Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION2

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS6

Causes6

Effects7

Military Effects9

Social and Economic Effects11

CONCLUSION15

WORK CITED16

The Emancipation Proclamation

Introduction

During the last years of the Civil War, as Union forces moved closer to victory and millions of former slaves became free, Americans began to think about how to reconcile the splintered parts of the nation and found them faced with a series of complex questions. How would the former states of the Confederacy be integrated back into the Union? Would southern politicians who had joined the Confederacy be excluded from politics, or would they be welcomed back to Congress and state legislatures in the spirit of reconciliation? How would the South, which had suffered the greatest damage in the war, be rebuilt so that it could prosper economically? What type of labor arrangements would replace slavery in the South? How would civil rights be defined for the four million slaves who became free during the war? What other measures would be taken to ensure that African Americans were treated fairly and justly? What roles would African Americans play in the political, social and economic environment of the post-war period? While there were no decisive answers to any of these questions, each drew a range of responses from different sectors of American society. Known as Reconstruction, this period is crucial to an understanding of American history.

[Figure 1 ]

American politics, society and economics underwent major transformations during Reconstruction and each change met with main opposition; thus, both radical and conventional strains informed the era. For instance, though Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was one of the most revolutionary acts in American history, Lincoln's comprehensive agenda was not reform-minded. In favour of reconciling the nation as quickly as possible, Lincoln prescribed no punitive measures for the ex-Confederate states. Moreover, he advocated the 10 Percent Plan, which allowed southern state governments to reassume control after just one-tenth of the 1860 voting population swore an oath of allegiance to the United States. Andrew Johnson (see fig 2.) adopted similarly conservative policies when he succeeded Lincoln in 1865: Johnson pardoned rebel leaders and allowed them back into high office, returned plantation land to its original owners and ordered former slaves back to work. Northern Republicans, alarmed at the prospect of restoring the antebellum status quo, mounted an offensive for more lasting change. Gaining two-thirds control of Congress in the 1866 elections, they were able to override President Johnson's vetoes and pass a series of laws and provisions for southern states; their legislation promised revolutionary outcomes.

[Figure 2]

Backed by these new statutes, African Americans in the South began to vote (see figure 3), hold office, gain education, rebuild their families and reshape their communities. Their efforts were further supported by social welfare reforms passed by new southern state governments; these reforms mitigated the harshest aspects of southern life for both blacks and whites, making government responsible for some basic needs and outlawing certain exploitative practices. The basic economic system of the South, with wealthy whites holding power over blacks and traditional whites, remained largely unchanged; in some ...