Reconstruction Term Analysis

The period after the end of the Civil War, when the United States government sought to impose order on the former Confederacy, increase loyalty to the Union, and make provisions for freed slaves. Captain Kidd portrays Reconstruction officials, like Davis and Hamilton, as corrupt and inefficient, more interested with enriching themselves than rehabilitating war-torn Southern states. In reality, while some Reconstruction officials were self-serving, the process was also severely impeded by racism and Southern hostility towards the efforts of people they considered outsiders to change their minds. Significant advances in racial equality occurred during Reconstruction, such as the election of African Americans as Southern state legislators. But Northern politicians eventually agreed to halt the process in order to win a national election, making a backroom deal now known as the Hayes-Tilden Deal. State lawmakers then passed laws to disenfranchise African Americans, and the Jim Crow period began. Reconstruction is widely considered a national failure and a missed opportunity to make strides towards equality in the wake of slavery.