Reconstruction Era Impact essay sample

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Reconstruction era is the period in the United States history that lasted from 1865 to 1877. It was a time of huge changes because this period is widely known for the slavery prohibition in the Southern states and tries of the federal government to bring rebellious territories back to the Union. There were many difficulties concerned with Reconstruction era. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln who was at the head of the fight against slavery was one of the cases. After his death Andrew Johnson became a president and started his campaign against congress trying to restore slavery. In this research we`re going to find out the impact of the reconstruction era on the modern world and was the battle for human right equality won.


Is every person truly equal? The era of radical reconstruction in the United States is history for a hundred and thirty years now, but this question is still alive and breathing. The second half of XIX century was a time for humanism and democratic changes across the United States. Entire country was exhausted by the Civil War and the reconstruction was an attempt to solve a big amount of problems that remained after the it. Slavery was eliminated completely by the thirteenth amendment which cost Abraham Lincoln his life. Though slavery was prohibited but inner hostility for African Americans in the minds of some people survived through the ages and resulted in such modern world issues like racism. Sure, we all are able to vote and we all are legally ensured in equality but in fact we still face major problems based on the racial background. (Wormser, 2003)

All of these problems are linked with Reconstruction Era in some of their parts. Of course that period generally resulted in a positive changes for the American society but the problem of slavery wasn`t solved completely. The prohibition of slavery was only on paper but not in the minds of the people. Southern states were using slaves almost in every aspect of their everyday life and it is naturally that some of the Americans refused to change their way of living in a blink of an eye. That`s why Reconstruction Era is kind of a unfinished revolution for the America and tough it formally ended in 1877 and slavery no longer exists in its past appearance, main ideals of equality between all of the people are still relevant. It`s hard to believe but there is still the mood among some of the Americans that is close enough to slave holding views. That is not a major problem regarding the way of tolerance confessed in the United States. But the number of those people is big enough to consider some steps of changing their position and attitude. (Foner, 2000)


The impact of the Reconstruction Era is indisputable. It was a time of big changes for the country and that defined the further development of the democracy in the USA. However, all of the main aims …

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