Hi /askHistorians,
I'm trying to learn about the differences between the reconstruction in the U.S. after the civil and the reconstruction in the mid 1900's. I'm taking a political science class this semester, and this is the first time that I'm actually being exposed to this information. I recently got curious as to why the first one failed and what caused the second attempt to succeed. We didn't go too deep into the topic.
So far, I know that one of the biggest reason that first one failed was due to the North taking their troops out of the South in the late 1860's, thus losing their ability to make sure that the South honored the 14th, 15th and 16th amendments. Once the North withdrew their troops, the South went back to its old ways of treating blacks as second grade citizens.
The second reconstruction was a success due to several factors. But the biggest reason that I'm aware of is the JFK assassination. Before he got assassinated, JFK was trying very hard to get the Civil Rights Act passed. In the wake of his assassination, LBJ asked the opposition to let the bill pass in honor of JFK.
So this is what I know so far. I know that there are probably a bunch of other reasons as to why the first attempt failed and the second succeeded. Why does /askhistorians think about the matter?
Hmm, the terminology is confusing. The 'Reconstruction Era' ended in the 1870s. There are three discernible phases (Presidential/Congressional/Redemption) of Reconstruction in the 19th century which I'd love to talk about if it would help you for your purposes.
I would argue that (speaking generally) Reconstruction in the 1870s failed was due to a rise in a feeling of nostalgia about the ante-bellum south, race relations turning sour for social and economic reasons (suddenly millions of freedmen are competing for jobs with whites) and the fact that the confederate apologist historians won the battle for historiography. The formed CSA states did all ratify the amendments in order to regain representation in congress and be restored as members of the union, but during Redemption, southern whites hijacked the state legislatures and thus began the era of Jim Crow and the relegation of black freedmen to sharecropping and menial labor. I hope this helped! I'm unfamiliar with referring to the civil rights movement as second reconstruction.