Reconstruction failed due to racism towards blacks and the view of “white supremacy” and “home rule” in both the North and the South. Heather Cox Richardson’s view on the issue is both racist and irrelevant based on the fact that her entire argument is based on how hard she believes African Americans worked for their freedom. Is it not true that for generations African Americans were forced to labor for no pay and minimal living conditions? Is it not true that African Americans were denied education, which in turn led to their inability to wisely fight for their freedom? Overall, it is the white’s fault that the slaves could not fight for themselves and even when African Americans tried to join the battle, they were often denied that right as well.
I agree that Richardson's claims that African Americans worked for their freedom is ridiculous. The reason blacks lacked basic skills and education was because of whites.
I agree with your post about reconstruction, and I agree that Richardson's points are irrelevant. However, it is not true that African Americans were always and often denied the right to fight.
Reconstruction did fail partly because of racism. One of the biggest issues was integrating the freed blacks into society in the South, yet racism and "black codes" made blacks feel like a 3rd class citizen. White supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan sprang up because of the South's reaction to blacks becoming citizens. These feelings were always held in the South, and the North should have known that suddenly freeing blacks would not result in better treatment of blacks in the South. More federal influence was needed to gradually change the culture in the South. Reconstruction failed for other reasons though,such as letting former confederate leaders be in Congress. Overall however, racism was a big reason why Reconstruction failed.
I agree that the North should have known that even though the blacks were free they were not going to be treated any better then if they were still slaves espessially in the South.
I agree that the South was extremely racist in their actions, however, I do not agree that the North should have known how the South would react. The North was not the South, therefore, they would have no idea how intense the racism was in the South; especially when they had been in a war very recently and Northerners did not live in the South and were not permitted to see the Southern living and mind set. The North did not understand the South, that is why so many compromises did not work.
Reconstruction was not a complete failure, but racism definitely hindered its progress. The “no” author is right to a point, and I really appreciate her statement which reads, “Republican insistence that social equality would work itself out as freed-people worked their way up to prosperity could not provide an answer for the overwhelming discrimination.” This blind idea did not provide a good answer for this issue because southerners were fully against giving the blacks anything, and prosperity was definitely on their list of nontransferables. As the “no” author also states, “[the blacks were] defenseless against the action of a malignant, vulgar, and pitiless prejudice.”These negatives hit the reconstruction effort hard. As the “yes” article details, there were many massacres of blacks throughout the process of reconstruction. This lasted through even to Martin Luther King, Jr. and beyond. Obviously, the reconstruction effort did not happen the way the Republicans had probably mapped out, but reconstruction did succeed in the end.
I agree that the Republicans had a completely different idea when they planned the Reconstruction. I also agree that Reconstruction was a fail, but not completely. Blacks were able to gain rights inthe newly added amendments and this helped them later in the civil rights movement. Blacks were also able to prove themselves as worthy voters and were able to start their own churches and organizations.
I agree that racism hindered the process of reconstruction, and I agree that reconstruction was not a COMPLETE failure. (though it was close). I liked the points that you made about Martin Luther King Jr. etc.
The Reconstruction of the nation after a stifling Civil War was definitely hindered due to the racism that was building since the birth of this nation. At the end of the day reconstruction of the nation did fail because of the lower class whites having to compete in the job place as many were needed in the south. All of the people being in and out of work in order to fix what had been tore apart. In a whole the south was beginning to be torn apart during the war and as well as the Union itself. For what had happened in the end the South really hit itself hard with the war waged against them and then the North willing to fix the South. With the reconstruction came the murders and massacres of many white and African American peoples in the South. The North had the entirety of the reconstruction of the south but nothing always goes as planned and well the end of it was successful it was the renewal of the entire south that was destroyed under the battles of the Civil War.
The Reconstruction of the U.S after the Civil War was effected because of the racism towards the blacks. The reconstruction failed because most white people in the U.S. were racist against blacks. The whites thought that they were still higher up then the blacks and that the blacks did not have the right to vote. Even the Northerners who fought for the blacks freedom were mostly racist toward the blacks. The North wanted the blacks free but then they didn't want them to be around or work for them so it kinda did not make sense. Its like saying we dont want you to work as slaves but we dont want you to work for wages or be around us. I would think that the North would have welcomed the blacks into their factories that were going through theit second industrial revolution. There was an assosiation that helped the blacks by giving them a free education by teaching them to read and write. They also tryed helping the blacks to get jobs. This assosiation did little to help the issue of racism in the end.
