Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the Northern expected that the South would be quickly restored to facilitate re-entry into the Union. During that era, there were debates as well as significant violence over various issues, particularly those important to the United States democracy, such as power, respect, fairness, equality, and the meaning of freedom. 1 While some do consider the Reconstruction era to be a success, there is a group of people who counter-argue that era was characterized by failure. While factors such as the radical Republican government unwillingness to enact land reforms and the Supreme Court undermining the power of the 14 th and the 15 th Amendments have been used discuss the shortcoming of the Reconstruction plan, other considerations such as the introduction of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the enactment of the 14 th and 15 th Amendments have been used to argue the success of the Reconstruction era.
Reconstruction was a Success
The reconstruction was an attempt to come up with social and political revolution despite the economic collapse and the opposition by the most whites from the southern states. Despite the challenges that followed Reconstruction, African-Americans were able to succeed in developing measures of independence within Southern society. The introduction of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the introduction of the 14 th and 15 th Amendments are some of the successes from the Reconstruction era 2 .
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The introduction of the Freedmen’s Bureau help in providing solutions to various social problems in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Bureau was a special organization developed to help former slaves, along with poor whites in the South. In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was established by Congress to provide assistance to freed slaves. 3 The establishment was meant to aid and protect the newly freed blacks in the South after the end of the Civil War. After being formed by an act of 3 March 1865, the establishment was supposed to function for a year following the end of the War. 4 However, a bill extending its life indefinitely along with increasing its powers was vetoed by the then president, Andrew Johnson. The primary activities of the organization, include:
Conducting relief work for black and white people in the war-affected areas.
Regulation of black labor as per the new conditions.
Administration of justice for the affected black community.
Management of abandoned and confiscated land and other properties.
Facilitating education for the black community.
Although the organization ended up being discontinued in 1869 due to various political scandals caused by corrupt agents within the organization, its education activities continued for three more years, helping many former slaves to learn how to read and write.
The introduction of the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments during the Reconstruction people went a long way in helping African Americans to attain full civil rights in the 20 th century. 5 The passing of the Fourteenth Amendment in June 1866 has been considered as the introduction of the “Second Constitution” due to the manner in which it redefined the country as a modern nation. Some of the primary provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment include:
The incorporation of the birthright citizenship in the Constitution, which gave the Federal government, and not the states, the responsibility to define citizenship.
nationalization of the protection of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and forbade the violation of these rights by state governments.
provision for the “equal protection of the law” for every American citizen
penalized states that denied male citizens the right to vote by reducing the state’s representation in Congress.
prohibition of any payment to former slaveholders in compensation for any losses incurred as a result of the loss of slaves after Emancipation.
Aside from the constant need for interpretation and reinterpretation, the introduction of the Fourteenth Amendment contributed to the development of equality in the post-war era.
The Fifteenth Amendment, which was introduced during the Reconstruction period, prohibited the denial of voting right based on race, color, or previous conditions of servitudes. 6 The Fifteenth Amendment expanded political rights to millions of Americans who were previously not allowed to vote. Despite the shortcomings of the Fifteenth Amendments, including not extending the voting right to women, and the failure to prevent the implementation of the literacy test, poll taxes, and other ways of preventing freed people from voting, the enactment facilitated the experiment in interracial democracy.
Reconstruction was a Failure
In a quest for reparation, the land policy was reformed to promote economic justice. The Republican party implemented the land policy to provide some level of economic freedom and autonomy for former slaves. 7 Therefore, the land that was vacated by owners when the Union army invaded those areas in the early years of the Civil War. The freed people claimed or were granted these abandoned lands in the territories controlled by the Union Army. However, following the end of the Civil War, the Southern planters came back to reclaim the land they had left behind. The competing demand for justice and healing made it difficult for the implementation of these land reforms. If confiscating land from Southern planters and giving it to former slaves was an act of justice, it would definitely affect the process of healing between white Americans who supported the Confederacy and those that supported the Union Army. 8 To address the dilemma, Andrew Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction policies dictated that land rights and property rights would be granted to former Confederates, provided they pledged loyalty to the Union. 9 Resultantly, some of the lands were confiscated from the former slaves and given back to the Southern planters. Throughout the Reconstruction era, the land becomes a divisive issue that challenged the Republicans who advocated for full political and economic rights for the former slaves.
In the period coming after the Civil War, the Supreme Court undermined the power of the fourteenth and the fifteenth amendments that were established to facilitate political and economic freedom for the former slaves. 10 Although Congress had passed vital laws to protect the political and civil rights of the former slaves, the Supreme Court started taking away these protections. In the 1870s, the Supreme Court made some rulings that undermined the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments. In 1873, the Court made a ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment protects only rights that people had by virtue of their citizenship in the United States; the Court argued that most of the primary civil rights were acquired through state citizenship and thus the Fourteenth Amendment did not protect those rights. 11 Elsewhere, in the 1876 U.S. v Cruikshank , the Supreme Court made a ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give the federal government the right to punish individual whites who oppressed and punished African Americans. 12 The Court also made a ruling in favor of officials who prevented African Americans from voting, by arguing that the Fifteenth Amendment did not give right of suffrage on any individual, but only gives conditions upon which states could not deny suffrage. The series of rulings by the Supreme Court was a set back to the Reconstruction process as it undermined the freedom and rights of African Americans.
Following the end of the Civil War, the Union government incorporated measures for reconstruction of the nation. The implementations were meant to facilitate social, economic, and political freedom for the former slaves. The Reconstruction plan was a success in many ways, including the introduction of the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments, which helped to grand political and economic justice for African Americans. The introduction of the Freedmen’s Bureau also helped in improving the interests of the freed persons. Despite the effort of the Reconstruction plan, the process was marred with challenges, including the ineffective land policy and the undermining of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments by the Supreme Court, which affected the Reconstruction process.
Bibliography
Littell, McDougal. “Reconstruction and its Effects” in The Americans , 2007, 374-402.
Maltz, Earl. “The Coming of the Fifteenth Amendment: the Republican Party and the Right to Vote in the Early Reconstruction Era.” Available at SSRN 3317813 (2019).
Rogowski, Jon C. “Reconstruction and the state: The political and economic consequences of the freedmen’s bureau.” In annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA . 2018.
Sigward, Daniel. The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy. Facing History and Ourselves, 2015.
Wadsworth, Douglas J. The Failure of American Civil War Reconstruction: Lessons for Post-Conflict Operations in Iraq . NAVAL WAR COLL NEWPORT RI JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS DEPT, 2005.
1 Daniel, Sigward. The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy. Facing History and Ourselves, 2015.
2 Earl, Maltz. "The Coming of the Fifteenth Amendment: the Republican Party and the Right to Vote in the Early Reconstruction Era." Available at SSRN 3317813 (2019).
3 Jon, Rogowski C. "Reconstruction and the state: The political and economic consequences of the freedmen’s bureau." In annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA . 2018.
4 Ibid.
5 Earl, Maltz. "The Coming of the Fifteenth Amendment: the Republican Party and the Right to Vote in the Early Reconstruction Era." Available at SSRN 3317813 (2019).
6 Ibid.
7 Daniel, Sigward. The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy. Facing History and Ourselves, 2015.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Douglas, Wadsworth J. The Failure of American Civil War Reconstruction: Lessons for Post-Conflict Operations in Iraq . NAVAL WAR COLL NEWPORT RI JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS DEPT, 2005.
11 McDougal, Littell. “Reconstruction and its Effects” in The Americans , 2007, 374-402.
12 Ibid.
