North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction?

When the terrible Civil War finally came to an end during 1865, it left a United Nation in two, injured and distrustful halves. With the South's economy and pride shattered into pieces and the freedom of former slaves at stake, it was the responsibility of the North to lead the Reconstruction, an era that would help rebuild America's economy and install equal civil rights for all citizens, both black and white. Despite how crucial this time was for the country, it ultimately ended up failing, allowing for unjust treatment of freedmen well into the 20th Century. While both the North and South played a part in this failure, the North can be held responsible for killing the Reconstruction.

The South's attempt to terrorize and threaten freedmen and their advocates, while effective, did not play as large of a role in the downfall of the Reconstruction as the North's actions. Shortly after the war's end, white supremacist groups formed in the South, the most notorious one was known as the Ku Klux Klan. They opposed the Reconstruction and rights for freedmen. These groups took it upon themselves to ensure that blacks did not feel safe exercising their right to vote. Abram Colby, a black member of the Georgia State Legislature, recalls the night the KKK "took [him] to the woods and whipped [him] for three hours or more and left [him] for dead," because he used his vote in Legislature to support the Radical Republican ticket. (Doc B). For three hours straight they beat him, attempting to take his freedom of speech from him by terrorizing him into voting for the Democratic ticket. (Doc B) This didn't just happen with black government members; the KKK terrorized any freedman trying to vote. The image to the left shows a black man being held at gunpoint by two white men. The caption of the image is "Of course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket." (Doc A) Like many black men throughout the country, he was going to cast his ballot on election day. However, when he got there, a few white supremacists decided to threaten him and force him to vote for the option that would best suit them, not him. (Doc B) Southern whites used fear tactics to discourage freedmen from voting and prevent them from exercising their freedom of speech or right to vote.
Blacks weren't the only people targeted by white supremacist groups. They utilized fear tactics and violence to make Northerners who had moved South to aid freedmen (carpetbaggers) and Southerners supported Radical Republicans (scalawags) too scared to continue helping freedmen. According to Albion Tourgee, former Northern soldier and a carpetbagger, government officials and supporters of the Reconstruction were "foully murdered by the Ku-Klux." (Doc A) He believes that he himself is in danger of being targeted by the KKK. (Doc A) The image to the right, published in the Independent Monitor of Alabama, depicts a mule-- meant to represent the KKK-- hanging two men, a carpetbagger and a scalawag. (Doc A) It shows just how common it was for Klan members to terrorize and kill everyone, including whites, that opposed them and tried to help freedmen maintain their status as citizens with equal rights. As awful and effective as their threats and violence were at discouraging both freedmen and their supporters, they were not the main reason for the downfall of the Reconstruction era. If the North had continued to support the movement they had started, the South would not have prevailed in the way that they did.

The blame for the end of Reconstruction should really fall on the North because of their distractedness and indifference towards the freedmen's cause. Despite their successful efforts to eliminate slavery, the North remained racist, making it easier for them to lose faith in the freedmen's cause. An image published in Harper's Weekly, shows what the illustrator imagined Southern State Legislatures to be like. (Doc D) Two black men are drawn arguing barbarically and slightly resembling monkeys. (Doc D) The white men in the image look horrified. It is clear that the North remained racist and while they did not think blacks deserved to be enslaved, "the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties." (Doc D) They did not believe that blacks were fit to run a government. Therefore, they did not support the freedmen in their quest to earn positions in government. Their lack of interest in helping freedmen allowed them to grow, "indifferent to events in the South… many Northern voters shifted their attention to such national concerns as the Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant's administration." (Doc C) An image published in Harper's Weekly and titled "US  'In For It' I hope I shall get to the bottom soon" depicts President Grant with his head in a barrel, trying to discover the source of the corruption in his administration. (Doc C) The Northern public had lost interest in the goings on of the South. They were more invested in issues like the corruption in President Grant's circle. President Grant himself was too invested in getting rid of this corruption to see

past it and help the freedmen of the South. They did not follow through after helping free the slaves. While their intentions were good, the left blacks to fend for themselves after they had lost interest in their cause. By dropping the responsibilities they had as far as the freedmen went, they ultimately allowed Southern white supremacists to end the Reconstruction era. Therefore, the era's end can be, and should be blamed on the North.

After the end of the Civil War in 1865, came the Reconstruction. It was a time meant to rebuild Southern economy and help freedmen attain their citizenship, fair treatment and equal civil rights. It started off well, when their was still energy behind the North, pushing them to follow through with their victory in the war and continue to help blacks. However, as the South began to use fear tactics, threats and violence to make it harder for Northerners to protect the freedmen, they lost steam. Their racism began to surface again, causing them to lose interest in aiding blacks. They no longer cared so much and they became wrapped up in their own problems, like President Grant's corrupt administration. They failed the men that they freed. The North allowed Southern white supremacists to get away with terrorizing blacks and their supporters. Thus ended the Reconstruction at the fault of the North.

Document A
Text:
Tourgee, Albion. "Letter on Ku Klux Klan Activities". New York Tribune (May 1870).

Image:
"KKK Donkey Hangs Carpetbagger and Scalawag." Cartoon. Independent Monitor. Alabama
               Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.

Document B
Text:
Colby, Abram. "Testimony to a joint House and Senate Committee in 1872."

Image:
"Of course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket." Cartoon. Harper's Weekly (Ocyober 21, 1876).

Document C
Text:
Danzer, Gerald.  The Americans. McDougal Littell, 1998.

Image:
"U.S. 'In for it.' I hope I shall get to the bottom soon." Cartoon. Harper's Weekly, 1876.

Document D
Text:
Richardson, Heather Cox. The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor and Politics in the Post-Civil
               War North, 1865-1901. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University Press, 2001.

Image:
"Northern artist's portrayal of the South Carolina State Legislature during Reconstruction." Cartoon.
               Harper's Weekly, March 14, 1874.