Question

question has to have two paragraphs (History class) study guide for exam

What were the goals, successes, and challenges of black political leaders during Reconstruction?

Answer 1

As the Civil War came to an end in 1865, President Lincoln began making plans to rehabilitate a region marked by four years of war and 200 years of racism physically, economically, socially and politically. Federal government republicans felt responsible for restoring public infrastructure, private property, food production, medical care, and housing-all while the workforce and economy were in shambles. Additionally, they wanted to change many features of Southern society and politics.

All the Southern states drafted new constitutions and ratified the amendments to the Reconstruction. Most African Americans have been active in new state and local governments fighting for equal rights and restoring or constructing infrastructure such as schools, railroads, hospitals, homes, roads and asylum. Charitable organizations and individuals-notably Northerners-worked to improve African Americans ' health and education. Businessmen opened new industries to revitalize the economy, such as steel, cotton, and lumber mills. Opened up new cultural spaces. Churches and black institutions gained autonomy.

Despite these many accomplishments, Reconstruction faced tremendous challenges, many (but not all) due to white resistance. The new state governments have had many competent but inexperienced leaders in the early years of Reconstruction. Some of them were carpet dredgers motivated by greed and corruption. Southern whites were often uncooperative with the blacks or yankees passing new laws. The vigilante groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, have emerged to preserve white supremacy and intimidate black voters or white people who have supported them. And while industrialization occurred, the region remained committed to an agricultural economy and used sharecropping as a legal means

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