Plans to Reconstruct the South: Failure -or- Success? The federal governments plan to reconstruct the south after the civil war was an ineffective and unsuccessful plan. The reconstruction began in 1865 and ended in 1890. Many roads, bridges, railroad, and factories were destroyed during the war and needed repairs and rebuilding. During the struggle to reconstruct many people were struggling as well. Most of these people were blacks and freed slaves.
Blacks did not have equal rights. They had the right to vote because of the 15th amendment. The Grandfather Clause allowed few if any blacks to vote. The law stated that if their grandfather or father could vote they could vote. However most blacks were unable to vote because the 15th amendment wasn't passed until January 7th 1867 but did not take effect until 1869. If the were illegible to vote they usually did not because of the rapid growth of hate groups.
1867 drawing depicting the first vote by African A...
1870 celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment as a g...
One in a series of posters attacking Radical Repub...Hate groups were very common then unlike today. Thousands of Americans and "followers of god" participated in this cruel act among fellow Americans and anyone different then themselves. They most high targets were the blacks. One of the reasons blacks did not vote was because of the cruel and inhuman acts these people did. They would harass, threaten, and actually kill blacks if they wanted to or did take place in the voting process. The blacks had to pay a poll tax to vote and they could not afford that. They needed all the money they could earn to help take care of family. This made black people angry that they had so much drawbacks in life where as America was to be said "the home of the free". The blacks could do nothing but sit around and let this cruel power the whites had over the blacks.
After the war ended the Freedmen's Bureau was created. It helped needy blacks and whites. It created colleges and schooling for blacks. They gave jobs to blacks such as farming, which they were good at, if they had been a slave. They provided employment and education but many blacks did not have money for housing and food. Some got very sick and died of diseases and malnutrition.
Reconstruction was a failure in a sense. It helped fix many things that were important but should have played more attention to the citizens especially the blacks. They were treated unfairly. The southerners were very evil to the blacks and the north should have captured the blacks and made them a part of the north. People were left poor hungry and ill and if they were to reconstruct they should have focused on the people first before all things.
two random black people on a sunday afternoon
an old picture of black people breaking moe's bike
A Bureau agent stands between armed groups of Sout...