What was 'Reconstruction' really all about after the Civil War?

Question

Was it actually all about helping the freedmen become good americans or maybe,the truer motives were more cynical in nature?

what do U mean without controls

Answer 1

The point was not to help the freedmen become good Americans.
The point was to prevent the white men who ran the southern states before the war from returning to power without controls.
The former leaders of southern states wanted to get back in the saddle and prevent blacks from having civil liberties.

Answer 2

Reconstruction (1865-1877) is a huge topic which can not be boiled down to two or three sentences. Break it down into sub-topics such as: What were the political goals of the Democratic and Republican parties during the period? In what ways did the parties change and how did political change affect the actual status of the freedmen and citizens of the former Confederacy? How did the continuation of the Industrial Revolution affect the U.S. economy? What was the real significance of the Hayes-Tilden presidential election?
Remember these facts when considering your reading: As of April 1865, the Southern economic system had completely collapsed. Congress was more or less controlled by the Radical Republicans (completely different from 20th century Republicans) and Big Business.
What had the freedmen actually gained economically and politically by 1877? Explore 'tenant farming', 'sharecropping', and 'wage slavery' (careful with this one),

Answer 3

Lincoln had intended reconstruction to be simply what it says, the reconstruction of the destroyed south. The purpose was to help both whites and blacks.
However, with the death of Lincoln, it was carried out by fanatics and unscrupulous land grabbers.
Some sincere people wanted the freed slaves to have a chance at getting ahead. Others used them in order to further their own ends. Many northerners enriched themselves by grabbing land through the freed slaves, then purchasing from them at extremely low prices.
Interestingly enough, some of the eventual KKK'ers were from the north!

Answer 4

at that time, america had a president johnson whom was facing impeachment and then a former union general u.s.s. grant and a v.p. known as william tecunseh sherman.very little help towards the south,economy in ruins,people still starving to death, northerners trying to use laws to take property thru carpet bagging(politians on buckboards)