DBQ Reconstruction Essay Example for Free

DBQ reconstructive memory EssayThe union victory in the civilian War gave four million slaves their freedom, exclusively reuniting the South with the North introduced a new set of portentous challenges. The Congress Reconstruction were the efforts to establish and protect citizens rights of freedom. Democrats guide to the failure of the Congress Reconstruction by humane those who participated in the obliging War who were thus far in favor of thralldom and discrepancy. This act of Amnesty led to three major obstacles for reconstruction the emergence of the Ku Kux Klan, the development of obscure codes, and the Compromise f 1877. The emergence of the Ku Kux Klan was peerless of the main contributors to the failure of the Congress Reconstruction, leaving open spots for other major events that brought completely peck the reconstruction. On November 23, 1868, in Tennessee, General George Thomas explained that the purpose of the Ku Kux Klan was to allow the Southern people that participated in the Civil War to come in union with those who had abandoned the thought of inequality. This gave them the advantage to bring back inequality and kill inglorious men. (Document 2). By forgiving these Southern people, illing freedmen became easy.These people that were being forgiven had the uniform mentality from in advance the war, which was involved with the approval of slaveholding and the inequality there should be because black men werent standardized exsanguinous men. Kenneth Stampp, a history professor form the University of California at Berkeley, expressed himself in The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 almost how in May 1872, the Congress developed an Amnesty act to reestablish the right to vote for the bulk of those Southerners that had been forgiven. (Document 3). Giving the right to vote to these eople, put the reconstruction in danger.The right of voting allowed Southerners to vote for person that would still want slavery. Voting for someone w ith a mentality wish well that would Just allow slavery back, and thats why The Congress Reconstruction started to fail. Even though the black codes were created with the purpose of giving freedmen equal rights like blanched men, the codes werent followed correctly and black men were still being discriminated. The black codes were supposed to follow the 13, 14, and fifteenth amendment, but they werent quite followed the way it was supposed to.Both black and white men were given the same rights, but everything was separated between races, one was for black men and one for white men, showing discrimination. When the black codes were established, black men became freedmen, but even though these men could start living as freedmen, some(prenominal) decided to stay as slaves. In a compilation of these interviews published by Benjamin Botkin in 1945, John McCoy is quoted as saying, l works for Marse John he says one morningJohn, you can go the government activity say you is free l d idnt write out nothing what money was, nohow, butI knows Ill stinkpot plenty victuals to eat, so I stays (Document 7). The majority of slaves had been slaves through their entire life. These people didnt know how to live themselves. Black men were ignorants on how to live without being a slave, so many, just like McCoy, decided to stay where they were working so their owners would provide them an easier way of surviving even though they were still working as slaves. In 1935, an African-American historian, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, published a book of the history of Reconstruction where he wrote, Negros who wanted to work must not dabble in politics.Negroes who wanted to increase their income must not agitate the Negro problem in order to earn living, the American Negro was compelled to give up his political power (Document 6). This excerpt of the book shows how black men where not only being discriminated, but being left out politically too. If black men wanted work being freedmen, b ecause they would have to stay out of the political power. White men were powerful and this is why giving up political power wasnt an option, but a forceful act from the white. Black codes were not being followed, white men always managed to find a way to obtain what they wanted.The reconstruction was failing because nobody was respecting laws anymore, and black men couldnt do anything about it besides remaining quiet and following white mens instructions, which became their only documentary guarantee of surviving. The Compromise of 1877 was created to decide which candidate should be taken as a winner, either hay or Tilden, leading towards a decision that helped the Congress Reconstruction fail. As can be seen in the electoral distribution map from the election of 1876, hay won by only one electoral vote and lost the popular vote by 254,235. Document 8).The 1877 Compromise was an agreement to take out-of-door Northern troops from the South. This agreement was made due to Tildens request so he would let Hayes win. The removal of Northern troops left freedmen without protection, and became easy targets for Southerners to attack. If Hayes wanted to win, he had to accept the request, so he took away the troops because if not, Tilden would have stayed in the power and done worse acts. In November 4 and 5, 1874, the front-page of New York Times published two headlines that announced how Democrats entered he House of Representatives and convert the Congress to be Democratic as well. (Document 5).These Democratic victories helped undermine Congress efforts to help freedmen by creating laws and acts that followed racism ideas. There was no more hope for the reconstruction at this point. Democrats were taking all the power and black men could not do anything anymore. Being free was not an option anymore, but a far away envisage instead. Even though black people were given the opportunity to have some rights and equality, the Congress Reconstruction failed because ev ents such as the creation of he Ku Kux Klan, the construction of the black codes, and the Compromise of 1877, kept their old beliefs of slavery and inequality.