Why did Northern support for Reconstruction fade? Check all of the boxes that apply. Northerners were tired of spending resources on the South. Northerners became more attracted to the Democratic Party. Northerners did not support civil rights for African Americans. Northerners believed US troops should be removed. Northerners believed that the South would never change.

Social Studies · High School · Thu Feb 04 2021

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Northern support for Reconstruction faded for several reasons:

1. **Northerners were tired of spending resources on the South:** After the devastation of the Civil War, reconstructing the South was an expensive endeavor, and many Northerners grew weary of the ongoing costs. They became increasingly reluctant to invest further, especially as economic concerns, such as the Panic of 1873, affected the whole country.

2. **Northerners became more attracted to the Democratic Party:** As time passed, some of the unity in the North that had been forged by opposition to the Confederacy during the Civil War began to erode. The Republican Party, which led Reconstruction, faced challenges and dissent from within, and some Northerners began to drift toward the Democratic Party, which was largely opposed to Reconstruction policies.

3. **Northerners did not support civil rights for African Americans:** Although there was significant support for African American rights immediately after the war, over time, many Northerners began to lose interest in the civil rights agenda. Prejudice and racism still persisted in the North, and as the initial fervor of the Civil War faded, some Northerners became indifferent to the plight of African Americans in the South.

4. **Northerners believed US troops should be removed:** The continued military occupation of the South was a contentious issue. Many people in the North began to feel that it was inappropriate to keep troops stationed in the South indefinitely and that the time had come to restore self-government to the Southern states.

5. **Northerners believed that the South would never change:** There was a growing perception that despite the efforts of Reconstruction, the South was resistant to change, particularly regarding racial equality and civil rights. This led some to conclude that further efforts at Reconstruction were futile.

Extra: Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877, during which the United States attempted to address the issues arising from the end of slavery and to integrate the Southern states back into the Union. Reconstruction included significant political changes, like the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and protected the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

However, the process was deeply complex and fraught with conflict. Economic interests, political factionalism, racial prejudice, and differing ideologies about governance and civil rights all contributed to the eventual waning of Northern support. As Northern attention turned to other domestic concerns, Southern white conservatives—often called "Redeemers"—regained power and implemented laws and practices that effectively disenfranchised African Americans and established a system of racial segregation known as "Jim Crow" that would last for almost a century until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

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