Cropping. Northern politicians sympathetic to the Southerners over the Freedmen allowed such unconstitutional polices be enacted with no resistance. Poverty swept throughout the South and they only experienced a fraction of the benefits which came from the Industrial Revolution. In addition, the Klu Klux Klan had begun to terrorize and attacking Freedmen and their supports in the

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