Young Writers Society

      I am a republican congressman and think that Reconstruction is a failure. I am a supporter of Abraham Lincoln as well as a congressman representing the Union state of Ohio. However, although I have the full intent of supporting Abraham Lincoln, his plan for reconstruction was incredibly lenient towards the south. I have not the slightest doubt that Congress should have created the plan for reconstruction, rather than president Abraham Lincoln. I find it evident that the south should not be permitted to send their representatives to congress or rejoin the country unless meeting strict requirements. I find myself very concerned with conserving the civil rights of freed slaves and seem to find it as my purpose. Punishment is just as important as protection, however. Having had led the rebellion against the United States, confederates who were officers in the army, without a doubt, deserve definite punishment. As a radical republican, my main concern is protecting newly freed slaves and I am concerned over the failures of reconstruction taking place in our country.

      Reconstruction began ruining the country when Lincoln's ten percent plan failed us all. Lincoln may be a trustworthy person and a loyal president, but that doesn't make it right for him to make a disaster out of the country. It's ridiculous that Lincoln managed to stay so calm and lenient towards the south. Southerners should be treated like flies, kept under careful watch, but swatted if they cause a problem. They should be forced to follow strict requirements, but under Lincoln's plan only ten percent of a state's voters had to swear loyalty to be returned a rightful spot in the union. If only ten percent of a state were to swear loyalty, for all you know the vast majority of the state may not be loyal. In this way, the state could cause issues once back in the union and the southerners would cause problems. As much as I have hatred towards the south, we can let them back in, but not in the way Lincoln is doing so. We have to be much more careful. With Lincoln's reconstruction plan, it barely managed to reconstruct the union and only gave southerners an easy way back into the union without their true loyalty and it raised fear because all the southerners were going to do was cause problems. While Lincoln's ten percent plan may not have been effective, the black codes were also failing reconstruction.

      The black codes have taken us a step backwards from all we've accomplished. It's ridiculous that southerners are still desperate for slavery. In result, they established a terrible system of near slavery that only ruins everything. It has a negative impact on African Americans, whom are never able to shape their own lives and truly experience freedom. As a radical republican, I feel the black codes detrimental to my mission for success and civil rights. Several of the black codes include not being allowed to preach religion unless given special permission, not being allowed to sell, trade, or buy products, and not being allowed to own their own property. All of which are taking away basic rights that African Americans deserve. The black codes definitely have the opposite affect that I would imagine reconstruction to have. It only influences the failure of reconstruction. In addition to the reconstruction era ruining our nation with the black codes, it also led to the Compromise of 1877.

      The compromise of 1877 ended reconstruction, but it also ended civil rights. It settled the disputes over the presidential election and placed Rutherford B. Hayes as president after Ulysses S. Grant, whom promised a lot. I felt incredibly hopeless and powerless as it occurred. It basically ended everything for the radical republicans and our beliefs. It means that the federal government no longer oversaw the state government. Regarding my specific concerns over the rights of freedmen, it really hurt reconstruction which was supposed to rebuild the nation. However, the compromise of was hurting the nation and certainly not rebuilding it. It harmed civil rights and left radical republicans powerless. Now tell me, how is that reconstructing the nation?

      In conclusion, I would consider reconstruction a failure. There are in fact, positive impacts of reconstruction. However, the negative impacts outweigh the positive impacts. The negative impacts are also more of value and affect the nation far more. From my personal stance for civil rights, I can only see issues that cause harmful outcomes on reconstruction. Lincoln's ten percent plan was being overly lenient towards the south whom barely deserved our respect in the first place, the black codes threatened African Americans in unimaginable ways, and The Compromise of 1877 hurt radical republicans and basically destroyed civil rights. I am incredibly outraged with the results of reconstruction and how it failed to assist us in reestablishing the nation.