RECONSTRUCTION AND RADICAL - Assignment Example

Reconstruction of the US Number Introduction In the history of the United s, specifically the South, the Reconstruction refers to the time of adjustment from the conclusion of the Civil War up to 1877 when Americans strove to reunite and reorganize the country again, following the schismatic and calamitous war. During the Reconstruction, there were tremendous ideological conflicts between several groups in the South, between different political factions in the federal government and between the states that belonged to the former Confederacy.

Thesis Statement Despite the many challenges that characterized the Reconstruction, it remains true that Radical Reconstruction was more challenging for the Southern States to fulfill than Presidential and provided more benefit to the freedom. Factors/ Reasons That Made Radical Reconstruction More Challenging For the Southern States The main reason that rendered Radical Reconstruction more challenging in the Southern States was the ability of the same to undermine the South’s economic and social gains.

Specifically, Radical Construction fundamentally demanded the democratization and redrawing of racial relations and the enshrining of these milestones in the constitution. This would mean that the rules that had been enshrined in the Emancipation Proclamation would be upheld and not reversed. Although President Abraham Lincoln had successfully issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, yet there was hope among the Southerners that the legal stipulations thereof could be reversed.

As a matter of fact, to underscore the reality of this hope, Southerners had attempted to reverse the Emancipation Proclamation by universally condemning it in the Confederacy and then following this condemnation with legal means (Festle, 2003). Again, Festle (2003) divulges that Radical Reconstruction was viewed as a serious threat to the welfare of the South since it could allow blacks the chance to access educational, economic and educational opportunities as a way of transforming their welfare and the society in which they lived.

This according to the Southerners meant that blacks were no longer going to kowtow to white American’s demands and servitude. As if their fears were founded, as the Radical Reconstruction neared its conclusion, African Americans vied for greater freedom and empowerment, while unrelentingly challenging and addressing centuries of anti-black laws and traditions. The foregoing does not downplay the hardship that the South experienced in Presidential Reconstruction. However, compared to Radical Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction was a lesser evil.

In fact, the President could still be managed with greater ease, compared to the dictates in Radical Reconstruction. The example that Andrew Johnson accords this discussion underscores this standpoint. Lincoln’s successor Johnson was supportive of the punitive measures that were to be meted out on the South and appeared to dislike the planter elite in the South as he believed they fanned the embers of the Civil War. However, surprisingly, Johnson brought Radical Republicans to consternation as he consistently blocked their attempts to pass the aforementioned punitive legislation.

Conclusion: The Reconstructions Which Provided More Benefit to the Freedom Radical Reconstruction brought more benefit and freedom because it helped inculcate egalitarianism and equality throughout the US. Radical reconstruction redrew race relations and the relation between the Union and the Confederacy. Because of Radical Reconstruction, African Americans were able to pursue successfully, educational, economic and educational opportunities and thereby transforming their welfare and the society in which they lived.

The doctrine of universal suffrage would then be extended to women, after the black man. ReferencesFestle, M. J. (2003). Reading Reconstruction with Students. The Journal of American History, 83 (4), 1353 – 1356.