What were the main reasons for the downfall of Reconstruction?
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After the Civil War, the South entered a period (lasting from 1865-1877) called Reconstruction, when the federal government oversaw the reconstruction of the government in Southern states. Show
Immediately after the war, a debate about how to recreate southern government and society was divided between Radical Republicans (mostly Northerners) who sought to enfranchise blacks and establish new political patterns, and Conservative Democrats (mostly Southerners) who wanted the federal government to step out and allow the south to rebuild itself as it saw fit. In 1866, Radical Republicans won the election, and created the Freedmen’s Bureau to offer former slaves food, clothing, and advice on labor contracts. During Reconstruction, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were passed in order to attempt to bring equality to blacks. Initially, with federal laws and federal troops offering protection, blacks bean to vote and gain political power. Soon after, Southern whites responded with violence and intimidation. Southern blacks soon lost their newfound freedoms. In 1877, because of expenses, administrative corruption, Northern exhaustion, and Southern protests, the federal government withdrew from the south, and black disenfranchisement and oppression quickly followed. Was Reconstruction a success?The Reconstruction Era lasted from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to 1877. Its main focus was on bringing the southern states back into full political participation in the Union, guaranteeing rights to former slaves and defining new relationships between African Americans and whites. While very little fighting occurred on Iowa soil and Iowa had never legalized slavery, black migration of former slaves into the region and the national focus on civil rights forced Iowa to reconsider its own racial relations. Amending the U.S. Constitution during ReconstructionWhen southern states seceded from the Union, they withdrew their representatives from Congress, leaving both the Senate and the House under the control of the North. While most white Americans still held views that whites were superior to African Americans and were not yet ready to integrate society, many were sympathetic to the plight of freed slaves and wanted to promote their welfare. On the political front, Republicans were eager to give African Americans the right to vote because they anticipated that African Americans would strongly support them at the polls. To achieve these goals, Republicans needed to amend the U.S. Constitution, a process that requires approval of two-thirds of each chamber of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Republicans felt an urgency to get these measures approved before southern congressmen returned to Washington, D.C., who could block the process. In 1865, Congress passed and states approved the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery. In 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified granting "equal protection of the law" and "due process" to all citizens to prevent southern states from passing laws that would discriminate against African Americans. Constitutional Changes in IowaThe Iowa legislature, controlled by Republicans, approved both amendments. Even though there was some opposition to measures that looked as if they were moving toward racial equality, Iowa Republicans realized they could not impose on the South restrictions that they were not willing to support at home. Before the Civil War, African Americans were denied the right to vote in northern as well as southern states. Iowa was no exception. The 1857 Constitution restricted suffrage to white males 21 years of age and over. Changing the state constitution required an affirmative vote on a referendum. In 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment prohibited denying the vote to anyone based on "race, color or previous condition of servitude" (slavery), the Iowa legislature submitted to the voters (all white males at the time) an amendment to strike the word "white" from voting requirements. The measure won a majority, and African-American males in Iowa could vote. In 1870, when the 15th Amendment came to the states ensuring African-American suffrage nationwide, Iowa became the 29th state to approve it, providing the final state necessary for passage. The suffrage amendment was controversial on several fronts. Many white voters, primarily Democrats, opposed measures that brought African Americans more fully into mainstream society. Advocates for women’s suffrage were very disappointed that the measure stopped with African Americans — male only — suffrage, leaving all women out of the voter pool. Some Republican leaders urged the suffragists to wait their turn: "This is the black men's hour." And wait the women did. Women did not achieve full suffrage for another half century. Race Relations in IowaThere were other legal developments on race relations. In 1867, Susan Clark, a African-American youth in Muscatine, was denied admission to the public school on account of her race. Her father, Alexander Clark, challenged the policy in a case that went to the Iowa Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor. The Iowa Constitution granted the responsibility to the Board of Education to "provide for the education of all the youths of the State." The Court ruled that "all" meant all with no authority to deny education to any based on race. In another case, the Supreme Court ruled that there could be no discrimination based on race in public accommodations like railroads and steamboats. In practice, however, the laws were unevenly enforced. Union soldiers continued to enforce law and order in the South until 1877. During those years and after, Iowa confronted new challenges to the American commitment that "all are created equal" as more African Americans migrated to river and southeastern Iowa cities and to Des Moines. While Iowa can be proud of several major steps toward equality, racial attitudes of most white Iowans of the period continued to oppose full integration. Supporting QuestionsHow did the presidential election of 1876 end Reconstruction?
How did the U.S. Supreme Court originally interpret the Constitution's Reconstruction amendments?
How did the South restore white supremacy after the fall of Reconstruction?
How did African Americans fight for the basic rights of citizenship granted by the Reconstruction amendments?
Additional Resources
Iowa Core Social Studies Standards (9th-12th Grade)Listed below are the Iowa Core Social Studies content anchor standards that are best reflected in this source set. The content standards applied to this set are elementary-age level and encompass the key disciplines that make up social studies for students 9th through 12th grade.
What was the main reason for Reconstruction failures?As the 1870s continued, support for reconstruction throughout the country began to wane. The combination of white intimidation, a significant economic depression in the South, and the Democratic Party winning control of the House of Representatives in 1874, resulted in Reconstruction beginning to fade away.
What are 3 reasons Reconstruction ended?The Crédit Mobilier scandal, the Depression of 1873, and the Resumption Act of 1875 focused attention away from the South and onto political and economic woes in the North. All three thus played a role in ending Reconstruction.
What were the four reasons for the end of Reconstruction?But there were specific reasons why Reconstruction came to an end and those had to do with violence, corruption, race, factionalism and the election of 1876.
What were the 3 main issues facing Reconstruction?Reconstruction encompassed three major initiatives: restoration of the Union, transformation of southern society, and enactment of progressive legislation favoring the rights of freed slaves.
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