Who Killed Reconstruction?

The time period after the civil war, was very commonly a dangerous place for blacks to inhabit. This period of time was called the Reconstruction Era. The Reconstruction took place from 1865 - 1877 when the Radical Republicans in the federal government put in place political and social freedoms along with civil rights to rebuild the economy and the Southern government. During this time period there were dangerous groups like the KKK who used tactics to scare blacks from pursuing their recently gained rights. The KKK was a major contributor in the South to help kill reconstruction. The North also played a part in ending Reconstruction. The South played a larger role than the North in ending the Reconstruction because of the South’s negligence to reform.

The South performed deliberate action the kill Reconstruction. The KKK and other white supremacy groups targeted blacks along with carpetbaggers, Northerners who went South after the Civil War to help Freedmen and Reconstruction, and scalawags, Southern whites who supported Carpetbaggers and Freedmen. These attacks by white supremacy groups were to specifically blacks from having any form of superiority over whites. John W. Stevens "was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Court House" (A). This act of violence by the KKK showed how ruthless they were just to get their point across. They targeted white who supported blacks regardless of their power just the get their point across. In the photo below, it displays a carpetbagger along with a scalawag who have just been hung been the KKK represented by the donkey. This photo is a threat and a representation of the KKK’s violence. It threatens people who support the Reconstruction; this photo wants people to abandon the Reconstruction. Along with the violence that occurred, there were also political challenges blacks faced. Blacks had to take literacy tests and poll tests that were extremely hard to pass for an even an educated person, these tests made the black majority not be able to voice their opinion on public decisions. Abram Colby wrote a testimony in a joint house and senate committee in 1872 on how he was beaten because he voted for a republican (B). Beatings like these made scared and not vote at all or the ones who were brave enough to vote encountered a beating so they were to vote for a democrat. These are reasons that helped the South kill the Reconstruction.

The South is not completely at fault in the killing of them Reconstruction. The North didn't pay much attention to the events occurring in the South because they had more "important" things to pay attention to. “many Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant’s administration” (C). The North, like the South thought blacks were not fit for government. In The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901,  Heather Cox Richardson wrote “The rising generation of… blacks needed a period of probation and instruction.” (D) Some Northerners believed that blacks were uncivilized and animal like. On top of that some whites thought blacks needed to be trained before they could participate in government activities. Northerners were not interested in parts of the Reconstruction which led to loss of support; this helped the downfall of the Reconstruction

The South is mostly to blame for killing the Reconstruction although the North did play a part in killing it as well. The North didn't pay much attention to the events occurring in the South because they had more "important" things to pay attention to. The North, like the South thought blacks were not fit for government. Although the North thought this, they didn't go to the measures the South went to do something about it. Through the KKK’s violent acts and the constant push from the South to end the Reconstruction made it very difficult for the blacks to move up in society and voice their opinion. Through the South’s push to kill the Reconstruction, they are more responsible for its end.

　

Works Cited:

Document A: Albion Tourgee, Letter on Ku Klux Klan Activities, New York Tribune, May 1870.

Picture- Document A: Albion Tourgee, Letter on Ku Klux Klan Activities, New York Tribune, May 1870.

Document B: Abram Colby, testimony to a joint House and Senate Committee in 1872.
Document C: Gerald Danzer et al., The Americans, McDougal Littell, 1998.

Document D: Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001.

The Journey to the End

The Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point in the Civil War for many reasons. The Union needed the victory on the East Theater and the win helped them push and help motivate for a victory. The Confederates needed the win even more at Gettysburg but it did not go their way. If the Confederates won the Battle of Gettysburg that would have allowed them to restock their depleting supplies. This lost battle affected them greatly since they couldn't obtain need supplies.  Confederate General Lee knew that a win at Gettysburg was much needed but the loss was a major hit to the Confederacy, the causalities of the Confederacy was significantly higher percentage of their army killed compared to the Union. After the loss the Confederacy lost one of their important Generals, General Lee. Lee wrote to the President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, he says, "I therefore, in all sincerity, request Your Excellency to take measures to supply my place" and "I cannot even accomplish what I myself desire. How can I fulfill the expectations of others?" General Lee states how he cannot continue to be a General because of the lack of morale between the soldiers and him. In the Union to celebrate the win of such a important Battle there is a ceremony at where the fallen soldiers from the battle were buried. Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address at this ceremony. He gives the Union new goals to avenge the fallen and more reason for winning the war overall increasing the morale of the Union.

After Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address the Union's morale is as high as its been. To weaken the Confederacy even more Generals Grant, Sheridan, and Sherman conduct a total war campaign in the Confederacy's territory. To accomplish their total war strategy the Union had to deplete and destroy all things that the Confederacy would need to come back in the war and fight strongly. This act was not accepted nor is it justified. A siege is a tactic in which an enemy is surrounded and starved in order to make it surrender. The siege was put in place at Vicksburg because it was the only thing preventing the Union from having complete control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg's geography made it very hard for the Union to gain control of since it is positioned on top of a bluff. The Confederacy could easily fire at the Union with the Union having a much more difficult time returning the attack. To counter this, the Union shelled Vicksburg for a time period of around two months.  “for more than a month, the citizens of Vicksburg endured a nearly constant pounding from some 300 gun.”  Some dug caves in the hillside to prevent being killed by shells falling on their homes. On top of all that they were reduced to only eating horses, dogs, mules, rats as a result of the siege of Vicksburg put in place by the Union. The conditions in Vicksburg became so terrible that the Confederacy had to surrender to save the people of Vicksburg. The citizens were not only targeted in Vicksburg but also in Sherman's March of Sea where he had the Union burn down civilian houses and destroyed railroads, farms, and factories. Sherman said, "War is cruelty... the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over". Sherman was not justified to got to such measures to make citizens lose everything and live in such poverty. The continued suffering of the South was crippling and the war was starting to come to an end.

The war is finally over. General Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House. The Union had the Confederacy surrounded without supplies or reinforcements, no food, and the Union outnumbered them five to one. In Washington D.C. there was a big party celebrating the end of the war. Lincoln was very relieved that it was over since he was exhausted physically and emotionally. The North was very relived and happy that they won the war. But in the South people were very upset over the loss. A small group of people from the South arranged to assassinate important Union leaders. Their plan mostly failed but John Wilkes Booth managed to murder Lincoln, putting the North into a state of mourning.

This image above is a drawing of the memorial service for president Lincoln. People were mourning and remembering one of America's greatest Presidents. 

Cites: http://www.edline.net/files/_zGHaC_/af6d0e7ca09b73443745a49013852ec4/Gettysburg_DBQ_-_Student_Version.pdf

http://www.edline.net/files/_zGHcz_/e7e0bc920224508f3745a49013852ec4/Total_War_Reading_Passages.pdf

http://www.edline.net/files/_zJGmH_/071c2c342438efbc3745a49013852ec4/Lincolns_Assassination_Document_Analysis.pdf