blog #2..10/14

In class we are now talking about the reconstruction after the civil wat. After the civil war there were many changes. Some of these changes were things that needed to be done and some were things that we had no say in. I personally think that if Lincoln had not been assasinated that the reconstruction would have been very different. It was obviouse that altough running mates Johnson and Lincoln both had very different views.

When Lincoln was assasinated it left Johnson in charge. This was not a good move for the now U.S. Johnson did not support the Freedmen’s Bureau. Althroughout his presedency he abused his presidential powers. He even tryed to vetoe bills by congress. In March 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, even though Johnson vetoed the bill, the republican party overroad his vetoe. This act gave blacks full citenzenship, and ended the black codes.

After johnson attempted to vetoe this act his true intentions showed. I personally think that depending on your views on racism and segregation Johnson had the potential of being a good president, as well as bush today. I think that he is categorized as a poor president because of the choices he made. But the time of reconstruction was a hard time. this time brought on a lot of pressure to everyone starting new lives, esp freedmen and a President.

The easy part of the civil war was to fight and destroy. The hard part was restoring peace. After you have brung so much destuction to a place and peoples life you cant expect to throw jobs and a couple of dollars and call it fixed. Just as the reconstruction in iraq is taking a lot of effort so did reconstructing the south. I believe that the reconstruction in iraq is also failing. Whether it be because i dont believe war solves anything and only makes things worse i dont believe in it.

What if Lincoln had not been assasinated? I think that if he was the president in charge of reconstruction, the justice that we have acheived now may have been acheived a long time a go. What if kerry had one over bushes reelection, do you think the war on Iraq would have turned out different? Or even if bush never came in office and edwards was president, Would there have really been a September 11?