RECONSTRUCTION PAPER
THE FAILURE OF LAWS AND RECONSTRUCTION
The laws we put into society mean nothing if the people in it are not willing to come together and abide by the rules so that the country can thrive. The Reconstruction Period in the mid 19th century is an example of where our society failed to make a commitment to end discrimination. Some people may think that Reconstruction was helpful because it allowed the South to come back into the United States. Others may believe that this was careless attempt to bring two different sides of a coin together again. If laws really were the thing that were a factor to trying to overcome discrimination, then the 14th Amendment would have immediately given rights to everyone born or naturalized in the United States regardless of race. This was obviously not the case due to Klu Klux Klan violence and Southern states unwillingness to enforce any laws. In the case of Reconstruction, Law-making meant nothing since the parties involved either did nothing to help fix the problem or completely ignored and argued against the laws in place, which worsened discrimination in the US.
During the Reconstruction Period, the Democrats filled the South with ideas that black people aren’t fit to vote or have human rights, while simultaneously saying that reconstruction was another way to silence the southerners. They created a society that was ok with the violence against black people because they thought it was the right solution against what the North was trying to enable with Reconstruction. Historian Eric Foner writes that, “their insistence that blacks were unfit for equal citizenship, and their public laments about the intractability of black labor created an atmosphere that made violence seem a legitimate response in the eyes of many white southerners… they shared the ultimate goal- the overthrow of reconstruction and the restoration of white supremacy.”[1] The democrats main goal was to make sure they stayed in majority within the South and if the North came in with their Republicans to try to invoke laws that restricted white supremacy, they would disprove that by accusing northerners of taking away white people’s rights. It didn’t matter what the North was saying or what laws they put in because of the deluded information the Democrats fed to white southerners.
With as many of the laws that Congress passed, they meant nothing to the South because state governments refused to enforce them. They believed so strongly against convicting the KKK, that less than half of them were sent to jail[2] and the civil rights of black people were still hindered. This was proven when the federal government could not stay blind to, “the Klu Klux Klan’s violent campaigns forced Congress to pass two Enforcement Acts… Mississippi and the Carolinas saw many prosecutions; but in other states, the laws were ignored”[3]. Although acts like the Enforcement Acts made the KKK disband, the underlying racism and discrimination in Southern society stuck. The laws placed by the federal government were not enough to eliminate discrimination. Slavery had been in America for more than 200 years and it was too idealistic to believe that white people would give up their superiority. The only realistic outcome to the federal government instating these laws was that the southerners would not follow them due to the immense hatred South had for African Americans and anyone who was different to them. This did not mean that only the South was at fault; it was also due to the way the North dealt with racism in the South and Reconstruction.
The North wanted to implement Reconstruction swiftly so they could quickly bring the South back to the United States. Ultimately it was too problematic, so they gave up on Reconstruction in the South because they weren’t willing to integrate fully with them. When something went wrong in Reconstruction, “the nation looked for scapegoats, racism increasingly reasserted its hold on northern thought…Racism offered a convenient explanation for the alleged ‘failure’ of reconstruction[4]”. When the North was not able to keep making laws because no one was following them, they had to find another excuse for their carelessness with carrying out Reconstruction. After the economic depression in the 1870s, northerners used African Americans as scapegoats for their own failure because they believed that writing laws was enough. People’s opinions and desire to find solutions was what created change during the fight for civil rights, the laws during Reconstruction had little effect on change. The way the North believed discrimination ended because of laws shows how little they did or wanted to do to end it.
Change takes time, it is long and strenuous and must be done with care and hard work. Change does not come from someone putting words on a piece of paper, it takes people coming together and educating others on the reason for change and coming up with an effective solution. The way the Democrats reacted to Reconstruction, the way the southerners supported terrorist groups and did not enforce the laws, and the way the North sloppily reacted to such a delicate situation were all factors that showed why Reconstruction failed and how writing laws was not an important step to stopping racism. Fundamental change can never happen instantly, it takes time and concerted effort to change a generational mindset.
[1] Eric Foner, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (Vintage Books, 2006), 174.
[2] A People and A Nation – Brief Tenth Edition
[3] A People and A Nation – Brief Tenth Edition
[4] Eric Foner, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (Vintage Books, 2006), 192.