The sharp knife stabbed into the heart of the recovery plan of post-Civil War America, who held the knife? Reconstruction, the fight for rights of freedmen, the rejoicing plan for the north and south, the plan for America to become whole again. Although both the North and South are to blame for the killing of the Reconstruction, the South is most to blame. Certainly the North neglecting the South took part in stabbing the Reconstruction but also an immense amount of racism and prejudism towards blacks contributed to the failure (Doc a,b,d.) However, racism, Northern neglect, are not as critical to the killing as Southern resistance.
The Southern society was transformed immensely after the Civil War. Southerners didn't want anything to do with Reconstruction, besides a few individuals called “Scalawags,” who were white men in favor of Reconstruction. There were also some new arrivals in the South, Northerners called “Carpetbaggers,” who moved into the south after the Civil War. The South did everything they could to deny Reconstruction, sometimes going as far as killing and threatening citizens lives (Doc A1.) Northerners were coming down into the south to promote Reconstruction, but the South did not budge. They resisted everything that pro-Reconstruction people had to say. The South resisted the new government and dedicated themselves to white-only ruling. Overall the South did not cooperate and resisted the Reconstruction, and if they cooperated the Reconstruction would not have been killed.
The North on the other hand was not effected as much as the South after the Civil War. The North neglected the South, by practically forgetting about them, and not putting effort towards the Reconstruction of the South. After the Civil War the North put the South under the rule of the US Army, causing anger and aggression from the South. The North put efforts towards Reconstructions though Scalawags, Carpetbaggers, and Freedmen. But was soon shot down by the South....