Reconstruction Interpretations

Question 1

Reconstruction Political Effects
(Continuity & Change)

Answer 1

CONTINUITY:
- North was not harsh on the South: only 1 man was executed, no major confiscation of private property
- Exaggerated ‘carpetbagger’ influence: Northerners didn’t even make up 2% of any state population, not trying to exploit the South
- Political corruption: some Northerners were corrupt and accepted bribes, especially from railway companies
- Democratic dominated states (1869): Tennessee
- Democratic dominated states (1876): Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi
CHANGE:
- Temporary loss of White Southerner power/influence: after 1865, major fall in political influence in US as a whole
- Loss of Southern Political Federal influence (1864-1914): in 50 years, 1 Southern elected president, only 7/31 SC Justices were from the South
- Southern state govs: felt more distant culturally/ politically from gov is Washington DC

Question 2

Reconstruction Political Effects
(Positives & Negatives)

Answer 2

POSITIVES:
- USA industrial power: Reconstruction had a positive effect on the US economy
- Southern economy (1867-1873): South benefitted from general US prosperity and high cotton prices
- Railroad & textiles: railroads were rebuilt and textile manufacturing expanded
NEGATIVES:
- Southern poverty: southern economic expansion didn’t keep pace with the North, South remained economically depressed
- Southern income: 1870- average white Southerner’s income had fallen to 2/5 of a Northerner’s income
- Southern agricultural: South remained predominantly agricultural, cotton plantations
- Cotton prices: glut of cotton in early 1870s led to a sharp fall in prices and even harder times for the workers on the plantations