Saturday, December 15, 2007

Radical Republican : The better plan

After the war it was time to rebuild the south .Reconstruction resolved the issues of the American Civil War, after the Confederacy was defeated. Reconstruction Was also way addressed how southern states would return to the Union.Violent controversy erupted over how to tackle those issues. By the late 1870s Reconstruction had made some progress to provide the Freedmen with equal rights under the law. Republican leaders agreed that slavery and the Slave Power had to be permanently destroyed, and that all forms of Confederate nationalism had to be suppressed. Moderates said this could be easily accomplished as soon as Confederate armies surrendered and the Southern states repealed secession and ratified the 13 Amendment—all of which happened by September 1865. The only way to resolve these problems were to appoint a effective plan.There were three important plans.These plans were of Lincoln, Johnson ,and the Radical Republicans.Between the three the were similarities and differences. The Most Persuasive was congresses plan. This is due to their the Moral values of the Radical Republicans, Civil Rights Act of 1866, Freedmen's Bureau Bill.



The Radical Republicans is a term applied to a faction of American politicians within the Republican party from about 1854 until after Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln's "too easy" terms for reuniting the United States following the end of the Civil War. Using membership within the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans demanded a more aggressive prosecution of the war, the faster end to slavery and defeat of the Confederacy.During the American Civil War, and later into the first part of Reconstruction, the leading Radicals were Thaddeus Stevens in the House, Charles Sumner in the Senate, and John C. Frémont as the 1864 U.S. presidential candidate of the Radical Republicans. Because they had a majority in Congress, the Republicans pursued impeachment of former southern Democrat Andrew Johnson when he tried to subvert their duly passed legislation.





The Radical Republicans, being a loose variety of republicans, as said before were the Marjory of the government. They believed in ending the war as quickly as possible. In addition ,they also believed in the freedom of slaves and the equal right for blacks.By 1866 the Radical Republicans supported federal civil rights for freedmen. By 1867 they defined terms for suffrage for freed slaves and limited early suffrage for many ex-Confederates. While Johnson opposed the Radical Republicans on some issues, the decisive Congressional elections of 1866 gave the radicals enough votes to enact their legislation over Johnson's vetoes.Eventually Ulysses Grant used Federal power to try to break up the Ku Klux Klan organization.Though this is similar to the other two options the other ones were not as strict.



The Civil Rights Act Of 1866 is a Act suggested by United States legislation that gave further rights to the freed slaves after the end of the American Civil War.The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, saying that blacks were not qualified for United States citizenship.The Republicans in congress overrode the presidential veto on April 9, 1866. The act declared that all people born in the United States were citizens of the United States. Such citizens were of every race and color and without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real estate and personal property. Persons who denied these rights to former slaves were guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction faced a fine of $1,000 and or imprisonment not exceeding one year.


The Freedmen's Bureau Bill was the government oriented authorization for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands . Its aim was to provide assistance to the emancipated blacks of the South after the American Civil War. Originally created for one year, the bureau was continued in 1866 by Congress overriding the veto of President Andrew Johnson and extended. The bureau took responsibility for furnishing food and medical supplies to blacks, most of whom were destitute, and to needy whites as well. It was also concerned with the regulation of wages and working conditions of blacks, the establishment and maintenance of schools for illiterate former slaves, and the control and distribution of lands abandoned by or confiscated from Southern proprietors. In addition, the bureau handled legal trials involving blacks. The lands controlled by the bureau, totaling about 800,000 acres, were originally intended to be distributed to former slaves and to persons of proved loyalty to the Union, in lots not exceeding 40 acres. Most of the activities of the bureau were ended in 1869, except for the educational program, which continued in effect until 1872 and effected the most significant achievements of the agency.



The Radical Republicans were effective in their campaign. Compared to the other plans theirs were stricter towards the southerner. Furthermore they also helped freed slave build a home for themselves. Though they might have not favored black, their goals ended the war and slavery. In addition, to that they united the "Whole" united states of America .

