I'll throw out those two focus questions that I posed on Monday for discussion (and then add the third one as well):
1. Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
2. After all that happened, do you think that Reconstruction was a success or failure? Which one and why?
3. Does Andrew Johnson deserve to be in the Top 5-10 worst Presidents lists that he is normally put in? Why or why not?
Since I'm posting this around 9:40 p.m. on Wednesday night, I'll take posts until Friday (12/14/07) at the beginning of class. Minimum of 150 words. Thanks. Sorry for the delay.
39 comments:
I think that the south should be forgiven. They lost the war and are already humiliated, them losing the war has already proven that people don’t agree with their ways on slavery. I think that them losing the war is punishment enough. Besides every one is talking about reconstruction and building a new stronger nation, how are they going to do that if the only thing on their minds is revenge? The only rebuild a nation is to start over with a clean slate that is what the south needs. Also if the south is punished how would it be punished? You can’t do anything inhumane like burning towns and killing people, enough damage was done in the war. Many people died and the south lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers. I think that the north should just forgive the south or at least acknowledge that they can move on and rebuild the nation.
Emily P.
I don’t think the South should have been punished for rebelling. I think they should have been forgiven. I see the point of how the north is angry with the south, there was just a giant civil war, but I feel that losing was enough punishment for the South. For most of the southerners they fought for
their communities and their way of life, we can’t punish them for that, America’s about living your own life. I do think there should have been a select few who were punished, such as the major generals and leaders of the Southern States, such as Jefferson Davis. I don’t think they deserved jail, maybe political exile. The southern communities were such a area of close knit communities, that was all they knew. I see how their states would push for more say in their states laws and regulations instead of the federal government. While I don’t agree with seceding I do see where they were coming from. If we would have punished them, it wouldn’t have sent the message we fought for; unity. Forgiveness shows unity, and that’s why I think that was the route the Federal Government should have taken after the Civil War.
Kelsey K.
4th hour
I think the Reconstruction was more of success than it was a failure. During the Reconstruction as a result of the 15th Amendment African Americans gained voting rights, even though few scalawags shared the commitment to civil rights for African Americans.In most of the Southern states, the first public school systems were established by the Recinstruction governments. Also during Reconstruction African Americans founded their own churches. Even though the Reconstruction had some downfalls such as the KKK, and the violence. The Reconstruction still had a great success in the African American community.
-Jasmine Page
4th hour
Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
I think the South should not have been punished for their role in the Civil War. I think that the North needs to forgive and forget, although I personally doubt that anyone will actually forget, because Americans tend to hold grudges longer than necessary, if necessary at all. While the idea of punishing the South may be appealing to a lot of people, one of the big points and causes of the Civil War was that the Union wanted to keep the States together. The fact that the South lost everything after the War seems like a good enough punishment. They lost family, friends, land, and their economy in general. We shouldn’t take anything else away from these people who have already lost so much. Besides, if one of the points of the Civil War was to keep the people together, punishing half of them is only going to make them want nothing to do with us more. The South was fighting for what they believed was right, and we cannot, no matter how much we disagree, tell those people that what they believe is wrong. Yes, the War was bloody and horrible, but both sides are to blame, not just the one we hate; because they probably hated us just as much and could make the exact same argument.
~Jessica Morrison~
After all that has happened, I feel that the reconstruction was both a big success, and a failure. The reconstruction of the south had given black southerners new rights, including freedom. Blacks began making their own communities, with meeting places such as churches. The reconstruction was also a failure, ignorant southerners didn't like seeing free blacks, and in turn started racist groups such as the KKK. Also, many former slaves became sharecroppers, which basically sold themselves back into slavery. Although blacks were free, they often got much worse treatment then whites, and after the Jim Crow laws, they were kept very segregated from whites. Black children usually didn't get the education that white children did, and could rarely use the same drinking fountain or rest room as whites. There are good sides and bad sides to the reconstruction of the south, although blacks gained freedom, in my opinion they still weren't completely free.
Katie Rothenberg, 4th hour.
This is the question about success or failure of reconstruction.
