Katie Riordan

Mr. Ferguson

American History I Honors

4 January 2017

Effects Of Reconstruction

After reconstruction, the south settled in ways just like before the civil war. Freed slaves

were still be discriminated against even though they had citizenship and the right to vote. Some

states did not like the new amendments and civil rights rules. This shows why some goals were

reached in reconstruction were reached, but not all were completed and helped in the long run.

One goal that was completed, but took several years. All Confederate states were

admitted back into the Union, but took over 4 years. The first state to rejoin was Tennessee, on

July 24, 1866. Tennessee was also the last state to secede. The last state to rejoin was Texas, on

March 30, 1870. This shows that one goal was completed that helped later on in reconstruction.

Freed slaves were granted full citizenship and the right to vote after the 14th amendment.

There were many black elected officials during reconstruction. 14 were in the House of

Representatives, 6 were a Lieutenant Governor, and 600 were in state legislative. Even though

there were lots during reconstruction, when reconstruction ended, white southerners were

allowed to push freed slaves out of government. From this information you can see that blacks

were voting, because white southerners would not vote for blacks. This is one idea that helped

during the reconstruction era, but it did not help in the long run.

The freedmans bureau was created to help educate freed slaves. It was shut down after

reconstruction. Even today blacks have a lower graduation rate from college than whites. In

2013, the enrollment rate for whites was 70% and for blacks was 65%. The graduation rate is a
little different though. In 2013, the graduation rate, with a bachelor's degree or more, for whites

was 40% and for blacks was 20%. In 2005, the graduation rate, for getting a degree within 6

years was 62% for whites and 40% of blacks. Even today the graduation rate is still dropping,

which shows after reconstruction higher education is still dropping.

Lynching is killing or hanging someone for an alleged offense without a legal trial. Is it

possible for white America to really understand blacks distrust of the legal system, their fears of

racial profiling and the police, without understanding how cheap a black life was for so long a

time in our nations history?(Philip Dray). Lynching was used a lot during reconstruction.

Evidence found just recently shows there was more lynching found then was actually known

about. In southern states between 1877 and 1950, 3,959 people were found killed by lynching.

This is 700 more than what was known before. This shows again that even though freed slaves

had full citizenship and the right to vote they still had been discriminated against.

Something the north tried to help the north with during reconstruction was their economy.

This did not work as well as the industrial revolution in the north. Railroad production in the

north was 72% of the nation and the south was 28% of the nation. Iron and Steel production in

the north was 92% of the nation and the south was 8% of the nation. 85% of factories were

located in the north and 15% were located in the south. This shows that helping the south with

the economic did not help much after reconstruction.

One way freed slaves got jobs was sharecropping. Sharecropping is a lot like slavery, but

the slaves get to keep some of their crops. Three fourths of freed slaves who worked on farms

used sharecropping. This means only one fourth of freed slaves owned their own farm and land.

Reconstruction did not help freed slaves get jobs or give them land, which is another reason

reconstruction did not help in the long run.

 The reason reconstruction did not help in the long run was blacks were only elected

officials until reconstruction ended, freedman's bureau did not help educate blacks and help them

continued into higher education, more black people were lynched than known about, the north

had better economic production, and southern farmers mostly resorted to sharecropping.

Works Cited

Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.

"Black Political Participation in Reconstruction." Black Political Participation in Reconstruction

| The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.

Casselman, Ben. "Race Gap Narrows in College Enrollment, But Not in Graduation."

FiveThirtyEight. FiveThirtyEight, 29 Apr. 2014. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.

"Even More Black People Were Lynched in the U.S. than Previously Thought, Study Finds." The

Washington Post. WP Company. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.

"North and South: Different Cultures, Same Country." Civil War Trust. Civil War Trust. Web.

06 Jan. 2017.

"Sharecroppers." What Is Sharecropping? Sharecroppers in American History - Quatr.us. 01

May 2016. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.