Question

Why were taxes in Southern states raised sometimes four times higher in 1867?

Answer 1

Answer:

Taxes in Southern states raised sometimes four times higher in 1867 because Radical Republicans in Congress passed several laws increasing taxes in order to charge the Southern states with the costs of the Civil War. In addition, they enforced property taxes in states that were not collecting them before the Civil War.

The intention of the Radical Republicans was to finance the high cost of Reconstruction directly from the coffers of those whom they considered to be the only ones responsible for the war: the southern states.

This led the conservative Democrats in the south of the country to reject all kinds of subsequent republican policies, putting enormous obstacles to the development of Reconstruction. In fact, the fact of having increased taxes triggered the general malaise that caused Reconstruction to end 10 years later, due to the lack of collaboration from the population of the south.