After all that happened, I believe that reconstruction ended up being a failure. Even though reconstruction was a failure, it started out being a great success. In the beginning of reconstruction many laws were passed (by the Radical Republicans overriding president Johnson’s vetoes) that helped former slaves gain rights including the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, Freedmen’s Bureau Act, and Civil Rights Act. African Americans were building communities with schools and churches. African Americans were also taking roles in politics, with sixteen men of their own race in office. General Sherman had promised African American’s who helped his army up to forty acres of land, and mules. Unfortunately, this is where we see reconstruction becoming a failure. Without land, African American’s were forced to go into sharecropping, which was practically like re-entering them into slavery. With the south’s loss of power, and horrible situations, groups like the Klu Klux Klan were formed to challenge the Republican party of the north. The government ended the Freedman’s Bureau and gave back rights to former Confederates, giving them political power once again. Then the final blow to the reconstruction era was the Tilden-Hayes election. The Compromise of 1877 made Hayes withdrawal troops from the south. Without troops in the south, blacks lost their rights they had gained, which made reconstruction a failure.
Jacob T.
4th hour
Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
In my opinion, the right decision would’ve been the medium. The fact is, if we had only punished the South, what would’ve that done? Would it have boosted their economy? Would it have ended all of the racial tensions? Would it have created peace between northerners and southerners? No, it wouldn’t of; it probably would’ve even made things worse! I mean, how would you like it if you came home with a report card with three ‘E’s on it, showed it to your parents, and get yelled at for 2 hours? Would that bring up your grades? Would that make you feel any better about your self? I don’t think so. The point is, blatantly punishing the south for what they did wouldn’t solve anything; it would have only made things worse. And the same goes for forgiving them. If we had just let slide the fact that they seceded from the union, 620,000 men were killed resulting from that secession, and others alike, what would’ve been the point of going to war in the first place? To completely forgive the south for its actions would be to completely destroy the whole purpose of going to war. If they had not been taught a lesson, then they would’ve gone and done it again. This relates to my previous analogy: If you came home with your report card, and you were failing half of your classes, and your parents didn’t say anything, would you have learned anything? Would you do any better the next time around? In truth, you wouldn’t have. And Lincoln understood that. He understood that in order to successfully readmit the Confederacy back into the Union, you had to do both: punish and forgive. Make them understand what they did wrong, maybe even chastise them a little, but all in all, do it in a constructive matter. And finally, forgive. Forgive and forget, for the countries sake, so that it could prosper once more. Too bad Lincoln never got a chance to implement his plans…
-Tyler Friedman
4th Hour
I think that the south should defiantly, in some way, be punished for their part in the civil war. The whole reason for the civil war was so that the south would have their way, and continue living with the sick animalistic habits that they had. The north wanted to get rid of slavery, but the south knew that they needed it to stay successful. Just about all of the income that the south received was directly related in some way to slavery. Most of this income came right from cotton being bought in massive quantities by the French and the British, which made both those countries very good friends of the south. Another good thing about the cotton in economy was the cotton gin was recently invented. This increased the cleaning speed of cotton by ten fold.
Even though the south had all of these reasons to protect slavery, they caused a war, they forced hundreds of Americans to die for this selfish cause. The reparation for such a lose of life would be immeasurable, however, something should be done to make amends for the terrible outcome of their selfishness.
CHRIS ANDERSEN
4th hour
I believe the South should be forgiven if anything. The last thing they should be is punished for their decisions. The south had all ready been through so many things, for example they were all ready poor farmers or illiterate African Americans. And after the war things didn’t really improve or change in the South. When Southern residents arrived to their property they were alarmed that their land had been destroyed. Also, many Southerners were killed in the war, which resulted in a decrease in the South’s population. Don’t get me wrong there were some positive effects on Southerners (mainly African Americans); they had gained the right to vote, which is the 15th Amendment. So this is why the South should not be punished because the outcome of the war had taken so much from them already.
