Greater Reconstruction Essay Samples

The notion that the Reconstruction Era was only a time that impacted the Southern states following the Civil War is an oversimplification of the decades after the Civil War. Reconstruction is typically referred to as being between the years 1865 and 1877 in which the South attempted to rebuild. However, the North too had to deal with the consequences of the Civil War, as they were as much transformed as the South by the Reconstruction Era.
The key issue about Reconstruction was how the South would be treated by the North. Lincoln had favored a moderate and lenient policy towards the South, but he was assassinated before he could carry out his mission. Then President Johnson attempted to continue Lincoln’s vision, but faced Congressional pressure to punish the South for leaving. Johnson and Congress did not agree and the Radical Republicans seized power and placed the former Confederacy under military rule. During this time many people from the North actually came down to the South, as they were now under the rule of the US army, and effectively the North. This shows that the North was affected by reconstruction as they sought to go down South and help deal with the issue of slavery and rebuild the economy. The term for this is “carpetbaggers” and they played a large role in the reconstruction process.
Unfortunately, the reconstruction process failed and the South was left in poverty and racial divide. The North’s involvement, especially in sending the military, had very little effect on the well-being of the South, and this impacted the entire nation. There was a nationwide depression in 1873, and the North’s plan for Radical Reconstruction failed. They could not immediately repair the damage, and this set the economy, civil rights and equality back for many years. In fact, the nation would not heal from these issues for another 100 years.