After the Civil War ended in 1865, the south was in total ruins.
Houses weredestroyed, crops were gone, and lives would never be the same again. Itwouldnt be until years after the war that people would get their lives back ontrack. Whites in the south now hated the blacks and still think they areinferior. The process of rebuilding that followed the American Civil War wasknown as reconstruction. The war left a set of pressing questions concerningwith what to do with the South.
These questions involved the relationshipwith the former Confederate states and the Union; the type of punishment thatshould be imposed on the ones responsible for the rebellion; the status of thefreed slaves and how to restore the Souths economy. President Lincoln,President Johnson and the Radical Republicans each had their own plans. Lincoln started thinking about reconstruction as early as 1863. Hewanted for 10 percent of the voters in each southern state to take an oath ofloyalty to the United States. After this the state could form its owngovernment. The government had to abolish slavery.
After this was done thegovernment could elect congressmen and participate in national politics. Hisplan was known to be lenient; many had opposed it. Unfortunately President Lincoln did not live to carry out all of hisplans. A Democrat was elected into office and took over.
The new presidentwas Andrew Johnson. His plan was as much mild as Lincolns. Johnsonwanted to restore power to the Southern states as quickly as possible. Underhis plan a majority of the voters had to pledge loyalty to the United States andthe 13th amendment had to be ratified. Southern whites quickly switchedtheir governments according to Johnsons plan and restricted the rights of thenewly freed slaves.
The Radical Republicans did not see things as lightly as PresidentJohnson did. They wanted to punish the Southern aristocracy and strip themof their rights. They also were not pleased with the black codes. Theirintentions were to protect the freedmens rightsIn the north however, it was a total triumph. Their goal for slaves to befree was granted.
All the former slaves moved up north to try to find jobs, butfor most of them it was disappointing to see that they couldnt find workbecause most of them couldnt read or write. Before the Civil War started in 1861, Americans in the east werestarting to take advantage of the lands in the western part of the country. People took their families their to start a new life. The west was inhabited byso many Native Americans. Because the Americans wanted the land so much,they killed off the Native Americans, and would later give them reservations. After the Civil War, the south was so destroyed that they didnt evenhave a government.
Everyone was too busy trying to rearrange their lives. Bridges were in ruble, train tracks were unusable, and courts, judges, police,even taxes were absent. The economy was also horrible. Money had littlevalue, and even if someone wanted to sell their land, no one could buy it.
Considering that slavery was totally abolished in the south, peopleslives were totally different. They didnt have it easy anymore, where theycould just have someone do all their dirty work without getting paid, so youcan keep all the profit. Some southerners were still farmers, but they had towork much more. Directly after the war, money had little to no value at all. The southerners had a big affect on present day American society.
Thesoutherners back then influenced us with their farming techniques, and eventoday the south has the biggest and best farmlands in the whole country.
