After the Civil War the first phase of Reconstruction was the Presidential Reconstruction, under Andrew Johnson. Johnson built new governments that consisted of an all white government. The framework of this new government mirrored that of the Confederate government the Union had fought against, allowing former confederates to become political leaders. Johnson ordered Southern lands back to their original southern owners and the south remained agricultural. With the South ownership again to the original southern owners “confederates”, this allowed for Shared Cropping to begin, of course it was in a lot of ways slavery all over again. It may not have allowed the owners to “own” the former slaves per say, but it allowed them to keep the African American’s dependent on them. Landowners provided housing, tools, and seeds to African American farmers to work the crops and receive a share from the crops; of course the prices for crops were set by the landowner and the workers didn’t receive much. The landowners were having workers(slaves) work their own crops, and paying them little for the crop. African Americans became tied to a land they did not own, with no means to save enough to leave and build their own, so they were stuck working as sharecroppers. The slavery framework all over again.
The second phase of Reconstruction was, the Congressional or Radical Reconstruction. Republicans did not like what they saw going on under Johnson’s hold. Radical Republicans felt the war was fought by the Union for equal rights and take down the Confederacy ways they wanted the government to follow through. Radical Republicans passed the Civil Rights bill, but Johnson vetoed the law, stating it would discriminate against white people. Republicans became angered, what they did was overroad the Presidential veto and that had never been done before. Congress then amended the Constitution, with the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment defends citizenship, equal protection, and extends rights to Bill of Rights to all states. This didn’t stop southern states to welcome African Americans to be equal, because states then just revised laws to say Negro instead of slave, the Black Code. So, Congress added the 15th Amendment which prohibited states from denying men the right to vote based on race. This allowed former slaves to participate in the political process by taking part sit ins, voting and holding office. Most African Americans were republicans at this time and the republican party dominated the South.
So the Presidential Reconstruction differed from The Radical Reconstruction, because it desired to keep the same framework the Confederate government used. Keeping whites superior than other races. Where as, Radical Reconstruction wanted the Unions fight to not be for nothing and break the confederacy way of thinking. It brought forth the 14th and 15th Amendments.
The Presidential Reconstruction was just a big failure, because it just wanted to rebuild the government with the same framework the Confederate government had done. The same framework the Union fought against, and put the same Confederates back in office. The Radical Reconstruction was the belief that the war was fought for equal rights. This may not have been as equal at the time as it is today, but it was a step in the right direction. The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution, citizenship, equal protection, and extends rights to the Bill of Rights to all states and that was something they never had before. I feel it was also a sort of a failure too, because states (whites) didn’t want to conform and ended up just changing the laws from saying slave to saying Negro, and not allowing the right to vote for African Americans. The southern states having to conform to be part of the union and the 15th Amendment was somewhat of a success, because it allowed free slaves to have a voice and be politically and hold political office. I don’t believe it was a total success because equal rights wasn’t for all, women and illiterate didn’t have these same rights; even though the southern states conformed it didn’t mean all the past disdain towards African Americans was gone. I believe it was successful in some ways but a failure because it never truly gave everyone the same playing field; so everyone was never 100% equal in the eyes of everyone and at the end the South became horrible all over again for African Americans.
In my opinion, the US should have been much harsher on the Confederates, they imprisoned and tortured slaves. I believe they should have experienced how it was to be treated like a slave, not given the opportunity to get their lands back, operate Sharecropping, and hold political offices. I feel like the southerners view was that they did no wrong, and by getting away with what they did it allowed them to still be their racists-selves. It was evident in the racial posters they would draw, making them look well put together and Africans Americans in politics looking like crazy men.
CMN American History from 1865 