Failure Of Reconstruction
The North won the Civil War, but there were hundreds of thousands on both sides who had died. Yet, despite being a time of pain and struggle, there was so much opportunity for change. In addition to the end of slavery, the war was supposed to create economic opportunities for everyone. It seemed like many thought the Civil War was a Second American Revolution. Reconstruction, the rebuilding period after the Civil War, was a time of great uncertainty in the country caused by the tension between radical Northerners who wanted to punish the South and fix inequities; and Southerners who wanted to keep their racist prior way of living. The reason why these efforts to repair the country failed to have an effect was not limited to one part of the
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Instead, they expected the freed slaves to work the cotton fields as laborers, so when the ex-Confederates regained the tracts of 40 acres so proudly, yet briefly owned by ex-slaves there was no compensation plan. The North benefited from the cotton trade and was required to fulfill the needs of the textile industry.(Dattel,”Northern Racism Helped Doom Reconstruction”) The ‘share-cropping’ implemented by Radical Reconstruction was therefore designed by Northerners to prevent blacks being held by force, but it kept them in a vicious cycle of indebtedness not far from the despair of slavery. According to scholar and historian WEB DuBois blacks “knew full well that, whatever their deeper convictions may have been, Southern men had fought with desperate energy to perpetuate this slavery, under which the black masses, with half-articulate thought, had writhed and shivered.”(DuBois,”The Freedmen’s Bureau”) Blacks understood they would have a fight to push against Southern racism because Reconstruction threatened their way of …show more content…
The North, when left with only slavery to defend, and no economic benefit, would abandon blacks to fend for themselves. Although there were some problems with implementation, with results like healthcare, resettlement of the displaced, education and the founding of schools, like Howard University and Fiske University “there is no doubt that the Freedmen’s Bureau relieved much suffering among blacks and whites.”(Franklin and Moss,”From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans”) In spite of all black’s positive in the South due to the support of the Freedmen’s Bureau sadly, its services ended in 1869. Economic dependency, and widespread violence from white supremacists, and Northerners retreat from the ideals of equality doomed the Freedmen’s
Instead, they expected the freed slaves to work the cotton fields as laborers, so when the ex-Confederates regained the tracts of 40 acres so proudly, yet briefly owned by ex-slaves there was no compensation plan. The North benefited from the cotton trade and was required to fulfill the needs of the textile industry.(Dattel,”Northern Racism Helped Doom Reconstruction”) The ‘share-cropping’ implemented by Radical Reconstruction was therefore designed by Northerners to prevent blacks being held by force, but it kept them in a vicious cycle of indebtedness not far from the despair of slavery. According to scholar and historian WEB DuBois blacks “knew full well that, whatever their deeper convictions may have been, Southern men had fought with desperate energy to perpetuate this slavery, under which the black masses, with half-articulate thought, had writhed and shivered.”(DuBois,”The Freedmen’s Bureau”) Blacks understood they would have a fight to push against Southern racism because Reconstruction threatened their way of …show more content…
The North, when left with only slavery to defend, and no economic benefit, would abandon blacks to fend for themselves. Although there were some problems with implementation, with results like healthcare, resettlement of the displaced, education and the founding of schools, like Howard University and Fiske University “there is no doubt that the Freedmen’s Bureau relieved much suffering among blacks and whites.”(Franklin and Moss,”From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans”) In spite of all black’s positive in the South due to the support of the Freedmen’s Bureau sadly, its services ended in 1869. Economic dependency, and widespread violence from white supremacists, and Northerners retreat from the ideals of equality doomed the Freedmen’s