Giomar J. Rivera (+3 pts For Sub Work) U.S.

History 1 Final Exam June-18-2013 Was Reconstruction a Success or a Failure?

Many people may think that Reconstruction was a success. However they are wrong. For example women not being able to vote. This was an obstacle that many women had to overcome. Another example is the death of Tom Moss. His death was unethical , for it was just a result of hatred and racism. My final example is laws having loopholes. The rights of African American citizens was being limited.

Reconstruction was a failure because people were not treated equally. The point of reconstruction is to reconstruct or to fix. It was as if the United States was taking a step back from doing that. Reconstruction didnt just affect African Americans but women as well. For example at the time women were discriminated. They were not allowed to vote ( Susan B. Anthony, 1873 ). It was almost as if the United States was switching from discriminating African Americans because of the color of their skin to discriminating women for their gender. Another example to back up my thesis of people not treated equally could be all of the harmed Negros. In the South the number of wounded Negros was increasing ( Adelbert Ames, 1875 ). This is equal because nowhere in the document does it state that any white people were being harmed at all. My final example is the Jim Crow laws. These laws were simply created to keep black people from white people ( TCI, 2002 ). By doing this you are taking a step backward from reaching the

goal of reconstructing the country because you are dividing the people who live within the country. Imagine that you have to live an everyday life where you are at risk of being harmed or losing your life. Thats what African American people went through because of Reconstruction in the United States. For example the death of Tom Moss. Tom Moss was no more than an innocent African American man inside his grocery store. His life went downhill on the night of March 9th. He was dragged out of his grocery store to an empty railroad track then he was killed ( Bill Jersey & Richard Wormser, 2002 ). Abram Colby was another African American man affected by this Reconstruction. He was a political man who was strippped and harmed. Abram stood up to the criminals saying If there was an election tomorrow I would vote the Radical ticket ( Abram Colby, 1872 ). This shows that people who have done nothing wrong were being violated simply out of hate. The KKK could also back up my thesis. The KKK also known as the Ku Klux Klan was an organization formed in the South with the goal to intimidate black voters and office holders( TCI, 2002 ). They would often threaten them to cause internal fear in the African Americans. When the Reconstruction was happening torment was upon the lives of African American citizens. Reconstruction had a huge affect on laws in America. For example Freedman were allowed to vote, but heres the catch they had to pay a poll tax and they had to pass a literacy test ( TCI, 2002 ). As you can see congress found a way to make it seem as if what they were doing was an ethical or good action when really what they were doing was wrong. Another example could be the Black Codes. The Black Codes were created by wealthy white planters with the goal to keep freedmen at the bottom of the social order in the South ( TCI, 2002 ).White people did not want to see African Americans at the top. The top being government. They didnt want

blacks to be as equal as they were. In Texas Persons of color were given the right to enforce contracts, the right to sue and be sued, the right to buy, and so on. However they were not given the right to serve juries ( Texas State, 1866 ) You may be saying well that's only one law, look at all the rest rights that they gained. Yet the one law is very important. They did not give them that right because they feared the giving them the right to serve on juries would give them power. The goal that congress had was to keep the rights of African Americans limited. Nowhere does it say that the rights of white people were limited. For these reasons Reconstruction in America was a failure; people were not treated equally, African Americans were tormented, and laws were being given loopholes. Many people were treated in an unethical fashion as a result of this Reconstruction. Many people may argue that Reconstruction was a success because it gave many rights to African Americans. They would be wrong because those rights being given caused anger to white people which caused things like the KKK and the death of Tom Moss. The KKK isnt an example of reconstruction, its an example of destruction. One final argument that others may have is that Reconstruction inspired the Civil Rights Movement but there wouldnt need to be a Civil Rights Movement because all of these deaths would of never happened if it wasnt for Reconstruction. In a word Reconstruction was a Failure!