American Reconstruction: a Revolution or a Failure?

American reconstructive memory A Revolution or a Failure? Historians Eric Foner and C. Vann Woodward, provide a Tyson Vs Ali fight in the debate over whether the American reconstruction conclusion was in fact a revolution or a failure. for each one provides an in-depth analysis supporting his line of descent. Foner takes the approach that the reconstructive memory was a Revolution, explaining, that reconstruction take oned image for a remarkable political and loving mobilization of black, community, opening doors of hazard that could never again be completely closed. Woodward takes a much to a greater extent disheartened approach arguing, The other (failure) is the ruins of reconstruction, the Norths failure to exercise the problem of the black peoples place in American life. Foners argument is based on the immediate political and civil rights that the freedmen were given subsequently the emancipation through the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, and how the mindset of t he south was altered forever. tender adjustments such(prenominal) as the Homestead Act of 1862 and many other social and political changes were grounds to label the reconstructive memory Era a revolution.Foner believed although well-nigh every authority and right that the freedmen were given were eventually taken dorsum after the Reconstruction finally ended in 1867, the mindset and the drastic changes that took place would stay with America throughout its history, and therefore was ultra. Woodwards pessimistic response to Americas optimistic take on the Reconstruction being revolutionary was based on the approximation that in the coherent run what actually was accomplished was not very influential.With the exception of the amendments that were establish after the Civil War, the hope of the freedmen sharing equality with the whites was taken onward after the Reconstruction, and therefore was a total failure. The to the souths apology against the freedmen gaining any sort of political or social power was stronger than the testament of the North to help bring equality to the South and according to Woodward, denies Reconstruction being a failure because they were to headstrong to admit defeat. When looking patronage at the Reconstruction and asking whether or not it was evolutionary, one mustiness consider the affect it had on the expanse in one case the period ended. The final result is, the Reconstruction had had little to no influence on society once it had come to a halt after the preference of President hay in 1867, and therefore cannot be considered a revolution. When talking about a revolution, what is being considered is a drastic change in culture, politics, and social structure, and the Reconstruction does meet those requirements. Looking into what occurred during the Reconstruction, the alone true accomplishments that won out were those that came from the bulwark of the South.When Foner makes his undertake to sway the readers minds in to following his argument that the Reconstruction was revolutionary, he fails to point out any substantial examples of the freedmen overcoming the resistance of the South without the help of the government. For example the Homestead Act of 1862 was enforced by the government to make available land to freedmen which belonged to occasion land owners, (many of which were former slave owners) however when the Homestead Act was put in place, only one-tenth of the land was distri excepted to new land owners.Other examples such as sharecropping were also non-substantial as it triggered a new labor agreement which consisted of land owners advertising clip to immigrants and hiring them to work for low wages and rations of bacon and cornmeal, which was a similar the experiments in the westmost Indies with the coolies. How is forcing the freedmen and their families on the streets and living in poverty in anyway revolutionary? It was only until the government stepped in and put and end of what Foner called a, New fitting of the slave trade that the freedmen even had an opportunity to work for wages on plantations.One can argue that this was a change in how the labor system worked, but can something so minute be considered revolutionary? once the government refuted one attempt at resistance from the South, another emerged. In 1865 the Black Codes were established in all different states throughout the South. These codes circumscribed what the black man was able to do for a living and gave no opportunity to own land, making the situation for freedmen similar to what it was before the emancipation.Other forms of resistance, such as the origin group Ku Klux Clan brought terror and destruction to the South. entire Reconstruction groups did not match the will of the resistance and therefore Reconstruction did little good for the former slaves. Every attempt to make the former slaves equals to whites was not accomplished because the Resistance in the South would not allow it. Woodward says, The failure of Reconstruction is to be explained by the lack of revolutionary measures. If the attempt of Reconstruction was more radical, there could possibly be an argument that it was revolutionary, but the truth is the counter-revolution was stronger than the actual revolution. People were scared for their lives, terror and anger make full the streets, and the South was not a safe environment for the freedmen and their families. In conclusion, the only real gain that the freedmen received during the Reconstruction were the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments that were added to the spirit following the end of the Civil War.All other gains were taken back with the election of President Haynes in 1867, after he made a make love to end Reconstruction in the South if elected president. Now equality what was accomplished to the other revolutions in History, the American Revolution, which separated the United States from British authorities and the French Revolu tion, where the people physically overthrew their government and established a democracy. Those were drastic shifts in society that defined what a revolution is.The idea that Reconstructions was a revolution would be the side that says the government establishing three laws was a revolution. This is a very weak argument, especially when the amendments that were passed were not accepted by the majority of the South and therefore not practiced due to the radicals response of violence and terror. Revolutions are drastic changes that affect the country forever, and the Reconstruction simply did not meet the requirements to even be considered a revolution. Bibliography 1.Eric Foner, The governance of Freedom in Nothing but Freedom liberty and its Legacy (Louisiana Louisiana State University reduce) 2. C. Vann Woodward. Reconstruction A Counterfactual Playback (Oxford Oxford University Press 1989) John Recchia Prof. Van Gosse U. S History II 9/20/10 1 . Foner, The Politics of Freedom , 10 2 . Foner, The Politics of Freedom, 10-11 3 . Woodwars, Reconstruction A Counterfactual Playback, 29 4 . Foner, The Politics of Freedom, 11-12