A Nation Rebuilt

2 Pages 583 Words

A Nation Rebuilt?

During the 1870’s, the United States was experiencing a rapid change that would result in failure. The Reconstruction was too early for its nation to experience. Total Corruption occurred which lead to more and more problems. Cheating the government, Crèdit Mobilier, powerless African Americans, postponement of women’s rights, and unhappy workers are examples of the damaged nation. Nearly all of the Unions promises were not met and failed miserably. The Reconstruction of the United States was a failure.
The Reconstruction transformed the nation greatly. Despite all the promises the Union made after the Civil War, not even half were made. The southern states still had their desire for retribution as they watched their plantations crumble, African Americans had to organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan strictly against them while some were still in debt peonage, Radical Republicans were losing power, and Crèdit Mobilier was literally stealing the governments money right out of their pockets.
The Crèdit Mobilier scandal was the most notorious example of corruption involving railroads. It was a dummy corporation created by the stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroiad to oversee construction of the railroad in 1060. Owners of the railroad paid themselves with federal government grants to build their own railroads. Many members of the Congress were in on it. They received shares in return for their acceptance of the scheme. And in result, the United States granted over 100 million acres of federal land and millions of dollars to corporations.
Even so with all the shocking downsides, there were still some greatness in the Reconstruction. African Americans all across the United States were freed guaranteed by documents such as The Freedmen’s Bureau, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Fifteenth Amendment. The rights of the African Americans truly shined in the reconstruction, going from forced labor and sla...