The Nature of Reconstruction in African American History - Essay Example

The Nature of Reconstruction in African American History The American Civil War is one of the most significant events in American history, which lasted five long years. It had numerous Economical, Political, and Social consequences on the American society. There were many driving factors which caused the division of North and South which finally led to one of the bloodiest wars America would ever face; one with itself. Slavery and the right to keep slaves as a property in the Northern States which had banned slavery was a significant factor. The majority of the slave population in the America, at that time, consisted of African Americans. Their community was, hence, the one deeply involved and mostly affected by the war. African Americans participated in huge numbers in the war as soldiers either enslaved by the confederate rulers or as loyalists to the Northern states due to their denouncement of slavery. The northern states, known as the Union, won the war in 1865 with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at McLean House Virginia. With the victory of North, and their policy of emancipation was universally implemented in the entire country. This along with other political and social measures taken in the aftermath of the civil war for reconstruction of the war struck areas and to ensure the integration of freedmen in the society are collectively referred to as reconstruction. As mentioned earlier, the reconstruction refers to the steps taken by the federal government to counter the effects of Civil War, specifically on the former Confederate States and on the freedmen. There were various objectives of the reconstruction initiated by the then President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Congress in 1863. An administrative and political structure had to be re-established in the southern states which lost the war. Moreover, their incorporation in the Union itself, and the congress, was also to be carried out in the long term. Moreover, even after the war ended, there was a huge following of the ex-Confederate leaders in the nationalist white men of the southern states (Horton, 2005). The status of the Confederate leadership had to be decided in order to avoid any conflict or chaos. Another, rather more serious, issue was to decide the social, economical and political rights of the freedmen under the constitution. Most important of them was the question that whether or not the freedmen should be given the right to vote. Hence, the reconstruction can be thought of as political, social, economical, legal and administrative restructuring of the southern states by the President and the Congress. There were two different approaches followed by the Union politicians during the Reconstruction era. The office of the president, under Abraham Lincoln, and after his death by Andrew Johnson, resorted mostly to administrative measures to avoid conflict, and contain the chaos caused by southern nationalists over the above mentioned issues. The policy of both presidents was very lenient towards the southern states and ex-Confederate politicians. They wanted the Reunion of Southern States with the federal government as early as possible. Starting from 1862, military governors were appointed in ten out of eleven states which exercised administrative and legal powers. At that time, it was decided that these governors would give way to a political set up when at least ten percent of the white men in a state vowed allegiance to the Union and also accept the declaration of emancipation (the Ten Percent Plan). The states were then allowed to elect their own governor and legislative assembly and write a new constitution embodying concepts of emancipation and federation. These measures proved to be very effective in the immediate control of the riots, which had broken in the southern states. However, the congressmen were not convinced by the long term effectiveness of these measures. The legislators were especially concerned about the fact that emancipation had given the right to vote to the huge slave population of the Southern states. These freedmen were still largely dependent on their former owners for their livelihoods and hence will be influenced by them during the elections. Moreover, the representation of south in the federal legislative needed to be increased on the basis of newly freed population. The defeat in war would come as a prize to the southern nationalists. The Wade – Davis bill was presented and passed by the congress in 1864 which asked for very strict criteria for the reunion of the former confederate states with the federal government. Arguing that the conditions on bill are impractical and cannot be accomplished by the southern states, the bill was vetoed by Abraham Lincoln and hence could not be implemented. Lincoln’s commitment to the idea of emancipation was unchallenged. This can be observed in the promulgation of laws such as legalizing the slave marriages (1864). Strengthening the institution of marriage in the African American community resulted in the establishment of their own social structure comparable with the white population. This gave strength to the concept of emancipation itself, providing African Americans an opportunity to pursue a normal life. Lincoln would also, call a peace conference between the leaders of North and the South in February 1865, giving them the opportunity to sit together and decide the direction of reconstruction effort, and emancipation (Dagbovie, 2010). Attendants of the conference agreed on demilitarization of the confederate states, and in return the Northern states would support the compensation of freed slaves. The declarations made in the conference, were however, not acknowledged by the congress and hence could not be implemented. The reconstruction during the Lincoln’s time, somewhat, dominated by only moderate polices of reconciliation with ex-Confederates in deciding the social and legal status of freedmen. This eventually led to a more dominant role by Southerners, in deciding the political and economic structure of Post-Civil War South. Large populations of African American slaves were the most important factor in the economic and political set up of Southern states (Wilson and Wilson, 2003). After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, President Andrew Johnson continued Lincoln’s policies of reconstruction and Lincoln’s ‘Ten Percent Plan.’ Johnson opposed Congress’s plans on the grounds that they were too harsh for the people of Southern states who should be treated as American citizens (Turner-Sadler, 2009). The congressmen were of the view that Johnson did not possess any special powers under the law as the war was now over. And hence he has the obligation to implement the laws passed by the congress. After the 1866 elections, when the radical republican won majority, Johnson lost the influence to implement his policies of reconstruction. The black codes promulgated by its governors in the southern states in 1860s were rendered ineffective by the Freedmen Bureaus enacted through federal legislation. In response to the Johnson’s vetoes of Congress laws against the moderate reconstruction policies, Congress stopped the readmission of Southern states into the federal legislature (fall 1865). Despite the efforts of Johnson and his like-minded moderates, the complete incorporation of southern states into the federal government could not be made until the end of Johnson’s term in 1869. The office of president was succeeded by Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had a different view of the reconstruction process. He favored the radical congressmen on the issues of rights of freedmen and the election of representatives from the south to the Congress. The iron clad oath suggested in the Wade – Davis