Reconstruction • noun • (ree-kuhn-struhk-shuhn)
Definition: the era and process of remaking America into an equitable society
Origin: American English
The referencing of Reconstruction—the era in America after the Civil War when the North attempted to reconstruct the South into a racially equitable society—has increased exponentially following the attack on the Capitol on January 6.
During Reconstruction, it was common for white militias in the South composed of former Confederates to attack government buildings after the Democrats (who supported slavery) lost an election. The new southern coalition of freed Black voters and progressive white Americans who aligned with the Republican party used democracy to challenge white supremacy, and when democracy prevailed, racist white Southerners implemented terror to destroy our democracy and sustain white supremacy. January 6 echoed the terror of the past, and now Americans needed to use the language of Reconstruction to understand the present.
But as Americans begin to reference this era, we must ensure that a clear understanding of this era is relayed to the public. The linguistic battle over the meaning of “Reconstruction” has shaped American life for over a century, and we can ill-afford to succumb to the physical, linguistic, and ideological battles of the past.
Reconstruction After Abolition
From before the founding of America, people of color have worked to abolish slavery. These attempts at abolition manifested as running away from a slave owner, attempting slave rebellions, finding ways to earn money so that you could eventually purchase your freedom, and even using the courts to prevent an unlawful enslavement. For people of color, abolition has been the primary driving force of our lives in America. Our abolitionist movement precedes the era that started around the 1830s known as the abolitionist movement. During this era, white Americans began to join with Black Americans to abolish slavery. The coupling of Black and white Americans to push for abolition dramatically expedited the abolitionist movement in America.
By 1854, the abolitionist Republican Party had formed, and six years later, Abraham Lincoln became America’s first Republican president. The Republican Party was created as a response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that allowed the new American territories to decide if they were going to be free or slave holding based on the popular vote of each territory.
This argument of “territory rights” made it possible to expand slavery into the new territories and the Republican Party was formed to prevent this immoral application of terrority rights, which echoes the states’ rights arguments today.
Lincoln’s presidency demonstrated to the South that the White House opposed slavery, and soon thereafter the Civil War began. The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the Union’s victory in 1865, and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 equated to the culmination of the abolitionist movement. Slavery had been legally abolished in America, the states that defended slavery defeated, and now during Reconstruction, America committed itself to remaking the South to exist as a racially equitable democracy, and not just a society without slavery.
Abolition is a necessary reaction to an unjust system, but the complexity of abolition does not reside within the desire to end wrongful (problematic, oppressive) structures. When abolition prevails, you now have to figure out how to make a new society. Reconstruction is the stage that comes after abolition succeeds.
Reconstructing the Narrative
The era of Reconstruction only lasted from 1865 to 1877. Of the significant eras of the United States, Reconstruction is definitely the shortest, and its brevity is due to its commitment to codifying racial equality. From the beginning of Reconstruction, former Confederates worked to undermine any attempts at reconstructing the South. Additionally, they also proclaimed the necessity of pardoning former Confederates in order to keep the peace. The South pleaded for mercy and pardons in the name of peace, and once the Union fell for this ruse, Southerners used their new freedoms to wage terror.
For the entirety of this era, racist Southerners terrorized Black and white Americans who worked to reconstruct the South, so that they could reclaim political control of the region. The Ku Klux Klan and many other white supremacist militias were formed during Reconstruction, but they did not exist solely to wage terror. They existed to win back control of the South, so their terror also consisted of voter suppression and attempted coup d’etats to forcefully remove Republican politicians from power.
The attack on our Capitol on January 6 was a failed coup d’etat, and Republican officials are already proclaiming the necessity of not prosecuting Donald Trump and other co-conspirators in order to keep the peace and unify the nation. The language of today is the same as 150 years ago. We need to know that excusing white supremacist terror did not cultivate peace. It only brought more violence and prematurely ended America’s first attempt at making a racially equitable society.
By condoning terrorism, America made it easier for the white terrorists to win. Reconstruction ended in 1877, when President Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to remove federal troops from the South. Once the military was removed Republicans in the South no longer had any protection from the white militias, so terror triumphed over democracy.
After Reconstruction ended, the South began remaking the narrative of the South and Reconstruction to present the racist Southerners as the heroes, and everyone who championed racial equality as incompetent, corrupt, and evil.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee became a brilliant military strategist, and Ulysses S. Grant, who was president for eight years during Reconstruction, became an alcoholic, corrupt president, and a brutal military leader. According to this false narrative, Reconstruction failed not because of white terror, but because of the supposed incompetence of Black people who were not ready for democracy. The fact that hundreds of Black Americans held office from the local to federal level had effectively been erased from American history.
For over a century, Americans have been taught that our most progressive era failed because of the incompetence of white progressives and people of color. Due to this propaganda Americans struggle to both imagine the terror our society can wage when racial equality becomes possible and the transformational potential we have to reconstruct a more just and equitable America.
We all must commit ourselves to creating and sustaining a second American Reconstruction.