The Civil War and Reconstruction - Essay Example

The Civil War and Reconstruction of the of the The Civil War and Reconstruction Introduction The American Civil War wasa pivotal point in American history. Thousands of lives were lost, but justice and the basic rights of humanity prevailed. Abraham Lincoln and his followers were having the satisfaction of seeing that justice had been done. Alas, the peace was not to last for long, for Lincoln would be assassinated on the evening of April 14, 1865 at the hand of John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. But even if it was thought that the death of Lincoln would be the death knell to the cause of emancipation, the following Presidency of Andrew Johnson tried to maintain the status quo with policies that protected African Americans. Unfortunately his efforts did not prevail, the power was once again given to the Army and there was even a period that followed in which the Democrats regained the impetus, re-enacting laws that revived the era of slavery for these newly freed men and women. Lynching and race riots were rampant in some States, and the Redeemer Government and Klu Klux Klan were determined to re-establish white supremacy. It seemed that all the efforts of the Reconstruction had been for nothing. 1. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION Notwithstanding that they had just been through a harsh and debilitating war, President’s Abraham Lincoln wanted to be magnanimous towards the South. In December 1863, he placed the idea that a State could be integrated into the Union if 10 percent of the population count under 1860’s census supported emancipation. Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas were won over by the Union through Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan. However this compromise did not sit well with the diehard Republicans, nor some in Lincoln’s own party who feared that it would once again undermine the cause of emancipation by bringing economic slavery to blacks on white owned cotton ginning farms. The mood of the South was rebellious and unrepentant. They sought to regain control of the situation, and could not bear to see blacks getting education, voting rights and freedom. On his part, President Andrew Jackson who took up the reins of Government following Lincoln’s death tried his best to follow the former’s lenient policies for the collective benefit of all. He appointed new Governors in 1865. Unfortunately his efforts did not meet with success and were spurned by the diehard Republicans. They challenged and undermined his efforts, rejected his nominations from the South and eventually managed to oust his Government in 1865-66 after success in the 1866 Congressional elections. They managed to regain control of Congress in 1877. The Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution made on 09 July 1868 was an attempt to ensure that blacks would have the same rights as whites. This included the right to vote, travel and bear arms. The Elections of 1866 were a turning point in the cause for Reconstruction. The Union party was supported by the War Republicans having abolitionist tendencies. The Radical Republicans however favored a more stringent policy with the South, preferring military control over their lands and forcing them to give civil and voting rights to blacks. These hardliners prevailed and after usurping Johnson, moved to give control over many States to the Army. 2. CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION The efforts towards emancipation of the slaves brought them across to many abolitionist states. Black migrated from North to South and East to West in search of jobs, housing and a source of livelihood. Most of them had lived under miserable conditions in the slave owned plantations of the South. However it was a time of considerable flux and fluidity, with blacks having to protect themselves from those who still wanted to take advantage of them. They had to learn to protect their own right to freedom. Concerted efforts were made by former slave owners to try to enslave the freed men through economic necessity. The war had destroyed eleven cities quite comprehensively- among them were Atlanta, Charleston, Columbia and Richmond. After Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson tried to adopt similar lenient policies but was overthrown by Radical Republicans in 1866 who subsequently gave control to the US Army in 1867. In some States, civilian governments were formed run by coalitions of freedmen, scalawags and carpetbaggers who raised taxes, formed public schools and gave emphasis to trade, transportation and the reconstruction of the railroad. However it all ended when the Republicans failed to hold on to power and a group of Southerners gained majority in the parliament. Calling themselves Redeemers they sought to bring back the Slave Era and enacted Jim Crow laws that divided black and white Americans till the 1960s. The end of the Civil War had seen a large black population move to sympathetic states. They were employed as maids, laborers and factory workers-low paying jobs. 3. RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH There were many attempts made towards reconstruction in the South. However the former slave owners and owners of plantations and cotton growing areas could not grow accustomed to the fact that things had changed and they had lost the right to own slaves. Slaves had been regarded as free labor. Now that the black man had rights under the Freedman Bureau Bill and other acts such as the Fourteenth Amendment, it was distressing to the former slave owners. They made attempts to take over Congress and were ultimately successful in 1877, bringing in the Black codes and other partisan legislation that formed the basis for Jim Crow laws. White Republicans in the South supported their own causes through the Congressional elections of 1866, toppling the supremacy of the Unionists. It was no doubt a scary time for the blacks for it meant that their freedom could not be guaranteed. Indeed the enactment of laws such as those by the Redeemer Government ensured that the status of ‘separate but equal rights’ would never be the case for blacks and whites. The New State Governments did not do much for the cause of the blacks. In fact it was a period of trial and tribulation for the blacks. They did not have bargaining rights as they worked on the land of the capitalists who were most certainly former slave owners. While previously a system of gang labor work patterns were favored, because it meant that blacks would have to compete against each other for work and thus the work would be done at the lowest rates, giving the landowners labor at the cheapest rates, the new freed black men preferred a family wage earning system, under which entire black families could be employed and work at the plantations or in the fields. This also ensured that there were enough earnings for the families when work was not available. These practices led to the idea of sharecropping, and later culminated in a crop-lien system, since the laborers had less access to capital, machines and tools. These conditions were ultimately exploited by the capitalists as well, as they forced laborers to work for low wages, planted only cotton and made laborers staying on a farm be indebted for generations on end till the cost of food, housing and other items had be paid for as well. Since the farming sector economy was mostly dependent on cotton crop and since most of it came to the market at the same time, there were wide fluctuations in the price of cotton and the landowners paid the laborers the lowest price possible. Blacks were ill-treated and killed under various pretexts, rapes by white men over black women were rampant and went unpunished, and even black men were falsely accused of trying to rape white female employers. The conditions were pathetic and reminded one of the age of slavery all over again (Davidson et al, 2008). These economic and civil rights issues ultimately led to corruption in the State Governments. The rights of the blacks as well as the majority of low income whites could not be ensured. It was an age of capitalism when the might of the rich, their power, prestige and social and business relationships would dominate politics and business and force Mark Twain and others to call it the Gilded Age. It was the time when the novels Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom’s Cabin showed a picture of what was happening across the land. It was a sad time for equity and justice. 