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Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

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Reconstruction is the period that follows the civil war and is known as the rebuilding of the United States. It was a time full of great pain. Even after the military conflict ended reconstruction was still a war in many different ways. The struggle was waged by radical northerners who wanted to punish the Southerners who greatly wanted to preserve their way of life. Was reconstruction a success or a failure? In many ways, it was both. Reconstruction was a success because it restored the United States. Reconstruction also settled the states’ rights vs. federalism debate that was an issue since the 1970s. (Reconstruction, UShistory.org) In other ways Reconstruction was known as a failure. Radical Republican legislation initially failed to defend former slaves from white discrimination and failed to create changes to the South. The sharecropping system, which was a legal form of slavery that kept African Americans secured to land owned by wealthy white farmers, became common in the South. With minute economic power, African Americans had to fight for their rights by themselves, …show more content…
Johnson’s plan were more advanced than Lincoln’s and omitted the Confederates who owned taxable property in excess of $20,000 from the pardon. (Presidential Reconstruction, apstudynotes.org) These prosperous Southerners were the ones Johnson thought led the South into separation. Yet, these Confederates were able to petition him for individual pardons. Before the year was over, Johnson, who seemed to savor authority over the aristocrats who pled for his approval, had issued 13,000 pardons. (Presidential Reconstruction, apstudynotes.org) On December 6, 1865, Johnson broadcasted that the Southern states had met his requirements for Reconstruction and that in his belief the Union had become reestablished. (Presidential Reconstruction,

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