Civil War
12 years after the civil war, proved to be a very difficult time for America. The “reconstruction” saw this era as an increase of freedom for former slaves, and the Federal government went to many extents to try and help freedmen in former slave states. But there was a great resistance to the change, after Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1876. The South began to limit the rights of blacks within the boundaries that the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments allowed. Although, In the end, both North and the South contributed to the end of reconstitution, the South made more efforts to persecute the blacks, which made a bigger impact on killing the reconstruction.
In the South, reconstruction efforts by Northerners and Southerners alike were challenging because of attacks by racially biased groups. For Example, A group called The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) attacked both blacks who were trying to gain political power, or whites who were helping them or were helping with the general reconstruction effort. In document C, it shows a donkey with KKK written on is walking away from a tree, leaving a carpetbagger to hang, after being stabbed multiple times.
Many freedmen were wary of trying to gain political power as well, as a result of the KKK’s efforts. Abram Colby, a freedman running for Georgia representative described that he was taken to the woods by Klan members and beaten, but refused to stop voting radical. Document C, states that the radical party was the radical republican party that felt the South should be punished for their actions. He was also offered $2,500 in cash to have someone to take his legislative seat, but he also refused. Colby was one of the men targeted by the KKK because he attempted to gain power. The KKK’s attacks in the South was a major contributor to the death or the Reconstruction in the South.
Although the South was a major contributor to the death of Reconstruction, the