What do you think is one significant event that happened in US History between 1865-1877?

Question

How was it noteworthy to the Reconstruction?

And I am trying to get info for a paper, but I'm trying to different views of what different people feel was significant (I am not trying just to have others do my paper for me!)

Answer 1

The intergration of black's rights during that time.

Answer 2

I have a suspicion you're trying to get info for a paper, but I'll answer anyway. The Second Industrial Revolution and the rise of corporations and capitalism had absolutely the most significant impact on American history in this period. The Second Industrial Revolution, and the mechanization of the textile industry, was one of the key factors in starting the American Civil War, because slaves picked the cotton that was sent north to be processed into cloth. The North had technological advances that the South did not, and the South relied far too heavily on slavery to do the work that, in the north, machines were accomplishing. The disparity in production of goods and mechanization between the North and South was one of the flames that stoked the fire of the Civil War. Secondly, after the Civil War, the former slaves moved North to become employed by the factories that were popping up as a result of the Second Industrial Revolution, as did many immigrants. The South did not recover from Reconstruction because there was not as much heavy industry there, and the South relied on agriculture, rather than on goods production through industrialization, as in the North. That was why the south remained poor after the Civil War and the north increased in political and economic power. Now, there's your hint, go find the references to back it up. Good luck with your paper.

Answer 3

How about Lincoln's Assassination. Lincoln wanted to basically just let the South back in the Union from my understanding. Johnson made them reapply for Statehood and put them through all kinds of crap over it. If Lincoln had survived this country may have reunited a lot easier. I'm not even a Lincoln fan, but willing to give credit or non-credit where it is due. Perhaps you could go the route of the failed assassination plot. See Booth killed Lincoln BUT the Vice President(Johnson) and Secretary of State were all supposed to be killed in this plot. The one assassin was caught and the other backed out at the last minute. If their plan had worked Reconstruction would have been greatly delayed as the war would have been restarted. Remember Jefferson Davis didn't exactly want to let the war end. He wanted to use Guerilla Warfare BUT Lee told him no, and surrendered and disbanded the Northern Virgina Army. At that point most of the other Generals surrendered out of respect to Lee. What about Sherman's March to the Atlantic. That was what caused the most anger, as the war was basically over. It also added to the amount of Reconstruction that was needed. Perhaps you could go the route of the Carpetbaggers. The South wasn't very accepting of them and I think that also helped cause further tension. I know I am going mostly the route of bad things, but don't really know a lot of the good sides.

Answer 4

Easy. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln had long held the belief that the Southern states never left the Union, and it was his goal to reunite the country without punishing the South for secession and the war. He felt that the Southern states should be treated as if they never left, a sentiment which brought him much scorn and criticism from both his own political party and from the Northern populace in general. His most vocal opponent in this was his own Vice President, Andrew Johnson. Johnson believed that the Southern states had committed a criminal act by seceding and should be harshly punished. When Lincoln was assassinated, all hope of a peaceful reformation of the Union died with him. Andrew Johnson became President and immediately clamped down on the South with the harsh terms of Reconstruction done his way. He appointed military governors for each of the Southern states who immediately lined their government with their own hand-picked cronies, sent in Federal troops to impose the laws and will of those governors, stripped the Southern states of their right to have representatives in the Congress, and forced each state to apply for "re-admittance" to the Union, solidifying the fact that the Southern states had, in fact, seceded from the Union. A part of this "re-admittance" was the requirement that each state ratify the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery; a failure to ratify this amendment meant no re-admission to the Union. The fact that each of the Southern state's governments were being run by Union-appointed governors and governor-appointed "yes-men" guaranteed ratification and the complete ignoring of the opinion of the people of the state. Basically, the Southern people had no rights whatsoever, and were treated as second-class citizens by both the Federal government and the state government put in place by the Feds. This travesty went on from 1865 until 1877 when the last of the Federal-appointed governors was replaced and the last of the Federal occupation troops left the South.

The effects of this Reconstruction plague the South to this very day, and are a major source of the "unhealed wound" between the North and the South.

There was a poster a few weeks ago who said he'd like to be able to read my opinion of what impact Andrew Johnson had on Reconstruction; well, sir, I hope you read this because here it is.

Answer 5

The organization of the Ku Klux Klan.
The three Reconstruction amendments:
13th - ended slavery
14th - provided equal protection under the law
15th - extended voting rights (specifically, to black males): voting cannot be denied on account of race.

Answer 6

US scientist Mahlon Loomis transmits the first telegraph message over radio waves. It is sent between two mountains in West Virginia using kites to support the aerials.(1866)

Answer 7

Reconstruction was an attempt at bringing the nation together after the abolition of slavery. It didn't succeed. One example would be the 'black codes' which were designed to give rights to blacks. All hell broke lose, because the whites didn't want the blacks to be their equals and the blacks wanted the right to vote, which they were denied. you can read more here:

http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=220403

Answer 8

During that time reconstruction failed to fulfill all it promised to do.