Reconstruction of the United States

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, reconstruction is defined as “the process of putting something (such as a country) back into a good condition”. It’s no question as to why the period of time after the Civil War was conned the “Reconstruction Era”. The Civil War was a four year long war between the North and the South compiled of a series of battles switching between Northern and Southern territory. The main issue of this war was supposed to resolve the controversial topic of slavery and how America should be run. Millions of African Americans were ripped from their homes, thrown into an all-white society and given no say in how their life was lived from that point on. They were given no rights and were treated like property. The outcome of this war decided whether or not slavery should continue and how America should be run. Luckily, the North prevailed and slavery was eventually abolished. Unfortunately, many complications arose after the war had ended. The Southern economy was built on the back of slaves so when slavery was abolished, it clearly could not thrive on its own. With years and years of inferiority issues and receiving abuse, integration was difficult for the African American. Unsurprisingly though, it was also difficult for the white population. This white population was adapted to being superior to all other races and treating them less than human. Now, the government was throwing them into a situation where all people were supposed to be equal, but all their lives they had been taught to believe they are superior to every other race. African Americans made the necessary changes to fit into society as equals, but a fraction of the white race couldn’t move past the higher-level mindset they’d obtained. This resulted in unequal job opportunities, racially motivated hate groups, etc. Reconstruction just wasn’t successful because not only was America not politically and socially ready for it, the government tried to make the process comfortable for the whites even though African Americans were the ones at a racial, economic and financial disadvantage.

Post-Civil war, American society and economy was primarily dominated by all-white civilians and there was a clear disadvantage for African Americans and other minorities. The whites exploited these minorities socially and economically and treated them inferiorly. After the Civil War came to an end, it was evident society could no longer be run this way. Every African American was free and ready to integrate their way back into America but this time, as their own person. Unfortunately, integration revealed itself to be too much of a feat to conquer. African Americans were at a racial, financial and economic disadvantage compared to whites and that hasn’t changed. In a picture taken in Atlanta, Georgia (1954), it depicts a waiting room that’s only designated for colored people. To properly amalgamate colored people into society, they had to be treated equally. To be on equal footing as a colored person with a white man in society, there cannot be signs, laws, etc. limiting their education, prohibiting them from doing things that whites can do and designating them certain places away from Caucasians because of their skin color. Integration was to get African Americans and other minorities properly accepted into society and it is coherent that was not what occurred. Also, in another photo from Alabama in 1933, two water fountains are portrayed and one is for “colored people” and the other one is for “whites”. There is a clear difference in the condition of both water fountains and which one was in a better technological state. If even minimal things like water fountains are segregated and were given one superior to other, how are white people expected to accept African Americans into society on equal standards when the government allowed things like this to concur? “It shall be unlawful for a negro and a white person to play together of each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” [The government (multiple Southern States), 1891-1930]. The Reconstruction era arose in 1865 but still laws appeared after clearly prohibiting colored people from interacting with white people with such trivial things as playing cards. If African Americans weren’t allowed to do such menial things as roll dices with white people, how did the government expect white people to accept African Americans working in the same building as them, living in the same building as them, or even staying in the same room as them? If the U.S. government and the population truly tried their hardest to accommodate African Americans into society and their economy, there wouldn’t still be a division between the two on a financial, racial and social level.

During the Reconstruction Era, many racial violence/hate groups emerged and took action. These groups attacked people of color and fought to win back the old America where racial inequality was supported and permitted happily. Most of these hate groups were dominated by white people. The people populating this groups genuinely believed African Americans and other people of color were inferior to Caucasians and didn’t deserve to be their own person. Firstly, a piece of propaganda created by Thomas Nast in 1874 depicts a representative of the “White League” and a KKK representative joining hands over a colored family in peril and despair. This shows that even though the white people were supposed to be accepting of the African American population, they were no better than any other hate group. The Reconstruction Era was supposed to diminish these groups or at least lessen the presence of them. Contrasting to this goal, a statistic from the Southern Poverty Center shows in a 14% increase in hate groups since 2014. Also in the recent year of 2014, the KKK, a widely known racial hate group, released a mission statement that contained the statement “We must take control back of OUR U.S government”. If to this day, these groups still believed they were wronged by the freeing of African Americans and their government isn’t being handled properly, then it’s coherent that Reconstruction didn’t do successfully achieve their goal.

The North and the South clearly had their differences whether it was on how to run America or how to treat any non-white citizen but one of the biggest differences was their political views. Both sides were so opinionated and fixated on supporting their-side that a giant political division between two parties occurred. When both sides merged after the Civil War, the political gap still existed and it was another problem that Reconstruction was supposed to resolve. An election map produced in 1860 depicts a map primarily dominated by two colors representing the two main political parties in the U.S., the red being the democratic party (now the republican party) and the blue being the republican