This thesis focuses on the period of American history called American Reconstruction. It begins with the abolition of slavery, which had to happen for the Union to be able to win the American Civil War, as well as the first glimpses of reconstruction policy during the course of the aforementioned civil war itself. Then it delves into the period following the Civil War, namely presidential Reconstruction led by Andrew Johnson, the highly racist and incapable president, who replaced Lincoln. At the same time, it focuses on the socio-political tensions occurring between the Radical Republicans, the black freedmen and their supporters on one side, and the reactionary forces of the South, which were supported by the president, on the other. The study proceeds to continue on its journey through the fall of Johnson’s administration and the introduction of the most revolutionary part of Reconstruction, wherein the Republican majority in the U.S Congress succeeds in passing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, thus guaranteeing basic civil rights for the black population of America. Democratic state-governments, consisting of black freedmen, investors from the north (‘carpetbaggers’), and loyal southern (‘scallywags’) are formed in the ex-Confederate south. Despite the undeniable and awe-inspiring accomplishments brought on by this temporary cross-racial democracy, the para-military and general violence propagated by reactionary persons and institutions of the south, namely the Ku-Klux Klan, the ‘White League’ etc., and the unwillingness of the Northern Elite to finance and support democracy in the South, produced a mountain too high and vast for the progressive coalition of Reconstruction to conquer. The dissertation concludes, much like Reconstruction itself did, with the so-called ‘Compromise of 1877’, i.e. with the withdrawal of Federal troops from Southern soil, the defeat of the advocates and ideologues of Reconstruction and lastly, with the introduction of all-societal segregation in the south. The objective is to present the processes of revolution and counter-revolution during the period of American Reconstruction and to showcase how the reborn reactionary south, combined with help from conservative elements in the north, succeeded in defeating the cross-racial democratic working-class alliance, thus resulting in the defeat of Reconstruction and the beginning of segregation.
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