*Jasmine Smith*
4th HR
ANSWER TO QUESTION ONE:
I think the south should be forgiven. Though they were the ones who wanted to keep slavery, once the Civil War ended they lost that right. Since slavery was abolished the southerners who had slaves, realized that it’s over for them and they would have to suffer. This suffering itself was punishment enough. Many northerners would think punishment should occur because the southern leaders encouraged the misery of African Americans in the south. If they were to look back on it today, those northerners would realize that punishment isn’t needed because we took away their main way of living. The southerners put up a tough fight in the long lasting battle but once they lost many lives were saved and new men were born. Former slaves could eventually establish themselves in the world and become whoever they wanted to be. If punishment were to have occurred, our world today would be the same and we could very well be having riots daily due to unfairness.
I agree with President Lincoln’s idea that most of the Confederates in the South should not be punished for their roles in the war. I believe it would be impractical to arrest everyone in the South who participated in the war, because the North would have to arrest too many people. This would also mean that the prisons would run out of room to house people. Also, if the North either taxed or arrested people in the South, it would just further the damage on the Southern economy. This would force the Union to spend more money in the long run to rebuild the South. Also, if the Union punished the Southern confederates, it would just end up hurting the North, because the North would have to support the South and its economy until it became stable. Overall for the good of the nation, I think that Lincoln made the right decision to forgive the South and to not punish the majority of the confederates after the war. I think this, because in the end it would hurt the economy of the whole nation, if the North punished the South after the war.
Todd S.
4th hour US History
In my opinion, I think that the Reconstruction in the South was a great success for many reasons. First off, African Americans got granted so many rights that now they can live in a community without any problems or racism. They earned the right to vote, they were able to share schools and other private places with white people, they were to able to build their own churches without the worries of people (most likely the KKK) burning it down or destroying it. Most importantly about the Reconstruction is it created the 15th amendment. This means that for all races, they have rights even for their skin color or heritage. I think that the Reconstruction of the South created everything equally for every sort of race and it created some peace even though there are groups like the KKK but everyone in the South is just getting used to it.
Mike Moffat
I think that the South should have been forgiven for their role in the civil war. First off, with Reconstruction going on, I think it would have turned out much better if the South and the North were getting along. Also, because there was so much animosity between the North and the South, I think that it would have been much better for the North to just forgive the South. That way, it wouldn’t have been as difficult to rebuild the nation. If the both sides were getting along, I think that there wouldn’t have been as many disagreements. I also think that the North forgiving the South could have helped in avoiding things such as the Ku Klux Klan. I basically think that forgiveness from the North would have lessened the tension with the South. And it would have made the entire Reconstruction of our country move along a lot faster, along with eliminating, or at least lessening, the serious and horrible things done by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Sidney M.
2nd hour
2. After all that happened, do you think that Reconstruction was a success or failure? Which one and why?
I think reconstruction was a success because it gave blacks the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which were the basis for the civil rights movement. During Reconstruction African Americans were able to build their own schools and attend university. They were also able to build their own churches, which often became the center of the community. African Americans also were able to vote for the first time in American history. Blacks also gained the ability to hold office during Reconstruction. Hiram Revels became the first black senator. Although blacks could hold power only sixteen out of 125 southerners were black. Reconstruction however, gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan which was intent on destroying the Republican Party and stripping African Americans of their rights. The KKK used violence and intimidation in order to keep blacks from voting and to keep Republicans at bay. Although the KKK was born because of Reconstruction the good things, like the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, outweigh the bad, making Reconstruction a success.
Robbie L.
Though the south should be punished for their role in the Civil War, it is better for the country if they are forgiven. Since the country was in critical condition after the war, the north need all the help they could get from the south to help reconstruct the country. By punishing the south, they would have no way of helping and leaving the large task of reconstructing the country to the north. The north could have punished the south by denying the south rights. But by doing this the south’s economy would go bad and they would be unable to help out in the government. As Lincoln said, the country cannot be divided in two but must be united as one. The north also needs goods from the south such as the crops, cotton, indigo, ect. The economy is much better if the nation as one, so instead of punishing the south, the north should unite with the south.
