The+Avengers



The Avengers sought not to avenge, but rather to strike a balance between the demands of both the North and South. We attempted to pacify both sides, however the losing side of a conflict must make more concessions. As a result, our Reconstruction plan very slightly favors the North, while still providing for the South in a way to help them rebuild. Our primary goal was to unify the North and South together into one nation and give the former slaves the tools to help them start their lives as citizens or the United States of America. We wished to prevent poll taxes and the riding of the Ku Klux Klan. Time was also set aside for Southerns to recover, rebuild their homes and businesses, etc. The purpose of these measures is to lessen conflict, not inflame. Finding the perfect combination of punishing and forgiving when dealing with the ex-confederates was not a simple task. There are no easy answers, but we believe we came up with a solution that will not cause an unreasonable amount of hard feelings between the North and the South. We agreed that the best possible way to deal with this is to let all soldiers go free. Like everyone else in the South, they will not be expected to pay any taxes for five years as we work on repairing their economy. The only people in the army that are being held responsible for their actions are the generals of the confederate army. The Supreme Court will put them through very public trials, trying them for their war crimes. These generals will be used as an example for the rest of the South. Also, anyone with the rank captain or above will be facing minor consequences for their assistance in leading the rebel army. They will not be able to hold any public office for the remainder of their life. Finally, all members of the presidential cabinet of the confederacy will be exiled from the country never to return.
 * What should be done to the ex-Confederates? **

In order to protect the Freedman's newly acquired rights the Avengers have decided to enforce the following. We suspect (with good reason) that the southerners will try to make it impossible for the blacks to vote with underhanded ways such as making them read a paragraph of some esteemed poet or prove their lineage. So in order to prevent this we suggest that the generous volunteers who have bravely volunteered their time to educate the underprivileged freed slaves be put in charge of the polls to vote. If any threat to them is issued, then Union troops will be present at the polls to make sure that all free men will be able to practice their rights to vote. If any freedmen or woman reports a threat, or action of violence taken against them the Union troops will conduct an investigation, and if need be move their post closer to the town itself in order to respond in a more timely fashion to violent action or threats against the freedmen.
 * What should be done in order to to protect the Freedman's Rights?**

When presented with this question one's mind wanders to think what is required to do the two things put into question: voting and holding office in Southern States. Also, even more importantly so, one thinks who would be fit to vote and hold office? Voting is something that every male citizen, white, black or otherwise, should be given the right to do. Although women are completely and totally capable of voting intelligently, changing too much at once in the reconstruction of this nation would just be too much of a shock to the country, both North and South. Holding office is a different story. This position requires a great deal of intelligence and a recently released slave who still can't read this plan that I'm writing, let alone any other bill or law, simply does not have the necessary education. However, if a black freedmen can prove his literacy and a basic understanding of arithmetic he should be given the right to be in State governments. The Confederate leaders: President, Vice president, military officials higher than the rank of Captain should not be allowed to run for any government position. This is not meant to oppress the Southerners and control their government, it is meant to show them that they have lost the war so they must have some, but not all rights relinquished for at least some period of time.
 * Who should be able to vote and hold office in the new Southern state governments?**

Reconstruction is supposed to have the least amount of conflict as possible since enough conflict has happened in the war beforehand. In order to cause the least amount of conflict regarding readmitting the Confederate states back into the Union as possible the Confederate states will be reinstated with full rights and representation immediately. As Abraham Lincoln said, "The South never seceded." The South never legally left the Union in the first place, so they should have just as much representation in the government as did before, just by different people. Confederate leaders: President, Vice President and military leaders ranked captain or above should not be able to represent the southern state in the house of representatives. The South will gain more representatives in the house since the black population counts as 5/5 of its value rather than 3/5 of its value, but the representation by non confederate leaders should create a balance between Republican and Democratic representation.
 * What requirements must be met before states regain full rights and representation? **

As for the topic of Southern reconstruction, we all agree that the South should pay equal taxes with their Northern brothers. However we must allow them ample time to recover from Sherman's victorious march that left a vicious trail of destruction all through out the South. So in order to give the South the time to rebuild and restart, we propose that the South be allowed to rebuild their homes, farms, and ways of life for five years tax free, they will not pay for the simple reason that they will have almost no money up to that point, then hopefully there will be a decent amount of currency circulating through the South, which will allow them to pay taxes. After the five years the South will be expected to pay taxes to speed along the reconstruction of their country. Which, with its modernization will allow all of the South to move goods, products, and news far faster and far more effectively.
 * How should we manage Reconstruction in the South?**

There will be troops stationed throughout the South to provide assistance at the polls, and to protect the rights of the freedmen until the South can accept them. Troops will also be there to prevent violence from arousing, and will generally serve as federally backed law enforcers. There will not be a Union officer around every corner, but their presence will be known, in order to keep the South from slipping back into old habits. People need to know that the Union, and freedmen, will be protected lest they feel the need to revolt.
 * What role should Union troops play in policing, governing, or rebuilding the South? **

Our goals were to create civil liberties for the new freedmen and prevent them from being restricted. The most important aspect was to do it in a way that was reasonable for the South and to explain all expectations. Under this plan the nation should be able to reunite and move forward into the twentieth century.

Comment: Nice ideas! It was really well thought through, and I liked how you balanced re-unification for the Union and concessions for the South. I do, however, have a few quick questions for you.

With regards to the economy, how does not paying taxes help boost the economy? Wouldn’t increased revenue stream help funnel money through the government to rebuild the nation’s economy as a united and integrated nation and rebuild national infrastructure? I’m not advocating raising taxes exponentially because I do understand that people, especially those in the South, were struggling economically, but it almost appears we are giving them a free pass because they lost their money and their currency lost it’s value. Since the goal is reunification, would it make sense if all resources are pooled and then money from the government goes to rebuilding the South? Besides, if we allow them to control the recovery of their own economy, wouldn’t it be feasible to assume that they might not diversify, but only rebuild their system of agriculture? Just a thought!

Also, I like your idea of having a military presence to protect Freedmen and their new rights.

With regards to granting Southern states their full rights and representation as soon possible, I disagree. Historically speaking, when the South was treated leniently, they blatantly disregarded the rules that the Union did put in place. The South may never have seceded legally, but they still attempted to leave the Union, whether the Union recognized it or not. I understand your point about the shifting representation of the South when the Freedmen are counted as whole people, but just because ex-Confederate leaders can’t be leaders, does that necessarily mean that elected leaders will not hold those same viewpoints? Can we expect the South to suddenly be okay with Union opinions when they held opposing viewpoints for so long? Does leniency change behavior?

Kendall