Ways of returning the rebellious states to the Union were discussed before the end of the Civil War. It was to determine the future of the states themselves, the fate of the fighters against the federal government, and the situation of the freed slaves. President Lincoln, a supporter of the nation’s unity, insisted on generosity for the vanquished. He offered to restore them to their political rights and help them enter a new economic environment. Amnesty was to be extended to all who had abandoned their old convictions. The president proposed that all states in which at least ten percent of the electorate recognized the federal government and supported the abolition of slavery be returned to the Union. Blacks who had fought for democracy, he believed, could be granted full civil rights in stages. At the insistence of radical Republicans, Congress passed the Negro Civil Rights Bill in April 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment to grant civil rights to blacks in July 1866 (Adams 34). This amendment established civil equality for all residents and limited the rights of rebels.
By turning enslaved people formerly into voters, radical Republicans deprived their former owners of political influence and weakened the Democratic Party. The new phase of Reconstruction that began was called Radical Reconstruction. Congress pursued its policies without regard to the president, who was effectively removed from political life. In 1867 federal troops occupied the South, divided into military districts (Adams 35). Blacks were given voting rights, while former Confederate servants, on the other hand, were deprived of them. On this basis, local constitutional conventions were elected, and in 1868 the six Southern states that recognized black rights returned to the United States (Adams 35). That same year General Grant was elected president and continued the radical Reconstruction.
Blacks in the United States were actively drawn into political life, and their first representatives were elected to Congress. In addition, freed slaves tended to be educated, and steps were taken to introduce universal elementary education. Some enslaved people learned to read from whites even before the Civil War when they were forbidden to school. Even before the war was over, blacks established schools, and literacy was also taught in parochial schools. After the war, education problems were discussed in state constitutional assemblies. A racially segregated public school system was created. Primary and secondary schools sprang up in every town, but there were few towns in the South. In rural areas, schools were usually single classrooms with a poorly paid educator who taught about half of the local children.
In 1870, the last four states returned to the United States. The abolition of slavery undermined the traditional plantation economy in the South, but many planters retained their landholdings. The extension of the Homestead Act to the South promoted farming; former slaves began to be given land. However, the Reconstruction of the South was accompanied by widespread abuse and embezzlement. In 1872 there was a split in the ranks of the Republican Party, with many of the Republicans advocating a softening of policy toward the South (Adams 36). Grant, re-elected the same year, was no longer as active.
The Amnesty Act returned rights to most of the former rebels. One by one, the Southern governments gave up their positions to the former plantation elite. The weakening of the Republicans was taken advantage of by the Democrats, who strengthened their position in the system of power. The uncertain outcome of the presidential election of 1876 allowed the Democrats to push for an end to Reconstruction (Adams 36). In exchange for the renunciation of their claim to the presidency, the Republican administration withdrew the last federal troops from the Southern states in 1877, and they fully regained their rights as part of a unified state. By that time, the South had been completely transformed, making the entire country more homogeneous and accelerating the process of forming a unified American nation. The extent and depth of the changes that occurred during the Civil War and Reconstruction years were so significant that these events are often referred to as the second American Revolution.
Works Cited
Brown, David, Heinrich, Thomas, Middleton, Simon, and Vivien Miller. A Concise American History. Routledge, 2020. Web.
Adams, James Truslow. A History of the American People: To the Civil War. Routledge, 2020. Web.