Jacob Rubin
I don’t think Reconstruction was successful. To me, it seems like it only created more tension between the former confederates, the north, and former slaves. The right to vote for former slaves was pretty much taken away because of organized crime like the KKK. Most of the time government officials took part in the killing or lynching of the African Americans. Some where even published in the newspapers. It doesn’t seem like reconstruction worked very well if this was what went on, and this was on a weekly basis and people just lived with it and moved on. Also I believe the south got off too easy. Sure the federal government may not have let in some Southern representatives into Congress, but when the South threatened to leave the union for a second time after Hayes was elected the North gave right into, for the most part, what the south wanted. I know the north wanted to maintain being a union so they agreed to pretty much any terms, but by doing this the rights given to African Americans in the south were unprotected, basically saying the government could careless about them. It just doesn’t make much sense.
David Rogers
5th Hour
I don’t believe that the south should be punished for their role in the civil war. They have already taken heavy blows to their economy and land as it is, they could not be punished anymore then they already have been. I don’t think that the north needs to focus on their own personal needs, such as revenge, but to help rebuild the nation that was torn apart. Work on reconstruction and try to bring back the land and economy that the US was like before the civil war. And besides that, if we were going to punish them, how would we? They should be part of the north, they should be brought together. So if we hurt the south, we’d only eventually hurt ourselves. The south lost the war, due to great losses on both sides. So again, the focus is not supposed to be on getting an eye for an eye, but more like helping the losing team and becoming allies once again.
Trevor Nielsen
2nd Hour
1. Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
I think that the south in my mind should not be punished on the account of the already losing the civil war, I mean what else can you do to punish someone the north already beat them and punishing someone for events that happened over 200 years ago now would just be a little late on the north’s behalf. And I also agree with someone else’s comment you cant really do anything to punish the south the doesn’t have to do with inhumanity. I mean we already know that the south was wrong in slavery and we already gave them a good spanking in the civil war I really just don’t see what more can be done to the south in the year of 2007. and if we are reconstructing a stronger nation why would we punish the south which is part of our nation if were reconstructing it really wouldn’t make sense to punish part of the nation in doing so.
Divon Shammami
2nd hour
I think they should have been forgiven, I don’t think they should have been punished for rebelling. Ok we all know how the north was angry with the south the biggest war ever. Losing was enough for the south to take besides many people died and they (south) lost a lot of soldiers, this is all the punishment they should have on their hands. People are talking about Reconstruction this and Reconstruction that and making the nation better how are you suppose to do that when there’s hate in their minds and revenge. Even if they did get punishment what would they do the (north) how would they do. Ok say if the north is the south and the south is the north. They should let everything go and rebuild the nation we cannot punish them 4 not being angry with the north.
Lajuan Montgomery 2nd hour
After all that happened, do you think that Reconstruction was a success or failure? Which one and why?
No, I don’t think that reconstruction was much of a success. There are many reasons why, such as the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. These former confederate soldiers and other southerners didn’t care much for the North’s reconstruction attempt for the south. This is somewhat similar to the US trying to help parts of Iraq, but some Iraqi’s really don’t care and they try killing any US solider in sight. Also some southern states that originally seceded from the union, didn’t want to come back into the Union so easily. Even though African Americans gained voting rights, and had a lot of success for the African Americans, the KKK made every attempt to deny African Americans anything. In my opinion that is more of failure, rather than success
-Drew R.
4th Hour
After all that happened, do you think that Reconstruction was a success or failure? Which one and why?
I don’t think Reconstruction was a failure because it did so much good and some people don’t look at the good points, and just the bad. Many people looked at it as a failure not because it didn’t do good to help people, but because they felt as if it didn’t work. I think this because it gave blacks rights, whether or not the community was going to accept that, was up to them. And they didn’t accept that blacks had rights, they still treated them unfairly. Reconstruction also ended slavery altogether and laid foundation of civil rights movement. The south no longer had slaves to keep up the economy and former slaves moved to the North. The Reconstruction government created the first school in black society. And African Americans founded churches, which was usually the center of the community. Overall, African Americans had much more rights that helped with equality.
~jourdan g.
I think it would have been fair to punish the south for their actions but I don’t think it would have been good for the country. If the south had been punished it would have been very hurtful to the north as well.
I have mixed feelings about reconstruction because there is definitely more that they could have done. I think the main reason reconstruction failed was because of the existed tension that didn’t go away when the war was finished. The south still thought of blacks as inferior so of course they didn’t just give up their convictions and go with the flow of the north.
