Question

Why did the federal government focus more on political change in Reconstruction than economic assistance to freemen and aid for infrastructure in the devastated South (where most battles were fought)?

Answer 1

The widely Republican Senate brought their focus on obtaining African American voters by giving them political power and rights within the South. They felt anger and betrayal from the Southerners who seceded from the Union, and therefore did little to help them during Reconstruction. On top of  that, hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, forced military occupation into the South more than any other type of economic assistance. At the point of the end of Reconstruction, little was accomplished to not only help rebuild the South, but also give African Americans the rights given to them by the end of the Civil War as well as throughout Reconstruction.