Max Giulianelli 1/26/2012 Reconstruction Essay The Restoration of the Old South After the Civil War, the

biggest issue was what to do with the defeated Southern states. With most of the South destroyed and most Southerners still harboring resentment for the North, most were unsure how the South would rejoin the Union. To further complicate matters, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before the South rejoined the Union leaving the executive branch in turmoil. When the South rejoined the union, the reconstruction plan led to more of a restoration than a reconstruction. While it had aspects of both, it leaned more towards restoration, through the black codes and the reconstruction of Congress, but still favored the North in ways through the Reconstruction Act and Lincolns Ten Percent Plan. After the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed. The amendment officially outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. This was a huge blow to the South, as the entire Southern economy was centered around the slavery system. While most slaves were confused about what to do with their newfound freedom, Southerners thought of an idea to take advantage of this. The South attempted to cut their losses by passing the Black Codes. The Black Codes were contracts that said the blacks were bound to work for whites for a certain time period, and "Jumping" the contract was punishable with fines. The codes banned blacks from serving on juries, renting land, and could be punished for "idleness. Thus the Black Codes were basically a sugar coated slavery system. With the Black

Codes bringing the return of a slavery like system, the South began its restoration back to its original state. Also, when military presence left the South in 1877, whites continued to use tricks to rob the blacks of their rights to vote. To disenfranchise blacks, whites started literacy tests to weed out illiterate blacks from voting. When this backfired, weeding out many illiterate whites, "understanding clauses" and "grandfather clauses" were put into place. The condition of Southern blacks, despite good intentions from the North, was likely as bad, or even worse, than before the war. White Southerners had fought back through underhanded means and were for the most part successful at "keeping down" the freed slaves. Another factor benefitting the South was the reconstruction of Congress. With the Thirteenth Amendment freeing the slaves and repealing the Three-Fifths Compromise, the South now had even greater representation in Congress, at the Norths expense, which now has less power. This meant that the South stood to gain something from the Civil War, which upset many Radical Republicans of the time. With this reconstruction of Congress, the South was being restored, and was coming out of the war with more power thanks to the Thirteenth Amendment, which was designed by the North to punish them. While the South was restored in many ways, it also had to undergo some major changes after the war. Lincolns Ten Percent Plan was used by his successor, Andrew Johnson, as the plan for Southern reconstruction. The plan called for a vote where if ten percent of the voters took an oath of loyalty, the South would be readmitted to the Union. Johnson also added to the plan that leading Confederates were to be disenfranchised, the secession ordinances were to be repealed, all Confederate debts would be repudiated, and the states must ratify the 13th Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was also added

by Congress and pushed through by the Radical Republicans. While these were very forgiving terms, they still did not sit well with most Southerners. They refused to sign an oath of loyalty, meaning they could not vote, leading to many black Congressmen being elected. Many Southerners took this as an insult and wanted change Another huge blow to the South was the Reconstruction Act. The Reconstruction Act divided the South into five military districts, and U.S. soldiers would be stationed in each to make sure things stayed under control. The soldiers were also there to insure that the Fourteenth Amendment was carried out properly. Military rule of the South was seen as severe and was hated by the South. This forced the old Southern states to make huge reforms and held them to their terms of re-admittance. To the South, Reconstruction was worse than the war. They felt beaten-down, shamed, and their entire world had been turned upside-down. When the soldiers finally did leave in 1877, power slid back to the white Southerners who found new tricks to achieve their old ways. While the South suffered many inconveniences during reconstruction, it underwent very little change in the end. With the black codes and the literacy tests, white Southerners succeeded in repressing the rights of the blacks, and formed a new system that was basically the same as slavery. This led to less of a reconstruction and more of a restoration, because in the end, very little had changed.