Although Andrew Johnson didn’t do a good job, he was put under enormous amounts of pressure as being the successor to Lincoln after he was assassinated by Booth, who was a southerner along with Jackson. Granted the responsibilities associated with being president do include needed to be able to mend the country in its greatest time of need.
I think that the south should not have been punished but forgiven. The main reason on why the south should have been forgiven is that the north fought the south in the civil war to preserve the union, and if the north began to punish the south then it would make the south have more reasons to not want to be a part of the union. The north would have troops stationed in the south and if the troops stayed and the punishments were to continue for a prolonged period of time then it might have caused a second civil war, and the south might be divided into military zones instead of states even today. Punishment would have been the wrong thing to do for another reason because the south had already been through so much pain and suffering from losing the war that punishing them would have been almost like kicking the southern states when there already down. It is for these reasons the we should not have punished the south.
Daniel Mooney
2nd hour
I dont think the south should be punished but they don't realy need to be forgiven. I believe they were brought up the wrong way. Reconsturction helped more than it hurt, because even though it started the kkk, it made rights for blacks more just and helped whites provide without slaves.
Chris Ward.
Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
I do not think that the south should be punished for their role in the Civil war. I think and feel that they should be forgiven. I feel that they have ready been punished for the war. Many of their cities and towns have been destroyed, the slaves have been taken away from them which are the number one money maker, they have lost respect from the rest of the country, and most importantly they lost many of their own men in war.
I do feel that the major war generals for the south should be punished by being put in jail for some time. I do understand why the north would be so upset though. Most Importantly I think that we must forgive them because if we don’t us as a whole country will not be able to move on and not be able to become a stronger country. If they are forgiven we will become a stronger country. We all learn from our mistakes.
Tyler Howe 4th hour
I choice Question 2 just cause the reconstruction did not make a significant change to the country. It failed to bring the south and north closer. It made the Republicans(Radical Republicans)to go in rage. Then Abe lincoln died which the plan had failed but then A johnson was elected President and had his own plan. This plan was similiar and different. This plan was suppose to give African Americans freedom, right to vote, and be equal to others but it didnt look that way. So I belive this plan was not really helpful to the U.S.
Lenny 2nd hr
I don’t think that the south should be punished anymore than they have already. They lost the war and a lot of money from all the slaves. And if they should be punished even further then what was the point of Reconstruction? If all were going to be doing is looking for revenge then why did we spend all those years trying to find a solution? It’s just like most things where they should be forgotten and never brought up again. If we keep looking back on this people will still think that the war is still going on or that there is a difference between the north and the south.
Nick
Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
I think the south should not be punished for the civil war because one, everyone makes mistakes in life, Plus they already lost a ton of money and slaves. Two, if you’re going to build a country you can’t do that while punishing half of the country at the same time. Even if we were to punish the south how would we do that? There is just too many people and not enough time. Also we can’t punish someone for something they did but they didn’t know was wrong. A lot on the whites down south didn’t know until about the mid 1900s that slavery was wrong. Until then they thought whipping and just being plain rude was right. But little did they know it was wrong. They were just ignorant, and we can’t punish them for that. We can only teach them.
Bianca Kea 4th hour
I believe that the South does deserve to be forgiven because not all the people who live down south are dedicated to the Confederacy. Also their homes and land have been distroyed, so isn't the punishment enough? Reconstruction on the other hand was successful, but they didn't get everything done that Abraham Lincoln had planned. There is still to this day racism towards blacks in America. Some may say that the war is over, but I believe it is still going on inside the heads of many americans today.
Clare Andrew
Hour#4
This will only be for partial credit...
I think the South definitely should have been forgiven for their role in the Civil War. Many harsh actions were taken, views were argued, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result, but the South would always be considered part of the country, like part of a family, and it only made sense to try to pull it back to the North in order to become a united country again. After everything the two regions had been through, and especially the lingering tension, views people in both places had after the war, and the South’s feelings of defeat, punishment wouldn’t have been necessary. There really weren’t any harsh or very effective punishments the North could enforce upon the South, as defeat and economic issues were already becoming enough. The best way to move towards Reconstruction was by forgiving the South and making it clear that they wanted peace and that they were welcome to be part of the country again.
