RECONSTRUCTION AND RADICAL Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

RECONSTRUCTION AND RADICAL - Assignment Example Reconstruction, it remains true that Radical Reconstruction was more challenging for the Southern States to fulfill than Presidential and provided more benefit to the freedom. The main reason that rendered Radical Reconstruction more challenging in the Southern States was the ability of the same to undermine the South’s economic and social gains. Specifically, Radical Construction fundamentally demanded the democratization and redrawing of racial relations and the enshrining of these milestones in the constitution. This would mean that the rules that had been enshrined in the Emancipation Proclamation would be upheld and not reversed. Although President Abraham Lincoln had successfully issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, yet there was hope among the Southerners that the legal stipulations thereof could be reversed. As a matter of fact, to underscore the reality of this hope, Southerners had attempted to reverse the Emancipation Proclamation by universally condemning it in the Confederacy and then following this condemnation with legal means (Festle, 2003). Again, Festle (2003) divulges that Radical Reconstruction was viewed as a serious threat to the welfare of the South since it could allow blacks the chance to access educational, economic and educational opportunities as a way of transforming their welfare and the society in which they lived. This according to the Southerners meant that blacks were no longer going to kowtow to white American’s demands and servitude. As if their fears were founded, as the Radical Reconstruction neared its conclusion, African Americans vied for greater freedom and empowerment, while unrelentingly challenging and addressing centuries of anti-black laws and traditions. The foregoing does not downplay the hardship that the South experienced in Presidential Reconstruction. However, compared to Radical Reconstruction, Presidential Reconstruction was a lesser evil. In fact, the President could still be