Research Paper on:
Reconstruction Period and Social Welfare

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the new kinds of civil wars were the taxpayers and the groups of peoples that the constitution sought to protect; whose only circumstance was that they resided in the South.  In some respects the Civil War never ended, it just changed clothes and the social reforms that were attempted fell far short of the intended mark. From all  documented accounts, the devastation of the countryside in the South did not end with the signing of the Treaty. Guns were laid aside and men went home to their families,  but in the end, a worse war swept into the South, full of empty promises for social reforms, which never materialized. For a good while after the war, the South  was divided into military zones and the citizens lived basically under house arrest. Finally, on March 2, 1867, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act and discontinued martial law in the South.  This opened the door for the carpetbaggers. This was a derogatory euphemism given to those Northerners who came South to take unfair advantage of the state of economic affairs  and the fact that everything was so disorganized. "It was charged by both white Southerners and even some Northerners that these greedy opportunists were self-seeking in their endeavor with  total disregard toward the Southern people and their hardships as a result of the war"(Jennings, 2002). In such an atmosphere, it was highly unlikely that any social reforms would be  forthcoming in the next years. Reform would come, it can be said, but for many it simply did not come soon enough. Politically, it can be said, change was  in the air. After the war, most of Congress seemed in a quandary as to what to do with the conquered southern states. Many said that they should be returned