A agree that most of the institutions that were put into place to help the blacks "did little to help the issue of racism in the end." Racism lasted for a very long time after reconstruction, and it is still some what present even to this day.
I agree that the northerners were hypocritical in how they treated the freedmen. That did prohibit the the ability of the nation to recover in reconstruction and showed that reconstruction failed because of racism.
Reconstruction failed as a result of racism. Because the North cut the slaves loose cold turkey they did not have any skills such as reading and writing. They only knew the field work and related agricultural skills, because when they were slaves they were not aloud to be taught how to read and write. So when the South needed help with re-building they did not get the help because they were racist against the slaves in not giving them skills. As well the slaves left the fields when they were cut lose, they went in search for family members, and to find were they could get a job to support their family, so many of them went to the North rather than helping the South re-build because of how they were treated in the South. Thus the reconstruction of the South failed as a result of racism.
Reconstruction after the american Civil war was ultimately a failure due to many factors. The first, and perhaps largest contributor to this failure was racism towards the newly emancipated blacks or freedmen. The south was reluctant to see their former slaves voting, working for pay, and overall, being treated as equals. However, this was not the only factor that made reconstruction a failure. Southerners also resented the northerners moving to the south (carpetbaggers), and the new laws and tariffs put in place by the republican congress. Despite these other factors I believe that racism was the main reason that reconstruction failed.
I agree "that racism was the main reason that reconstruction failed," but I do not thnk it really failed. Failure implies that it never achieved anything, but reconstruction efforts did achieve a small amount of gains. The majority of your points are valid and I'm glad you shared them.
Reconstruction did fail as a result of racism. Heather Cox Richardson states that the freedmen turned to legislation to help increase their social status that the white had to individually work for.That is not true. The whites did not have to individually work for everything. The freedmen were not given the necessary tools in order to do what the whites did in order to be successful.
Reconstruction was a failed attempt. Though the start was actually very good in the start but when it started coming to an end the battles started again. The North was turning against the South. The South was turning against the blacks. when the blacks were getting the chance to vote the southerners became very angry. When the southerners began to segregate the south. When the blacks gained the rights to vote the northern presidents started to win elections and the southern presidents were losing more of the electoral votes. There was a first president that won the election without the majority of the white populations vote, because of black voters. This is why the reconstruction could not work.Because while the north was fighting the south, the south was fighting the blacks.
I agree with you on how reconstruction was looking promising in the beginning. The concept of the Freedmen's Bureau was great, and if they could've pulled it off it would've been much more of a benefit to Reconstruction as a whole.
Reconstruction did fail as a result of racism... and the stubbornness of the Southerners. The former slave owners of the South were angry with the North. Not only were their cities destroyed, but their plantations and workforce were gone. All of the money they had invested into slavery, they could never get back. They blamed the African Americans. The idea of white supremecy had overcome the Southerners. They would do anything they could to ensure that they were the ones in charge and that they got what they wanted. The Southerners made it extremely difficult for the North, in congress, to pass anything that would go against the South. The opposition the North faced with almost every bill/Act that congress tried to pass was too much, and eventually the North gave up. It's pointless to try to fight a battle that you know you will never win. They knew that they had to wait for the South to cool down before the real reconstruction could take place. To sum it up, the underlying cause for the failure of the Reconstruction of the South was due to the reaction of the Southerners who were angry because they lost their ability to own slaves and they were desperate to get their slaves back
Due to racism, Reconstruction was affected, but did not entirely fail because of it. Racism sure made it hard to get the South to cooperate with newly established rights for blacks, but the main reason Reconstruction failed as badly as it did, was because of the questionable lack of leadership. President Johnson was a terrible leader for this time period and what was needed to be accomplished. He made many speeches directly attacking radicals in Congress which caused Congress to take a somewhat lead of the country competing with Johnson. I believe that because the political powers of the nation did not have a complete sense in which direction they were going to take regarding blacks' rights and the integration of the Southern states back into the Union, reconstruction was made so much more harder to achieve.
