Wounds that Don't Heal

Although the Civil War has ended with the surrender of Confederate armies, the task of putting North and South back together will not be easy. The fighting has ended, but a chasm of distrust still separates the two regions.

The 12-year period following the war is known to historians as 'Reconstruction,' but this term is misleading. It might more accurately be called the period of attempted reconstruction. Some wounds never heal.

The immediate problem is how to treat Southerners who displayed apparent treason by fighting against the Union during the war. Then comes the question of how the millions of newly-freed Blacks will earn a living.
Reconstruction, 1865-1877

  Ineffective Remedy
Southerners don't suddenly learn to get along with their former slaves. Blacks can now vote, and manage to elect a few members to Congress (left), but former rebels can resume their lives by simply pledging an oath of allegiance to the federal government (right).  Confederate returning to their homes soon find ways to put Blacks back in their place.

Freedmen's Bureau, 1865-1872

  Black Boondoggle?
The Freedmen's Bureau is created to help former slaves adjust to their new freedom (left). It creates schools to help educate Blacks, and provides agents to represent Blacks in negotiations with their former masters. Whites are now required to sign legal contracts for all work, at specified wages. This is tough sledding from the beginning. Whites find that Blacks are now unmanageable, since they can no longer be forced to work. Some former slaves seem to just sit back and bask in their new freedom (right).


First KKK, 1865-1872 map

  White Backlash
Slavery is abolished nationwide in 1865, but ex-Confederates are soon beginning to re-assert their control over Southern states. Northerners, alarmed that the Confederacy might slowly re-emerge, try to prevent this by deploying the Army. Former Confederate states are placed under military rule, which allows Blacks are get elected to state offices, and a few to Congress. This results in the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a secret White society dedicated to preventing Blacks from keeping power (left).