bill was firmly implemented and the rights of freedmen (majority of which were African Americans) were upheld. The process of reconstruction hence took a dramatic turn towards being radical in nature rather than moderate (Salzman, 1998). With radicals determining the direction of reconstruction process, new constitutional amendments were made. The 14th and 15th amendments (1868 and 1870) granted equal rights to the former slaves, considering every human born on the American soil as a citizen of the country. It prohibited political and social discrimination on the basis of “caste, color or condition of servitude”. The radicals passed several other laws guaranteeing social, political and economical rights to the former slaves. The confederate states were put under military governors temporarily to be admitted to the Union as other federating units by the end of 1870. The issue of ex-Confederate leaders was resolved by granting amnesty to all the ex-confederate politicians except the most prominent and staunch promoters of confederate policies. The republicans exercised complete administrative and legislative control over almost all the southern states after the elections. To ensure a proper and complete social restructuring of the Southern states, the radical republicans made sure that the African Americans were given leading positions in administrative structure and government offices. In some of the southern states more than 75% of the representatives in legislatures and government servants were African Americans (Foner, 1996).The infrastructure of the war torn southern states was in a deplorable condition. The federal government recognized the importance of the infrastructure for the economic development as well as to end the seclusion of the southern citizens. A huge amount of investment was directed towards railroads networks in the annual budget of 1870 to improve their condition. However, to support the development programs in the southern states, new taxes were levied on a few states. The entire tax structure was changed to be more focused on the land owners in contrast to the previous focus on the slave trade and the sales tax levied on it. Reconstruction officially ended in 1877 when a new president, Rutherford B. Hayes, removed the last federal troops from the public and put them back to their barracks. Reconstruction was a noble attempt by Radical Republicans in Congress, along with moderates, to attempt to bring blacks into American society. However, due to the many obstacles which faced them - reluctant presidents, a vicious and brutal Southern atmosphere, lack of funds, lack of a clear understanding of what was necessary - Reconstruction failed relatively quickly. It was a period when many people from the North had certain zeal to go and right the wrongs of the pre Civil War South, but that too faded quickly as even teachers were harassed for attempting to help the Negroes. Some people argue that Reconstruction was a period in which Congress abused its powers and overstepped the Constitution in order to get their ideologies put forth. This is possible, depending on which side one is looking at it from. There were many times when it seemed as Northern Republicans were overstepping their boundaries, such as the Third Enforcement Act when there was talk about suspending Habeas Corpus in order to combat the Ku Klux Klan. Reconstruction could be understood as the United States government attempting to bring a rebel society more in line with, not only the Constitution, but also principles of humanity and the belief that all men should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It would be about another century, during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s before America began grappling again with the moral questions which were so prevalent during Reconstruction. This social and political liberty brought a revolution in the lives of the African Americans and stimulated their economical uplift. There were large numbers of charities initiated by the citizens and patronized by the government for the social uplift of African Americans and for the provision of basic human rights to them. Among them, the most prominent were those working for the education of the African American citizens. A system of Public Schools and Academies was established for the improvement in the education of freedmen specifically the younger generations. However, the new social system of the equality of rights between white Americans and other races was only supported by the political and military power of the federal government. The majority of the southern white population however did not recognize this newly found independence of other races mainly the African Americans as they were the ones facing the economical consequences of the emancipation proclamation. Hence when the military rule in the southern states was over and the power was transferred to the political powers, they made attempts to reverse this process of independence of the slave population. Their right to vote was forsaken. The newly found economic liberty was lost in the wake of political oppression. The African American population had to fight for equal share in employment and trade opportunities. The political and social independence of the African Americans was portrayed as a denial to the rights of the white population. In this way the southern politician practically reversed the emancipation proclamation (Moras, Shehan and Berado, 2007). It was not until the mid - twentieth century that the African American rose again for their rights of equal opportunities in employment, health, education and politics. During these revolutions, the African American population had the support of not only the northern politicians fearing the hegemony of south, but also the human rights activists and elements believing in the higher human ideals of equality and justice for all. The popularity of these movements reached the middle class of the white men in South as well. The northern states at that time offered equal employment and political rights to all citizens. This encouraged huge numbers of African Americans to migrate towards the northern states. The economic, political and demographic factors hence made the southern states to promulgate the legislation of equal rights to all the citizens. This era is hence referred to as Second Reconstruction. Looking at the history of the reconstruction era one can observe that the concept of emancipation of African Americans and their equal rights in the American society was initiated due to political factors. However the political motivation was not enough for the successful implementation of the concept of emancipation. It was only in the mid twentieth century that the people recognized the rights of all American citizens as equal. Today, African Americans enjoy equal social, political and economic rights with all other races living in USA. Starting in the reconstruction era following the Civil War, the movement of equal rights for African Americans with other citizens has made commendable achievements. References Dagbovie, P. (2010). African American History Reconsidered. University of Illinois Press. Foner, E. (1996). Freedom's Lawmakers: a directory of black office holders during reconstruction. Louisana State University Press. Horton, J. (2005). Landmarks of African American History. Oxford University Press. Moras, A., Shehan, C., & Berado, F. (2007). African American Families: Historical and Contemporary Forces Shaping Family Life and Studies. Handbooks of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations, 145-160. Salzman, J. (1998). African-American History. Macmillan Library Reference USA. Turner-Sadler, J. (2009). African American History: An Introduction. Peter Lang. Wilson, D., & Wilson, J. (2003). The Pride of African American History. AuthorHouse. Read More