The Cool Pt. 2

Recently, in Mrs. Garber's class we have been learning about the Reconstruction after the Civil War. The Reconstruction lasted from 1865(end of civil war) to 1877. After the Civil War, the politicians had an objective to reunite the country back together. There were many attempts to forge the country back together. Many politicians such as Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the Radical Republicans had their own Reconstruction plans.

Abraham Lincoln made Reconstruction plans before the Civil War ended. His plans consisted of many gratifying ideas. His plan included pardons and statehood from the confederate . Abraham Lincoln also wanted to endorse the Thirteenth Amendment(which ended slavery). He also wanted to veto the Wade-Davis bill. In behalf of Lincoln's death, his plans for Reconstruction was unachieved.

Due to Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson was accountable for reconstructing the country back together. In Andrew Johnson's plan he included to ratify the 13th amendment also. He also wanted the states to write a new constitution. Andrew Johnson's plans were unsuccessful. As a result of Andrew Johnson's failing plans, Rutherford B. Hayes impeached Andrew Johnson.

The Radical Republicans also set plans to Reconstruction. Their plans consisted of the Fourteenth Amendment which included citizenship clause, equal protection clause, and due process clause. They also included the Fifteenth Amendment which included all citizens the right to vote. The Radical Republicans also wanted to remove former confederates from the Congress.

After the Civil War, the Reconstruction did a good and bad job. For over 10 years after the Civil War, many gains were made, black politicians were elected into office, schools were composed, and more teachers were trained. But after Reconstruction, many bad things were also developed such as KKK(Ku Klux Klan). Overall, I think the Reconstruction was evened out with bad and good outcomes.

Honors-U.S History

So far as of October 1st, 2008, I learned an abundant amount of information in U.S History class. Being in the last group to blog I had myriad choices to blog about. After learning all the things in class, what interested me the most was the Freedman's Bureau. It interested me the most because it composed many schools and helped out a lot in education. If this Bureau wasn't created, it would provide a harder time for learning due to packed classrooms.

On March 3rd, 1865, the Freedman's Bureau was established by the Congress. This was right before the end of the Civil War. The Freedman's Bureau was only supposed to last one year but on July 16th, 1866, the Congress extended the life of the Bureau over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. This Bureau was targeted to help poor whites, refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands.

Major General Oliver O. Howard, was the commissioner of the Bureau(under the war department). The ambition of the Bureau was to provide healthcare, establish schools, food, economize abandoned property and restricted property, and etc. The Bureau replenished over 1,000 schools and also black colleges were made and financed with the assistance of the Bureau. They also created teacher-training institutions. The Bureau did an adequate job for education.

Although the Bureau was successful in education, they had some downfalls too. The Bureau failed to help out in land management. The Bureau gave 850,000 acres of desolated land to the freedmen but President Andrew Johnson refunded the land back to the Confederate owners. Since they failed, in giving land to freed men they're back up plan was to help freedmen gain work. They tried to encourage the freedmen to work on plantations but it instead led to tenancy arrangements and cruel sharecropping.

If this Bureau wasn't created a lot of things wouldn't exist. Think about all the black inventors that wouldn't have existed because they had no education. We wouldn't have half the stuff we use everyday in life. For example, the light bulb that was created by Lewis Latimer would also not exist. The Freedman's Bureau contributed a lot to the education branch.