Talk:Reconstruction era/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Seraphim System (talk · contribs) 06:02, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

This is a major article and a long review so I expect it will be open for a while, if any other editors want to comment or offer input, that would be very welcome. The lede needs to be revised significantly, and the ideas in it connected to one another. The first two paragraphs are a bit overwhelming and the paragraphs seem disconnected from one another. Consider breaking this up to keep it as simple as possible. Try to make it clear when these events are happening. One issue I see is that the "Dating the Reconstruction Era" section is completely unsourced. It, and our lede, says Reconstruction began in 1865 in some parts of the country. Our lede says Reconstruction in the South began in 1863. However, the section says Reconstruction in the North also began in 1863. Clearing this up would help us get started. Seraphim System ( talk ) 06:02, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

I don't think the article can be passed this round. Writing a lede section for an article of this length and breadth is challenging. I have recommended peer review and GOCE (to address the question of the lede in particular.) There are also problems with references. At least one section is entirely unreferenced, and several paragraphs have no references. I would recommend peer review before re-nominating. I could not find any edits to the article by the nominator, so this is a reminder that nominators who are not significance contributors to an article should discuss the nomination with the regular editors on talk. I was unable to find any discussion about the nomination on talk. (See Good_article_nominations/Instructions)

1a: While much of the prose is well-written, there are still a few problems that need to be cleaned up. Here is an incomplete list:
 * " By fall 1865, the new President Andrew Johnson declared the war goals of national unity and the ending of slavery achieved and reconstruction completed. "
 * "Republicans in Congress, refusing to accept Johnson's lenient terms, rejected new members of Congress, some of whom had been high-ranking Confederate officials a few months before."
 * "The 1866 Congressional elections turned on the issue of Reconstruction, producing a sweeping Republction hican victory in the North, and providing the Radical Republicans with sufficient control of Congress to override Johnson's vetoes and commence their own "Radical Reconstruction" in 1867"
 * Consider merging Purpose/Overview sections - the lede should probably be the "overview for the article" most articles do not need a dedicated summary section in addition to the lede
 * Some of the information in Restoring the South to the Union could be merged into the Background section. Same with the material devastation section.

1b: discussed issues with lede above, would recommend peer review, copy-editing and discussion with regular editors at the talk page before re-nominating. Consider adding the Ten Percent Plan to the lede.

2b: There is at least one citation needed tag, and here is a non-exhaustive list of unreferenced statements currently in the article:
 * "The army conducted new elections in which the freed slaves could vote, while whites who had held leading positions under the Confederacy were temporarily denied the vote and were not permitted to run for office."
 * Entire Dating the Reconstruction Era section
 * "A deep national economic depression following the Panic of 1873 led to major Democratic gains in the North, the collapse of many railroad schemes in the South, and a growing sense of frustration in the North."
 * "President Grant used federal power to effectively shut down the KKK in the early 1870s, though the other, smaller, groups continued to operate. From 1873 to 1877, conservative whites (calling themselves "Redeemers") regained power in the Southern states. They joined the Bourbon wing of the national Democratic Party."
 * "Passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments is the constitutional legacy of Reconstruction. These Reconstruction Amendments established the rights that led to Supreme Court rulings in the mid-20th century that struck down school segregation. A "Second Reconstruction", sparked by the Civil Rights Movement, led to civil rights laws in 1964 and 1965 that ended segregation and re-opened the polls to blacks."

3b: Is it focused, without unecessary detail? I think this can be improved on. These are only suggestions:
 * The material devastation section has a high level of quantitative detail. I think some of this could be trimmed without having a detrimental effect on the article. The section heading could be more neutral, and consider whether this could be merged with other sections.
 * "The end of the Civil War was accompanied by a large migration of new freed people to the cities.[19] In the cities, African Americans were relegated to the lowest paying jobs such as unskilled and service labor. Men worked as rail workers, rolling and lumber mills workers, and hotel workers. The large population of slave artisans during the antebellum period had not been translated into a large number of freemen artisans during Reconstruction.[20] Black women were largely confined to domestic work employed as cooks, maids, and child nurses. Others worked in hotels. A large number became laundresses. The dislocations had a severe negative impact on the black population, with a large amount of sickness and death" - not clearly related to material devastation of the South.
 * consider reducing the number of subheadings - for example "loyalty" Perhaps reorganize to include a section on the Wade Davis bill instead.

Seraphim System ( talk ) 09:17, June 2017 (UTC)

Citation format
I notice you have a mix of citation styles. While standard citation is not a requirement to pass GA, I would still suggest it as an overall improvement to the article. Would this be a problem? Seraphim System ( talk ) 06:13, 17 June 2017 (UTC)