A starting point for a comparative examination of the emancipation of enslaved people in the American South may be the unusual historical circumstances in which it occurred. The civil war between the North and the South and the emancipation of the slaves are interesting precisely because of their interconnection. Suppose the main consequence of the war was the abolition of slavery. In that case, the very radical nature of this abolition, which determined its historical results, is explained by the wartime conditions. This radicalism still received little attention amid the long and often fruitless debate about the Reconstruction period since the central issue on the agenda during that period was the definition of conditions for the emancipation of slaves. For a more balanced assessment of liberation, it makes sense to look at how the importance of Reconstruction as a historical era is usually argued and understand its success.
Turning to the question of the success of Reconstruction, it is essential to note that these are two different issues, the relationship between which is often ignored. However, they require other analytical frameworks based on further implicit comparisons. Because Reconstruction was a product of both the Civil War and slavery, it brought together two separate (though related) processes. It included restoring relations between the rebellious states and the Union and social ties in the American South after the emancipation of the slaves. During the brief period of the Reconstruction era, African Americans voted in large numbers and held public office at almost every level, including both houses of Congress (Kennedy & Cohen, 2020). However, this caused a violent reaction from the whites, who did not want to give up dominance.
The backlash was successful, and the promises of Reconstruction largely remained unfulfilled. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments did not go into effect but remained on the books, forming the basis of the mid-20th century civil rights movement (Kennedy & Cohen, 2020). As a consequence, any assessment of the nature of the Reconstruction requires a clear understanding of the two very different comparative frameworks on which this assessment is based.
Reconstruction was an attempt at social and political revolution despite the economic crisis and opposition from much of the white South. However, by 1877, all former Confederate states had drafted new constitutions, recognized the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and pledged allegiance to the US government, that limited the radical politicians of the South (Berkin, 2015). Reconstruction also finally resolved the debate about states’ rights and federalism, which had been an issue since the 1790s (Berkin, 2015). Thus, Reconstruction was successful because it restored the United States as a single nation. Despite further resistance from the South, which was radical towards slavery, African Americans achieved certain societal independence.
However, Reconstruction failed on most other measures. Radical Republican governments were unable or unwilling to implement land reform or provide formerly enslaved people with the economic resources needed to break the cycle of poverty. As a result, many freed people were forced to re-enter indentured servitude to be able to provide for themselves and their families (Wallace, 2020). Thus, radical republican legislation ultimately failed to protect former slaves from white persecution and did not lead to fundamental changes in the social stratification of the South. By the end of Reconstruction, former Confederate officials and enslavers returned to power in the South almost immediately. Backed by the conservative Supreme Court, white politicians passed black codes, voter requirements, and other anti-progressive laws (Berkin, 2015). That led to the repeal of the rights gained by blacks during radical Reconstruction.
Despite the generally accepted view of the failure of Reconstruction, other consequences that positively affected the development of the United States should be considered. However, given the causes of the Civil War and society’s desire for a new path of development, the results of Reconstruction did not have a lasting impact. The US Supreme Court upheld the anti-progressive movement of the South with massacre and civil rights cases that effectively struck down the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Civil Rights Act. Given the prevailing majority of the facts, the period after the Civil War can be considered a failure.
References
Berkin, C. (2015). Making America: A history of the United States. Cengage Learning.
Kennedy, D. M., & Cohen, L. (2020). The American pageant: A history of the American people. Cengage Learning.
Wallace, T. P. (2020). America’s continuum of racial democracy and injustice. AuthorHouse.