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Essay on An Analytical Critique of Reconstruction
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 had made it obvious to the American leadership that profound differences existed between the states that supported slavery and those that did not. It appeared to be difficult to settle these differences amicably. Attempts had however been made to reach compromises between the North and the South by constitutional promises not to halt the slave trade until 1808, while banning slavery in the North West territories. The North Western farmers and industry were united in their stand for free enterprise and slavery was not an accepted part of their system. The Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas Nebraska Act as well as the Dred Scott Case continued to add to the existing bitterness between the Northern and the Southern States, culminating in the American Civil War. The Emancipation Declaration finally brought hope for the slaves who had been used as farm labor and a means of production while the Southern men attended to military duties.
The era of reconstruction started after the ending of the American Civil War in which the defeated Confederate states were brought back into the Union and a number of legislative reforms involving constitutional changes, the overhauling of the Southern state governments, the enfranchising of African American men were undertaken in order to set into motion the healing process after the war. The era from 1865 to 1877 is known as the Reconstruction era in American history.
The Reconstruction era is important because it was the events of this era which placed a foundation for the modern United States of America and rehabilitated the former black slaves to become an integrated part of the American society, granting them the right to vote. The events of this era had placed the former black slaves on the course to achieving equality with an ending of discrimination......
