In this lesson, you have reviewed the major events of Reconstruction and then examined a couple of its outcomes in more detail through a combination of primary and secondary sources. Your notes should be filled with details about Reconstruction. Armed with this information, you will now try and evaluate Reconstruction. First, let’s quickly classify the information that you read about.
In this activity, you will weigh the successes and failures of Reconstruction. Six statements will appear. Click on “success” or “failure” to send it to the appropriate side of the scale.
Reflection: The scale balanced because there were three statements for each side. Look at the statements above. Do you think that the scale should be balanced? Were some of the successes or failures “heavier” than others? Answer in your notes.
The historian we have read multiple excerpts from in this lesson, Eric Foner, has a clear opinion on which way he felt the above scale should be balanced. Yet, it’s one opinion. You have now done some thinking about this topic, so let’s try and evaluate his argument. Read the excerpt below and answer the questions in your notes.
What remains certain is that Reconstruction failed, and that for blacks its failure was a disaster whose magnitude cannot be obscured by the accomplishments that endured. For the nation as a whole, the collapse of Reconstruction was a tragedy that deeply affected the course of its development…Reconstruction's demise and the emergence of blacks as disenfranchised [unable to vote] dependent laborers [work for low wages] accelerated racism's spread…Long into the twentieth century, the South remained a one-party region ruled by a [white] elite that continued to employ violence and fraud to stifle internal dissent.
Source: Foner, E. (1990). A Short History of Reconstruction 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, p. 256
In one sentence, summarize Foner’s argument. Which way does the scale tip?
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Foner believes that Reconstruction was a failure calling it a “disaster,” with African Americans emerging without the right to vote and kept in poverty, suppressed by an elite white class that used violence.
What are the major reasons that Foner cites for his opinion?
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Foner cites the fact that after Reconstruction, blacks were unable to vote, worked for low wages, and were the victims of violence “long into the twentieth century.”
Do you agree with Foner? Consider three possible opinions:
Select one of these statements and justify it using evidence from this lesson and other things you know about Reconstruction.