The Reconstruction Era was a very complicated period in the American history. Many historians think the Reconstruction Era was in general unsuccessful, because a large number of the pre-war issues were not resolved even though slavery was abolished and the Congress initiated some profound reforms in order to reintegrate the Southern States. However, a historian Eric Foner from the Columbia University thinks that despite the multiple failures the Reconstruction Era was a very important period for the development of the American society and set up of the basis for the complex economic, political and social transformations in the future. In Foner’s opinion the Reconstruction Era has been often misunderstood and in many ways he agrees with another prominent historian W.E.B. Du Bois that stated that overall the Reconstruction turned out to be “a splendid failure” because of the large number of failures that outweighed the successes such as abolition, emancipation, improvement of the education system, etc (Cited in Foner, 1983, p.6).
Personally, I agree with Eric Foner and W.E.B. Du Bois that the Reconstruction Era cannot be viewed only as a failure of the numerous federal and state initiatives. When the Civil War ended in 1865, there were too many controversial problems that could not be resolved quickly. One of the most debated issues was the abolition of slavery that even the most prominent politicians did not want to approach. For example, President Lincoln “had been cautiously contemplating black suffrage” (Foner, 1983, p. 2) and his successor Andrew Johnson was a racist politician who often could not find a compromise with the Congress and many interest groups (Foner, 1983, p.2).
At the same time there were many moderate and conservative politicians such as Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens that for many years promoted the idea of abolition of slavery and emancipation of the black people (Foner, 1983, p.2). Unfortunately, the black people were never strong and organized enough to fight for the broader political power even though there were many black politicians. In addition, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands created in 1865 did a lot of good things for the black people, but in general it failed to help the freedmen to resolve the land- and work-related problems with the white planters (Du Bois, 1901, p. 363). The Freedmen Bureau was unable to work effectively, because the legislatures in the South adopted the Black Codes that limited the freedoms of the black people. So the conflicts between the white and the black people occasionally occurred during the Reconstruction Era (See Exhibit 1).
What is more, the wide-spread problem of corruption also hindered the implementation of the reforms and consequently the vital issue of the land redistribution could not be resolved on the fair terms. As Foner wrote in the article The New View of Reconstruction (1983) “Moral standards in both government and private enterprise were at low ebb in the post-war years – the era of Boss Tweed, the Credit Mobilier Scandal and the Whiskey Rig” (Foner, 1983, p.2).
Nevertheless, despite the various views of the scholars on the failures of the Reconstruction Era in terms of the social change, political continuity and shift from agriculture to manufacturing in the South, this historical period was of great importance for the country due to many reasons. After the Civil War there were many debates about America’s future and one could observe the early “emergence of modern America” without slavery, but with the democratic society, improved education system and strong manufacturing industries (Cited in Foner, 1893, p.5). Unfortunately, the American society of that period was not ready for the actual emancipation of the black people and the debate over the issue of freedom lasted for many decades. At the same time, for the first time in the American history the black community became politically mobilized and received a new status that helped to stop the repression from the conservative people and such groups as the Ku Klux Klan. So despite the large number of opportunities which were not realized during the Reconstruction Era this period should be regarded as one of the first stages toward the modern democratic society.
References
Du Bois, W.E.B. (1996). The Freedman’s Bureau. Charlottesville, VA: Generic NL Freebook
Publisher.
Foner, E. (October/November 1983). The New View of Reconstruction. American Heritage.
Retrieved from http://www.littlejohnexplorers.com/reconstruction/
fonerreconstruction.pdf
Exhibit 1
Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891, artist. –
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c05555 Harper's weekly, 1868 July 25, p. 473.