4. BLACK ASPIRATIONS Imagine the joy of the blacks as the triumph of the Unionists in the Civil War meant that they were free of their slave masters and overseers for the first time. Many generations had spent their lives in slavery, hoping beyond hope that one day they would be freed of this injustice and be treated with respect and have equal rights. They had songs of hope that they sang in silence or while working in the fields. Their freedom had been a long time coming. That is why it was appreciated all the more. The black man was free to care for his family, no more under his master’s control. He could live and work and breathe the free air, no more shackled to a farm or his master’s fetters. He could even dream of getting an education, which is what W.E Du Bois and Booker T. Washington certainly did. Some of these black men even aspired to open small businesses where they plied their trade or offered their services. They enrolled in public schools. In many states, the Government sought to include their rights, raised taxes and created employment opportunities on the railroads and farms, in factories and warehouses. Previously it was only the private investment of the landowners that was being made for their own benefits. The Black Family began developing itself as a unit in these circumstances. Blacks chose particular areas to settle, and believed in faith and unity to guide them through difficult times. The Schoolhouse and the Church were the two main areas where blacks could congregate and discuss their communal issues and try to figure out how to solve them or get proper representation to protest their rights (Davidson et al, 2008). Among the new working conditions for blacks was the fact that by virtue of the 13th and 14th amendments to the US Constitution, they were guaranteed equal rights to work, vote and live free lives within the limits of the Law. The Freedmen’s Bureau had been created towards the end of the Civil War and it ensured proper rights and representation for the blacks. For instance it gave them protection under the Federal laws and helped end the Black codes and evil schemes almost as soon as they were initiated. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was also enacted for this purpose. The newly freed black man could now think freely about the rights and duties of his family. Gone were the days when control of their lives was in the hands of their masters or overseers. There were generations of slaves who had gone to their graves thinking of a better way of life when they would be free of the white man’s yoke. Thanks to the American Civil War fought for their emancipation, this new generation could now see a new way of life. Most of them ended up being employed as planters and were beginning to get used to this new way of life. However the control of the machinery and tools in the hands of the white plantation owners and they used their power and clout to take the best advantage of this cheap labor. They made the black laborer families stay on their lands during growing and cropping season. They made them pay for boarding and lodging, food, shelter etc, and so made them so indebted that it took many years to pay them back. This was a really painful experience and made them remember the old days where they were treated as slaves. Here the only difference was they were enslaved by their poverty and economic needs. It would be a long time before the system was thoroughly revamped and made more equitable for the rights of the laborers. 5. THE ABANDONMENT OF RECONSTRUCTION The Radical Republicans supported General Ulysses Grant in the election of 1868. They were of the opinion that President Johnson had been too quick to declare that the goals of reconstruction had been achieved. By the election of Grant they were of the opinion that a stronger candidate had been elected as their leader and would see that their viewpoint was carried through (Davidson et al, 2008). The Grant Administration did not disappoint the aspirations of those who voted in favor of the General. Grant had begun reforming the laws and labor practices of the time as early as 1862 or during the American Civil War itself, when he directed an Ohio based chaplain John Eaton to hire black men in the war effort and pay them a just wage for their labors. Slaves in Tennessee and Mississippi benefited from these arrangements. It was the beginning of Grant’s vision for the Freedmen Bureau. In the light of all these radical changes taking place, there was a growing sense of disillusionment in the North. Grant had supported the cause of the Radicals by agreeing to some of their policies. He allowed Edward Stanton, a Radical, to be appointed as Secretary of War and so appeased their sentiments as well. Under Grant’s able administration, the cause of the blacks was being championed and White Supremacy was being dealt a blow. The Force Acts resulted in the persecution of white Klansmen and their being brought to justice for hate crimes committed against the blacks. The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment gave blacks the right to vote and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 gave everyone the right to use state and public facilities regardless of race (Davidson et al, 2008). The Disputed Election of 1877 was one of the main events that brought back the white supremacists like the White League and the Red Shirts into the picture of politics once again. Unfortunately Grant had met with opposition due to his strong hand against the Klansmen. He was also blamed for the Panic of 1873 and the depression that followed. There were scandals within his administration that saw him lose his grip on power. In the end he had to make many concessions towards the Democrats. In the elections of 1877, there was a lot of bungling and killing off of candidates in Mississippi, North and South Carolina with the result that the winner won by a margin of just one vote. He was Rutherford B. Hayes and was regarded as the last President of the Reconstruction Era. Unfortunately he had to make certain concessions towards the opposing party in a backroom deal before he even took office and this sealed the fate of his administration and the limit of his power. Conclusion Historians unanimously agree that no matter what its intentions, the effort at Reconstruction was a dismal failure. As W.E Du Bois himself put it, it showed the Negro but a glimpse of the sun- the light ahead or what was possible, before he was plunged into the darkness once again. It would take almost a hundred years more before the efforts of emancipation bore fruit and blacks truly earned their equal status following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. References Davidson, J.W., Gienapp, W. E. et al. (2008). Nation of Nations: a Narrative History of the American Republic (6th edition, Volume 2). Boston: McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780077279905.  Read More