Reconstruction: success or failure? What was the political, economic and social impact of Reconstruction upon the progression of the democratic principles of our nation?

Republican Party Rifts of Today Moderates Obamacare must be funded and the sequester must end. Radicals Only vote yes on a proposed budget if Obamacare is not a part of the proposal. Similar to the vote on the issue of granting citizenship but not the vote to recently freed slaves, the radicals will not fund a program the Congress has already approved. In some ways they are nullifying the vote.

Republicans Moderate Accept the end of slavery however they do not want ex-slaves to have the vote. Black people cannot ever be productive people in our society-racist beliefs. Concerned with economic gains for the white middle class Radical Propose that full citizenship must include suffrage. Black people have the intellectual capacity to learn and must be educated. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate and Thaddeus Stevens from Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives.

Dunning 1900’s Southern whites are oppressed by vindictive Northern radicals and Blacks. “Scalawags and carpetbaggers” Reconstruction was a failure. Radical Republicans gave too many rights too soon. W.E.B. DuBois Blacks were elected to congress. Civil Rights legislation was passed. Humanitarian effort was intense to help ex-slaves adjust to freedom. Schools were built which benefited white children as well. Founder of NAACP Doctorate of Harvard Born 1868 and wrote his first book in 1903 entitled The Souls of Black Folk. Revisionist historian Eric Foner The Radical Republicans neglected to provide land, which led to the lack of economic independence of Blacks. The newly freed slaves were not protected enough from physical harm such as lynching and violence at the voting poles. Reforms did not go far enough therefore the revolution did not take place until the 1965 voting rights act and other landmark supreme court decisions which led to true racial equality.