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Were the grassrootts movements in the Age of Reform success full in acheive theier goal.

In the nineteenth century a wave of Change was sweeping over America . The wave was called the Age of Reform. The Age of Reform was a social movement that would gradually change aspects of society.There were individual parts of the the movement . One was women's rights which began at the Seneca Falls Convention. Another was the abolition of slavery which would spark the civil war. Education reform also was a part of it.Horace Mann, goals were a more relevant curriculum and more accessible education.Lastly was Prison reform, which consisted of humiliation ,physical abuse.The Age of Reform was success full in achieve all their goals . This is due to the fact that everyone is prospering from the benefits today. these changes lie within women's rights, abolition, public education and prison reform.

In the ninteenth century women didnt have meany rights. They couldnt vote and it was unlady like to hold a job.Thier place was at home which created the ideaology " the cult of domesticity".Women were put in the center of the domestic sphere, and were expected to be a calm and nurturing mother, a loving and faithful wife, to be passive and delicate creature. These women were also expected to be pious and religious, teaching those around them by their Christian beliefs. Most importantly, these women were expected to unfailingly inspire and support their husbands. Soon many women started to follow the movements.During the mid-1800s Dorothea Dix was a leader in the movements for prison reform and for providing mental-hospital care for the needy.Women in the United States during the 19th century organized and participated in a great variety of reform movements to improve education, to initiate prison reform, to ban alcoholic drinks, and, during the pre-Civil War period, to free the slaves. Soon women were welcomed into the working world. Many were made factory girls sewing hats and weaving cloths. This helped and also lead to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution when omen were allowed to vote, it was ratified in 1920.



The second movement was the Abolition movement.Abolitionism is a political movement that seeks to end the practice of slavery and the worldwide slave trade. It began during the period of the 2nd Enlightenment and grew in Europe and United States during the 19th century.All of the states north of Maryland began gradually to abolish slavery between 1781 and 1804.Throughout the first half of the 19th century, a movement to end slavery grew in strength throughout the United States. This struggle took place amid strong support for slavery among white Southerners, who profited greatly from the system of enslaved labor. These slave owners began to refer to slavery as the "peculiar institution" in a defensive attempt to differentiate it from other examples of forced labor.there were many abolitionist. such as Fredrick duglous who was african american and Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowewho wrote Uncle Toms Cabin.After 1830, a religious movement led by William Lloyd Garrison declared slavery to be a personal sin and demanded the owners repent immediately and start the process of emancipation. The movement was highly controversial and was a factor in causing the American Civil War.


The next movement was Education. Educaion was maily from first till eighth . After that children would start to work.Education reformers such as Horace Mann of Massachusetts began calling for public education systems for all. Upon becoming the secretary of education in Massachusetts in 1837, Mann helped to create a statewide system of "common schools," which referred to the belief that everyone was entitled to the same content in education. These early efforts focused primarily on elementary education.Another refoemer is Noah Websterwas an American textbook author, spelling reformer, political writer, word enthusiast, and editor.His Blue-backed Speller books taught five generations of children in the United States how to spell and read, and his name became synonymous with "dictionary", especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.The most important recent reform in America's education system came under the No Child Left Behind Act 2002.


The last reform is Prison Reforem . During the nineteenth century prisons were worse then today.The officers would humilliate the inmates for laughs.Sometime they were physically abused.These reformer wanted to get better conditions for the inmates. Another thing was for better health services.In the early 1900s Samuel June Barrow was a leader in prison reform.He was the American representative to the International Prison Congress of 1895, 1900, and 1905, at which he was elected to serve as president of the 1910 congress.


The Age of reform set a course for each of these movements.It gave women the right to be equal. It started a civil war, but freed the slaves . It also helped to further educationfor all.With out the Age of reform the american soceity would not have evolved into what it is today.