Christine Aiello
2nd Hour
1.Do you think the South should have been punished or forgiven for their role in the Civil War? Why?
No I do not think that the south should be forgiven. I do not think that they should have been forgiven because whenever the slaves did something wrong they never forgave the slaves they always beat them without reasoning. So basically in a way I think that we should �beat� the south, for all of the times that they have beat up on the African Americans. I mean I do guess we should forgive them sometime but I really do not think that we should just forgive them right off the back like what they did was just okay and we can just easily forgive them. I do not really think that the slave owners realize how good the slaves were toward them, because without slaves they would not have had as high cotton production therefore they would not have made money so I really think they should be forced to apologize or be beat until they decide they are ready to be civil and apologize.
Courtney Pace
4th hour
Reconstruction was a failure, but it did have some positive effects on our country. It failed because the government pulled all its support out at once. Congress passed the Amnesty Act which allowed the Confederates to return to power and hold office again. They also allowed the Freedman’s Bureau to expire. This cut off funding to freed slaves and made it difficult for them to gain any power in the South. With the election of 1876 the government completely ended Reconstruction when they pulled all troops out of the South in a deal where Hayes (republican) would become president. This abrupt end to Reconstruction allowed the former slave owners to once again oppress and control blacks. The positive effect of Reconstruction was it laid a strong base for future civil rights efforts. Blacks sought to regain their rights such as voting when they where taken away or obstructed by southern whites. So although it failed Reconstruction would allow blacks to prevail in the future.
Stefan Rush
2nd Hour
I feel that the South was punished. They had the humiliation of losing the war, their slaves and a lot of money. Besides, it’s not like we can like them apologize especially since the people who were involved in that are dead anyway. So I think it’s just best to forgive them. To divide the country again would jack the economy in such a level that it would be really hard to come back from. So forgive and move on with life. Now especially because so many African Americans live down there now, as acts of their own will. And the south also contains a few well known HBCU’s. So it’s really not all that bad anymore. I do think that reconstruction was a slight success. After all, they did attempt to make a change and even though the operation as a whole failed miserably, there were some things that stuck with us. And it never went back to the way it was so that is a good thing.
~Alexandra Anderson
~2nd hour
I do not think they should be punished because they lost all their land and property. Almost all of them are under slavery which they have to work every day getting paid no money. They lost their homes because of the war between the north and the south. Slavery is what the people in the south had to go through each day. They also had little or no land to own and were eventually killed during the war. The farming was poor and the people down there had little or no crops. The poor people were called scalawags because they were part of the Republican Party. The result of punishment would be horrible for the south and they will not like it at all. Finally they had very few clothes and food/ water to drink and eat. Once all their personal belongs were gone they had nothing left to do but to suffer and die because of the hard work they had done in the south.
Reconstruction was not a failure because it ended slavery and the south didn’t have to suffer over food, clothing, or shelter anymore. It stopped violence in the war and not a lot of people were getting killed or wounded anymore. It laided the foundation of civil rights movements and blocks got rights so southern people could vote. They could now move up north without getting captured or killed by the north. They would have more time no to find shelter and get somewhere safe where there is no war. The slavery ended for the south and now they were let free and on their own to find another place to live. The poor whites down south could get money by selling some of their land in the south and buying new land up north in a place like Tennessee or Ohio. They could find a place to get more water and get more food because up north was the rich and the south was poor with little or no supply on food and water. Finally they could go back to normal living and live in a safe environment where no body will bother them anymore.
I think Andrew Johnson should stay in the top five to ten list because he was a bad president and wanted to continue slavery in the south. He vetoed all the acts and laws the senator and house did, so then the congress overrode the president’s veto and was impeached by the house and the senate. He wanted to set up his own plan and get away with vetoing all the laws and bills the congress passed. He disliked cities, and manufacturing distrusted banks and feared wealth wasn’t based on land. He was a hard worker, unpromising, and didn’t have the skills Lincoln had. Southerners considered Andrew Johnson a traitor, and radicals thought that they had his support. He continued Lincoln’s plan of Reconstruction. In addition, states had to ratify the 13th Amendment that outlawed slavery. Andrew Johnson did not like this because he wanted to continue punishing the south with slavery. He was also accused of using intemperate language and having brought ridicule and disgrace down upon congress. Finally Johnson represented tyrannical slave power and therefore had to be removed from office.