Reconstruction failed due to racism towards blacks and the view of “white supremacy” and “home rule” in both the North and the South. Heather Cox Richardson’s view on the issue is both racist and irrelevant based on the fact that her entire argument is based on how hard she believes African Americans worked for their freedom. Is it not true that for generations African Americans were forced to labor for no pay and minimal living conditions? Is it not true that African Americans were denied education, which in turn led to their inability to wisely fight for their freedom? Overall, it is the white’s fault that the slaves could not fight for themselves and even when African Americans tried to join the battle, they were often denied that right as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Richardson's claims that African Americans worked for their freedom is ridiculous. The reason blacks lacked basic skills and education was because of whites.
DeleteI agree with your post about reconstruction, and I agree that Richardson's points are irrelevant. However, it is not true that African Americans were always and often denied the right to fight.
DeleteReconstruction did fail partly because of racism. One of the biggest issues was integrating the freed blacks into society in the South, yet racism and "black codes" made blacks feel like a 3rd class citizen. White supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan sprang up because of the South's reaction to blacks becoming citizens. These feelings were always held in the South, and the North should have known that suddenly freeing blacks would not result in better treatment of blacks in the South. More federal influence was needed to gradually change the culture in the South. Reconstruction failed for other reasons though,such as letting former confederate leaders be in Congress. Overall however, racism was a big reason why Reconstruction failed.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the North should have known that even though the blacks were free they were not going to be treated any better then if they were still slaves espessially in the South.
DeleteI agree that the South was extremely racist in their actions, however, I do not agree that the North should have known how the South would react. The North was not the South, therefore, they would have no idea how intense the racism was in the South; especially when they had been in a war very recently and Northerners did not live in the South and were not permitted to see the Southern living and mind set. The North did not understand the South, that is why so many compromises did not work.
DeleteReconstruction was not a complete failure, but racism definitely hindered its progress. The “no” author is right to a point, and I really appreciate her statement which reads, “Republican insistence that social equality would work itself out as freed-people worked their way up to prosperity could not provide an answer for the overwhelming discrimination.” This blind idea did not provide a good answer for this issue because southerners were fully against giving the blacks anything, and prosperity was definitely on their list of nontransferables. As the “no” author also states, “[the blacks were] defenseless against the action of a malignant, vulgar, and pitiless prejudice.”These negatives hit the reconstruction effort hard. As the “yes” article details, there were many massacres of blacks throughout the process of reconstruction. This lasted through even to Martin Luther King, Jr. and beyond. Obviously, the reconstruction effort did not happen the way the Republicans had probably mapped out, but reconstruction did succeed in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Republicans had a completely different idea when they planned the Reconstruction. I also agree that Reconstruction was a fail, but not completely. Blacks were able to gain rights inthe newly added amendments and this helped them later in the civil rights movement. Blacks were also able to prove themselves as worthy voters and were able to start their own churches and organizations.
DeleteI agree that racism hindered the process of reconstruction, and I agree that reconstruction was not a COMPLETE failure. (though it was close). I liked the points that you made about Martin Luther King Jr. etc.
DeleteThe Reconstruction of the nation after a stifling Civil War was definitely hindered due to the racism that was building since the birth of this nation. At the end of the day reconstruction of the nation did fail because of the lower class whites having to compete in the job place as many were needed in the south. All of the people being in and out of work in order to fix what had been tore apart. In a whole the south was beginning to be torn apart during the war and as well as the Union itself. For what had happened in the end the South really hit itself hard with the war waged against them and then the North willing to fix the South. With the reconstruction came the murders and massacres of many white and African American peoples in the South. The North had the entirety of the reconstruction of the south but nothing always goes as planned and well the end of it was successful it was the renewal of the entire south that was destroyed under the battles of the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that racism had been building itself up since the birth of this nation.
DeleteYes, racism had begun here when we arrived, we were racist against the Indians.
DeleteThe Reconstruction of the U.S after the Civil War was effected because of the racism towards the blacks. The reconstruction failed because most white people in the U.S. were racist against blacks. The whites thought that they were still higher up then the blacks and that the blacks did not have the right to vote. Even the Northerners who fought for the blacks freedom were mostly racist toward the blacks. The North wanted the blacks free but then they didn't want them to be around or work for them so it kinda did not make sense. Its like saying we dont want you to work as slaves but we dont want you to work for wages or be around us. I would think that the North would have welcomed the blacks into their factories that were going through theit second industrial revolution. There was an assosiation that helped the blacks by giving them a free education by teaching them to read and write. They also tryed helping the blacks to get jobs. This assosiation did little to help the issue of racism in the end.
