Revisiting American History: the Reconstruction Period

Revisiting American History: the Reconstruction Period

American had just ended what many believe as one of the most momentous events in American history and now many challenges were ahead for the United States upon the conclusion of the Civil War; the three greatest fell under the political, social and economical realm. The scandal and continual animosity within the Federal government of the New World made the reconstruction of the South and re-building of the Union an uphill battle. The country could not agree on the abolishment of slavery and the freedmen weren’t given the rights as was stated in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the destruction to the South along with its fight against Reconstruction was impeding the success in the new world of industrialization. The country was unsuccessful in meeting these challenges because there was still much animosity between the North and the South. There was no support within the government because of the scandal and the beliefs within the leaders of the New World. The Confederacy was still strong and the Freedmen were without true freedom or civil rights. With the country later experiencing a grave Depression, the Northerners grew tired of Reconstruction and turned their heads to activists in the South; there was more to worry about than the Freedmen’s rights and how the ex-Confederates refused to abide by the Amendments put into place. Industrialization was meant to be a great movement toward the New World being in power and self-sustaining, but greed consumed this as well and the Southern states were still busy fighting against the emancipation of the slaves and instating things such as the Black Codes and the secret societies such as the Klu Klux Klan to support this fight that there was no time for becoming industrialized. Also, it was difficult for the South to move forward into Industrialization as the Northern states were doing, when it was too busy licking its wounds from the Civil War.
The country was in a state of Political upheaval...

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