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.