Reconstruction DBQ

Do you ever wonder who killed Reconstruction? Well many believe the North killed Reconstruction for a variety of reasons, but the three main reasons are the North’s racism, fatigue, and distractions. Some positives about Reconstruction were the Freedman’s Bureau, This gave the African Americans support like food, education, jobs, and legal help. Also there was the Civil Rights Act this gave the blacks and whites the same type of rights. But there was also some negatives around this time like Sharecropping because the African Americans would be getting taken advantage of. Then there was the Black Codes making laws restricting the rights of African Americans.
First the North is responsible for killing Reconstruction because of racism. One of the reasons the North killed Reconstruction was their racist attitudes. According to Document D it states, “the blacks, as a people are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” This means the North was just as racist as the South. The North also stated that the blacks as citizens are unfitted, so this means they think too that blacks shouldn’t have the right to be a citizen. On Document D, it shows a picture of the blacks and whites fighting because the whites think racism is right but the blacks do not agree with the whites all the time.
Second of all the North is Responsible for killing Reconstruction because of distractions. Many white Southerners resisted Reconstruction. Some resisted it because of all of the violence. An example of the problem is seen in a letter written in 1870 by Albion Tourgee, a white ex-soldier who went to the South to become a judge in North Carolina and help reconstruct the state. He describes a state Senator who was brutally killed by the Klu Klux Klan and hung on a hook in the jury room. (Doc, A letter) That kind of terrorism was trying to scare the Carpetbaggers of the Klu Klux Klan and trying to make them want to leave the North. It was also suppose to scare white scalawags, and they are white southerners.

Last of all the North is responsible for killing Reconstruction because of fatigue.