Reconstruction In The South Essay

Margaret Mitchell once described the Old South as “Gone with the Wind.” But in fact, Southerners found ways to keep it alive following the Civil War. Radical Republicans orchestrated Reconstruction in the South in order to rejoin the states, and guarantee equal rights to all freedmen. Reconstruction in the South ended abruptly when President Rutherford B. Hayes removed Federal troops from the South. The South, however, quickly reversed course, finding ways to return to their old ways. Southerners overturned Reconstruction efforts by implementing sharecropping, Jim Crow laws, and voter intimidation. Following the Civil War, many plantations were in disarray. This caused Southerners to develop a new farming system called sharecropping, that helped landowners …show more content…
The 15th Amendment was instrumental in guaranteeing all Americans the right to vote. It states “The right of Citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (A1). A cartoon titled “Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket” depicts an African American man being held at gunpoint by two white Southerners, as they threaten to shoot if he votes (D2). This is an example of voter intimidation that occurred. Another, one man, named Abram Colby, recounted in his testimony being beaten by voter intimidators that attempted to sway his vote in an upcoming election. They had asked Colby, “Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket?” He replied, “If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote the Radical ticket” (D1). Then they continued to whip him. Two days earlier, the intimidators had tried to bribe Colby, but when he refused is when they started using violence. By intimidating African American voters, the South avoided the 15th Amendment, and successfully reversed the triumphs of