Reference no: EM133600123

Question: Discuss the successes and failures of Reconstruction in terms of providing for economic stability in the southern African American community. Eric Foner's R econstruction: The Unfinished Revolution ( 1988) is one of the best assessments of the long-term effectiveness and legacy of Reconstruction. Also look at Foner's Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War (1 980). Have students consider the following questions connected to the debate on land redistribution: a. Did the federal government have an economic or financial responsibility to freedmen after the Civil War? b. How far did the promise of emancipation go? Did it include personal freedom, civil rights, political rights, and economic rights? c. During Reconstruction, even some radical Republicans opposed a federal program guaranteeing property to freedmen-especially if it involved federal confiscation of private property. Why would they oppose such a policy? What traditional American economic and political principles prevented even radical Republicans from supporting a land redistribution policy? d. Was the failure to provide economic security and independence to the freed black population in the South the major downfall of Reconstruction? In spite of traditional American principles, was there anything unique about the ex-slave population and the economic challenges it faced