William French

Kathryn Kerchief
History 109
08 December 2013
The Failure of Reconstruction
Reconstruction of the post-Civil War south is a subject that requires the
objective observer to assess far more than the beginning or the end-state of
reconstruction efforts. Rather, it befits us to dig deeper, analyzing what took
place in the middle of Reconstruction in order to make a determination of
success or a failure. Many modern day Americans might come to the
conclusion that Reconstruction was a success; they are able to see the fruits
of long term reconstruction and the end results of countless struggles in
repairing the economy of the South, as well as the end of slavery and the
lack of equal rights.
The Union we see today, however, is the result of developments that
went far beyond just the period of Reconstruction, and many of the
successes of which, there were great failures. With the assassination of
President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson was left with the challenge of leading the
United States through post-war Reconstruction, with most of the South
having been left in ruin and an uncertain future. Johnson, a pro-Union
Democrat from Tennessee, had believed that since the defeated South had

never left the Union, there was no need for Reconstruction, but rather
Restoration of what it once was. His plan to restore the Union began with a
Proclamation of Amnesty, as well as a plan for re-admitting the southern
states in the Union. The re-admission plan would allow a Union-native
provisional governor to oversee each southern state, with the authority to
lead a convention that was elected by loyal voters. These southern states
were also required to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished
slavery (Tindall and Shi 715).
The immediate results of Johnsons plan were rather feeble, with a lack
of national unity and the South still wishing to retain slavery, Reconstruction
was initiated in name only. With the first meeting of Congress in 1865, it
became quite apparent that the new South was very much the same as the
old South. Former confederate officials were presented to Congress to claim
their seats, and with black codes being passed by the southern
legislatures, a shift in power to the Radical Republicans began to take place.
Because of this, a committee was established to investigate the Souths
efforts to hamper Reconstruction by the Union (Tindall and Shi 716-717).
As we begin to see the balance of power in Congress shift to the
Radical Republicans, we also saw President Johnsons power begin to fade,
with his less than ideal views on the care and welfare of blacks being in
sharp contrast to those of the Radical Republicans, who championed the
rights and protection of the recently freed slaves. With Johnson repeatedly
going against Congress, and generally losing, momentum was built up which

allowed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act; a direct response to the black
codes and ongoing attempts by the South to keep a system of slavery and
repression in effect.
The political results of the Radical Republican led Congress appeared
on the surface to be effecting a great deal of change for the good of
Reconstruction and the Union as a whole. They passed two acts in 1867
allowing African Americans in Washington, D.C. voting rights, as well as the
Military Reconstruction Act, the Command of the Army Act, and the Tenure of
Office Act (Tindall and Shi 720). However, all of these laws and proclamations
by Congress, while intending to stop white southerners from defying the
attempts at reconstruction, only seemed to galvanize their efforts at fighting
back, or find new loopholes to keep the old ways of the South intact.
In what was a time that Congress considered the South
reconstructed, what we found was that racism against blacks was still
rampant, with many freedmen being forced to work on southern plantations,
and violence and intimidation being perpetrated on the emancipated onceslaves. Only in words and in writing was the Reconstruction a success, as
there was a constant and ongoing fight to keep ex-Confederates out of
positions of power in the Union, former slaves treated with some sense of
dignity, and to bring the crushed economy and landscape of the South back
from ruin.

During the Grant years, southern resistance to Reconstruction became

increasingly more violent, with the rise of terrorist groups such as the KKK
being common place (Tindall and Shi 735). By association, any white
politician or community leader who was perceived to be on the side of the
African Americans was considered to be just as bad as the blacks by these
terrorist groups, and they were also targets of their violence. Ultimately, the
Reconstruction plan lead by Radical Republicans was perceived mostly as a
failure in the short term, but with the positive effects of groundwork being
laid for future success in the important Civil Rights battleground; the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
What followed Reconstruction was over one hundred years of efforts by
Civil Rights leaders, politicians, and the hard work of millions of Americans
which ultimately led to a mostly successful end state of Reconstruction that
we see today. With important leaps in Civil Rights, the joining of the country
by the transcontinental railroads, and the constantly evolving economic
landscape of the United States, the country as a whole has been
reconstructed and evolved into a stronger nation. However, while the US has
found a way to bring everything together over a great many years, the
immediate plans of Reconstruction following the Civil War were a blundering,
bitter failure.

Works Cited
Tindall, George Brown and David Emory Shi. America A Narrative History.
9th. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Textbook.