The tragedy of Reconstruction

The_Jackal
The_Jackal Members Posts: 3,628 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited February 2016 in The Social Lounge
Lincoln untimely assassination ultimately is the leading cause that proceeds the downfall of Reconstruction. Although his 10% plan was never intended to be overbearingly strict on the CSA, it would have effectively eliminated the chance for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials to obtain power, while guaranteeing that a new government and more importantly new ideas and social order was instituted. A viable plan considered to be painstakingly lenient to the Radical Republicans, who altogether proposed Lincoln pushed harder saw it as reasonable to work with. With Johnson ascending to the presidency after Lincoln death allegiances are made clear, and Johnson loyalty to his southern comrades becomes obviously apparent. Making CSA officials and high-ranking military apply for pardons directly to him and unanimously pardoning them he condemned the south into a cycle of stagnation, conceding the south to the slave masters who in their own greed were responsible for countless American death. Sharecropping stepped in to take the position of slavery with as low as 20% of African American workers being paid a legitimate wage. Opposing the Fourteenth Amendment, allowing the Black Codes to thrives, which in and of themselves were ridiculous vile violation of civil rights, and generally yielding to the south in all manners, to find a more incompetent and passive man to finish this war would be a herculean task.

Expansion has always been seen as a ? given right to conquer this new world which we have been given dominion over. Manifest destiny was an idea that was deeply ingrained into this country, one that demanded the taming of this land. With the end of the civil war and the circulation of rumors of gold out west the country found itself revitalized, the dream of the self-made man looming in countless minds. Gold, land, freedom, it drew countless men from every region of America to the western frontier. With them the railroads followed, and where the railroads went the army was quickly behind. The Natives Americans who lived there had always been viewed as a minor problem, they could always be moved, or killed they were barley seen as humans. As more soldiers were stationed out west and withdrawn from the South the less control the federal government had over the region. Violence against African Americans and their supporters skyrocketed. From voter intimidation, to states implanting gimmick laws to stop African American voters, and finally assault and lynching’s we see the unfortunate after-effects of the westward push.

Plessy vs Ferguson a case that highlights the injustice of the justice system, a case where the idea of democracy is trampled and the tyranny of the majority is seen clearly. An antagonist of the theory of democracy, of civil rights, of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness arises and in its wake a plague of hatred but more importantly a justification of that hatred emerges. Hatred can always be defeated by logic, by empathy, by cooperation and tolerance but when you justify that hatred, when you make it reasonable you give it power. Plessy vs Ferguson segregation in public is allowed if and only if it is separate but equal. In one grand stroke of irony from a country that rebelled against tyranny, a country that proclaimed the bold declaration that “all men are created equal” oppression was state sponsored. With that we see how almost pointless the Civil War turned out to be.

In retrospect as a mere scholars of history the different directions that the country could have undergone are endless. While economically and especially when it comes to infrastructure Reconstruction was a success. The social aspect continues to haunt this country and encourages citizens to forever be vigilante against hatred and tyranny. One has to remember hatred consumes all and tyranny is the enemy of mankind.







A little article I wrote for my school. Let me know what you think or if you have an questions.




Comments

  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good drop..

    I was reading an article the other day about white suffragettes vying for their right to vote at the expense of of the emergence of blacks. I mean its not surprising but something i didnt know.. i could fill a planet with the ? i don't know
  • The_Jackal
    The_Jackal Members Posts: 3,628 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ajackson17 wrote: »
    Dope!

    A Lil thing for Black History month on how this country failed is.
    Good drop..

    I was reading an article the other day about white suffragettes vying for their right to vote at the expense of of the emergence of blacks. I mean its not surprising but something i didnt know.. i could fill a planet with the ? i don't know

    Here's something interesting. Depending on which historian you talked to the first act of the civil war was John brown raid on harper ferry. He was an abolitionist who believed in gaining slaves freedom by armed revolution. Was very close to Harriet tubman and Frederick Douglas going as far as calling Harriet his general. Ultimately the raid failed (he killed a few southerens) and he was hanged a martyr for the anti slavery movement.

    There were quite a few whites who truly were disgusted by slavery and did everything they could to end it