How did “Radical Reconstruction” cause Southerners to resent the North long after the Civil War ended?

Answer 1

Radical Reconstruction demanded extreme change in the Southern States. Imagine growing up in the South right before the Civil War. There were roughly four million enslaved people working on acres of cotton fields. Southern living for the wealthy plantations owners relied heavily on chattel slavery. However, at the end of the Civil War and beginning of Radical Reconstruction Republicans were fighting for the equality of all freedmen in the South. This is a hard pill to swallow for Southern Plantations owners. Not only do they feel their constitutional rights were infringed upon, now their livelihood is destroyed. There was also the question of citizenship for those who fought for the Confederate States... should they be considered citizens of the United States? Can they be charged with treason? Imagine these circumstances occurring in a rapid fashion. Again, the South who prided themselves in tradition and values are faced with the destruction of their social, political, and economic customs as the Union ushers in a new era in American History.