ReplyDeleteA agree that most of the institutions that were put into place to help the blacks "did little to help the issue of racism in the end." Racism lasted for a very long time after reconstruction, and it is still some what present even to this day.
DeleteI agree that the northerners were hypocritical in how they treated the freedmen. That did prohibit the the ability of the nation to recover in reconstruction and showed that reconstruction failed because of racism.
DeleteReconstruction failed as a result of racism. Because the North cut the slaves loose cold turkey they did not have any skills such as reading and writing. They only knew the field work and related agricultural skills, because when they were slaves they were not aloud to be taught how to read and write. So when the South needed help with re-building they did not get the help because they were racist against the slaves in not giving them skills. As well the slaves left the fields when they were cut lose, they went in search for family members, and to find were they could get a job to support their family, so many of them went to the North rather than helping the South re-build because of how they were treated in the South. Thus the reconstruction of the South failed as a result of racism.
ReplyDeleteReconstruction after the american Civil war was ultimately a failure due to many factors. The first, and perhaps largest contributor to this failure was racism towards the newly emancipated blacks or freedmen. The south was reluctant to see their former slaves voting, working for pay, and overall, being treated as equals. However, this was not the only factor that made reconstruction a failure. Southerners also resented the northerners moving to the south (carpetbaggers), and the new laws and tariffs put in place by the republican congress. Despite these other factors I believe that racism was the main reason that reconstruction failed.
ReplyDeleteI agree "that racism was the main reason that reconstruction failed," but I do not thnk it really failed. Failure implies that it never achieved anything, but reconstruction efforts did achieve a small amount of gains. The majority of your points are valid and I'm glad you shared them.
DeleteReconstruction did fail as a result of racism. Heather Cox Richardson states that the freedmen turned to legislation to help increase their social status that the white had to individually work for.That is not true. The whites did not have to individually work for everything. The freedmen were not given the necessary tools in order to do what the whites did in order to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the freedmen weren't given the right opportunities to accomplish what the whites did. That's a really good point.
DeleteI agree with your point here. The Blacks were not given the right tools to be stressful along with the whites.
DeleteReconstruction was a failed attempt. Though the start was actually very good in the start but when it started coming to an end the battles started again. The North was turning against the South. The South was turning against the blacks. when the blacks were getting the chance to vote the southerners became very angry. When the southerners began to segregate the south. When the blacks gained the rights to vote the northern presidents started to win elections and the southern presidents were losing more of the electoral votes. There was a first president that won the election without the majority of the white populations vote, because of black voters. This is why the reconstruction could not work.Because while the north was fighting the south, the south was fighting the blacks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how reconstruction was looking promising in the beginning. The concept of the Freedmen's Bureau was great, and if they could've pulled it off it would've been much more of a benefit to Reconstruction as a whole.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReconstruction did fail as a result of racism... and the stubbornness of the Southerners. The former slave owners of the South were angry with the North. Not only were their cities destroyed, but their plantations and workforce were gone. All of the money they had invested into slavery, they could never get back. They blamed the African Americans. The idea of white supremecy had overcome the Southerners. They would do anything they could to ensure that they were the ones in charge and that they got what they wanted. The Southerners made it extremely difficult for the North, in congress, to pass anything that would go against the South. The opposition the North faced with almost every bill/Act that congress tried to pass was too much, and eventually the North gave up. It's pointless to try to fight a battle that you know you will never win. They knew that they had to wait for the South to cool down before the real reconstruction could take place. To sum it up, the underlying cause for the failure of the Reconstruction of the South was due to the reaction of the Southerners who were angry because they lost their ability to own slaves and they were desperate to get their slaves back
ReplyDeleteDue to racism, Reconstruction was affected, but did not entirely fail because of it. Racism sure made it hard to get the South to cooperate with newly established rights for blacks, but the main reason Reconstruction failed as badly as it did, was because of the questionable lack of leadership. President Johnson was a terrible leader for this time period and what was needed to be accomplished. He made many speeches directly attacking radicals in Congress which caused Congress to take a somewhat lead of the country competing with Johnson. I believe that because the political powers of the nation did not have a complete sense in which direction they were going to take regarding blacks' rights and the integration of the Southern states back into the Union, reconstruction was made so much more harder to achieve.
ReplyDelete