1. I believe the South should be forgiven if anything. The last thing they should be is punished for their decisions. The south had all ready been through so many things, for example they were all ready poor farmers or illiterate African Americans. And after the war things didn’t really improve or change in the South. When Southern residents arrived to their property they were alarmed that their land had been destroyed. Also, many Southerners were killed in the war, which resulted in a decrease in the South’s population. Don’t get me wrong there were some positive effects on Southerners (mainly African Americans); they had gained the right to vote, which is the 15th Amendment. So this is why the South should not be punished because the outcome of the war had taken so much from them already.
Jasmine S.
I think that after all that happened with reconstruction, it was a good idea. People in the African American community started there own churches, which brought them closer together. African American people were also given the right to vote as a result of the fifteenth amendment. If this hadn’t happened during reconstruction, then African American people may have been discriminated against for much longer than what happened. The right to vote for blacks could have been way farther along in United States history. In many Southern states during reconstruction, public school systems were created for black people, because many former slaves were illiterate. A big accomplishment of reconstruction was the Amnesty act, which gave the right to about 150,000 former confederates to hold federal and state offices. The Freedman’s Bureau also expired which gave southern democrats political power. The thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were also created, which ended slavery and gave black Americans citizenship, equal rights, and equal protection. Although there were down sides to reconstruction, I think that it was potentially a very good move, and will have forever left an impact on our society.
The South should be forgiven for their role in the Civil War. First, according to the Declaration of Independence, they had the right to leave the Union. Also, the main reason they wanted to secede was economics. They were tired of paying high taxes and tariffs when the money was going to build up northern cities and northern railroads. Only 6% of southerners owned slaves. I don’t believe Southern men would have gone to war to protect such a small number of rich slave owners. Slavery was morally wrong and could have been abolished without the complete destruction of the land and the great loss of life.
Reconstruction was a failure. The Reconstruction government did help set up public schools and churches for the former slave. They did not give the people land; therefore, they ended up being sharecroppers as did many southern whites. Although the African Americans had been given citizenship rights, many were intimidated by radical groups and were afraid to vote. The reconstruction plan did nothing to help industry in the South or the standard of living for the African Americans. It did succeed in making many citizens bitter toward the Republican Party.
Andrew Johnson deserves to be listed and a bad President. When he vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act he was not thinking of equal rights for the African Americans. His statement that “white men alone must manage the South” showed that he did not have confidence in the African Americans.
First of all, I do not think that the South should have been punished for their role in the Civil War. It was not totally their fault to begin with. It takes 2 sides to fight a war, and the South is only one. Blame can be put on the North as well. After all that happened, I do not think that reconstruction was a total failure. In the end, African Americans got their voting rights and education. They were now able to control institutions, such as churches. Their education came from new public schools that were set up by Reconstructive governments. I do think that Andrew Johnson was a bad president, but I don’t think that he was one of the worst. It is a shame that President Abraham Lincoln was killed before he was able to see his plans for Reconstruction through. President Johnson did not do a good enough job, but he had some success with African American rights. Ben Zakaria
Yes the South was supposed to be punished for slavery. They was not supposed to be given any land back because that land had been paid for on the backs if slaves. They had already stolen 247 years of labor and had become wealthy from slavery.
Who all thinks they shouldn't of been punished are sympathizer of White Supremacy. They needed to suffer by not having the land given back to them as a punishment. They got away scott free and that wasn't fair to the reconstruction deal for Blacks.
Whoever said that reconstruction made it better for Blacks lied because they didn't give us anything no shoes no shirts no food or anything. They told our ancestors to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but they didn't have no boots. So yes they're supposed to be punished for slavery, and they are being punished because Whites are becoming extinct, and that has to do with no only slavery but for destroying the world.
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