What do u think of my essay?

Question

Hi! I'm a 12th grade Student. My essay is about the Reconstruction Period. What do u think of it? How much do u rate it from 1-100? Are there any errors? What are they?
Thank you so Much!

Reconstruction was the process in U.S. history from 1865-1877 that attempted to resolve the issues of the American Civil War when both the Confederacy and slavery were destroyed. At the end of the Civil War , the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and economic order founded on slavery had collapsed completely, with nothing to replace it. The 11 Confederate states somehow had to be restored to their positions in the Union and provided with loyal governments, and the role of the emancipated slaves in Southern society had to be defined.

The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The North's victory settled two important issues. First, it established that states were not allowed to leave, or secede from, the United States. Second, it put an end to slavery throughout the country. But the end of the war also raised a whole new set of issues. For example, federal lawmakers had to decide whether to punish the Confederate leaders, what process to use to readmit the Southern states to the Union, and how much assistance to provide in securing equal rights for the freed slaves.

Because these complicated issues carried a great deal of importance for the future of the nation, Reconstruction was a time of great political and social turmoil. President Andrew Johnson who took office after Abraham Lincoln, controlled the earliest Reconstruction efforts. But the U.S. Congress felt that the president's Reconstruction policies were too lenient (easy) on the South. Led by members of the Republican Party, Congress enacted stricter Reconstruction policies beginning in 1866 and sent in federal troops to enforce them. The ongoing dispute between Johnson and Congress led to the president's impeachment in 1868.

On Mar. 2, 1867, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Act, which, supplemented later by three related acts, divided the South (except Tennessee) into five military districts in which the authority of the army commander was supreme. Johnson continued to oppose congressional policy, and when he insisted on the removal of the radical Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton , in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act , the House impeached him (Feb., 1868). The radicals in the Senate fell one vote short of convicting him (May), but by this time Johnson's program had been effectively scuttled.

Under the terms of the Reconstruction Acts, new state constitutions were written in the South. By Aug., 1868, six states (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida) had been readmitted to the Union, having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment as required by the first Reconstruction Act. The four remaining unreconstructed states—Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia—were readmitted in 1870 after ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed the black man's right to vote.


By 1876 only Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana remained under Republican domination. The Republican presidential candidate that year, Rutherford B. Hayes , promised to alleviate conditions in the South, but the feeling there had already led to the formation of the "solid South" in support of his Democratic opponent, Samuel J. Tilden . In those three states the presidential contest was the occasion for a determined effort to throw off Republican rule, and on their electoral votes (and on one disputed electoral vote in Oregon) hung the fate of the famous disputed election of 1876. It is practically certain that at least one of the three gave a majority, and thus the presidency, to Tilden, but two sets of returns were sent in from each of the three states. A specially constituted electoral commission (composed of eight Republicans and seven Democrats) accepted the Republican returns, and Hayes was given the presidency.

Reconstruction officially ended as all federal troops were withdrawn from the South. White rule was restored, and black people were over time deprived of many civil and political rights and their economic position remained depressed. The radicals' hopes for a basic reordering of the social and economic structure of the South, beyond the abolition of slavery, died. The results, instead, were the one-party "solid South" and increased racial bitterness.

They didn't ask me to mention resources. Do i need them if they didn't ask me to mention them?
Thank you!

Answer 1

this is a perfect example on how you should use yahoo answers.
this 12 year old student instead of let people on yahoo do the work, did her own work and than asks if its good on yahoo.
great job young lady. they should give you an A for work only. and extra credit for the essay itself.
keep this up and you will do great in life.

Answer 2

You will likely want to cite the material that you used in writing this.

I have been writing on the topic of Reconstruction for four years now and it was the topic of my undergraduate thesis. This is a really good overview of the basics!

Without sources it may become questionable in the eyes of the teacher so whether or not they request them it is always a good idea to include them... in college (or at least the one i went to) there is no way you will get away with not inculding them

--If i were grading i would give it a 90-95

Good Luck!

Answer 3

The only blaring and obvious mistake that caught my was the part that states "slavery was destroyed".
Not true, it was only declared illegal in the United States of America.
In 1895, the United States government bought the Philippines from the Spanish at about $300.00 per every man, woman and child estimated to live here and kept them as slave laborers.
In 1942, I believe it was, the Japanese ran the U.S. and it's allies out of here.
On July 4,1946 the U.S. officially gave the Philippines their freedom and established a Democratic Government for them.
The rest is history of course and without proper supervision, this country is still struggling to gain a true Democracy.

Answer 4

Yeah, the first poster has a good point. Your essay is very informative but you should cite your resources. Even if you're not told explicitly to cite your references, you should do so just out of the generally accepted norm in essay/ paper writing.

Try the Chicago Manual of Style.

Hopefully, your deadline isn't tomorrow! I know how that feels.

Answer 5

As far as I know, your information is good and correct.

Unless you were told by your teacher to offer resources, you don't need to provide them. Clarify that with your teacher though.

A couple things I'd change: You don't need to have "easy" in parentheses after "lenient". Most intelligent people know what "lenient" means. And instead of just an abbreviation of months (like "Aug."), spell them out. That's proper grammar for an major paper like an essay, or term paper, or thesis.

Good paper in my opinion. I'd say about a 90, but I'm not your teacher, so I don't know what s/he is looking for.

Answer 6

hey thats pretty good. Im also a 12 grader but not sure if i could write an essay of that length and intelligence. Damn you smart! Thats a pretty good essay. I know you always have to sight your sources. You could be turned in for plagerism.

I say that it is lowest a 98 so your in good shape

Good luck!

Answer 7

Except for the first sentence, it looks good. Destroyed is the word you should amend. ...Confederacy defeated and the issue of human bondage, i.e, slavery was repudiated.

Thank God someone can do their own research and learn. Good job, at least a 90.

Answer 8

i thought it was good just that i thought reconstruction wasn't more of an era in american history then a process.it was good that u mention it failed, but i think that should be said more directly.great essay and diction.good job.about the sources its an essay if they told u to mention resources mention them in your essay to make it stronger.good job overall.

Answer 9

Very good but where are your sources? Where did you find this information? You need end notes with the names of your sources or you could be accused of plagiarizing.

Answer 10

I have a short attention span, yet your essay held my attention because it was interesting. I give you a grade of 98. Good luck.