The Civil War Reconstruction

Samuel Kehrer

Dr.Hentzy

APUSH

2-8-15

Reconstruction

        The Civil War was a long drawn out battle between the Northern and Southern states over the concept of slavery. Once the War ended in 1865, the states needed to find a way to merge once more and become a nation. Also, many issues were still on the table and needed to be resolved.  This is the era of Reconstruction. The goals of Reconstruction were to get equal rights for blacks, make poor whites self sufficient, and make things normal. Both North and South tried to work toward Reconstruction, but it failed. Reconstruction failed due to the North’s Compromise of 1877, failure to gain equal rights for blacks, and Republican idleness.

        Reconstruction failed due to the Compromise of 1877. In order to get President Rutherford B. Hayes elected, the Northern Republicans talked with other Republican office holders to submit fake ballots to the Electoral College. His Democratic opponent was Samuel J. Tilden of New York. The electoral returns were fraught with accusations and arguments. There appeared to be two sets of returns from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, and the vote of Oregon was also doubtful. The disputed results prevented either of the candidates from securing a majority of electoral votes. The Senate was Republican, and the House of Representatives was Democratic. The two houses could not agree as to how the electoral returns should be counted so the houses referred the whole issue to an electoral commission. In the end, the South gave Hayes the win in exchange for removal of troops from Southern states. The removal left Southern blacks helpless and unprotected. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments granted rights to the newly freed blacks, but the South had no one to enforce the laws after the Federal troops were removed from Southern soil. President Rutherford Hayes recalled the troops, and all the Southern states at once passed into the control of the Democrats. Hayes's withdrawal of troops from the South marked the end of Reconstruction. Hayes continued his presidency by overseeing the appropriation of federal funds for internal improvements in the South. The Compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction. The election of Hayes, while good for Republicans, signaled the end of an idea that the Republicans had created, Reconstruction. The removal of Federal troops left the freed blacks helpless due to the fact that no one was there to enforce the newly passed amendments that gave the blacks a chance at equality. Blacks were open to discrimination, threats, violence, and poverty. The race that the North had worked so hard for fell right back through the cracks in which the blacks were pulled from by the hand of the North. In the end, the North sold out the blacks for a presidency and left the blacks at the bidding of the South with no protection or rights. The North was responsible for the fail of Reconsruction because blacks did not have equal rights due to the Compromise of 1877.