What caused Southenr dissent in 1865?

Two areas seem to raise above others when looking at the years of "reconstruction."

First the rise of the KKK. The KKK did not have the public stigma it obliges in the national media of today. The KKK emerged as a continued struggle against the policies and practices of the northern need for the south to be punished for the war.

Had the north not "punished" the south, the backlash and hurt that is still felt would have given over to grief rather than anger. Repentance rather than resistance.

So to answer your OP, I would suggest it is the "other."

Not "3," because the army occupation of the south by the north was as it was before the war. Military bases have always been a part of the strategic layout of the US.

Not "2," because the northern need to "punish" the south basically drove the dissident blacks back to cooperating with the whites so that both could survive.

Not "1," because the south had been demoralized. The "anger" was more directed at the burdensome "punishment" following the war than the loss of the war. Throughout the south, the veterans went back to trying to make ends meet and support their families. But the north wanted more. They wanted the south punished and humiliated.

It was that aspect in which the south rebelled the first time, and the south has continued to this day to rebel against the north imposing unfair laws and practices upon the south.

So it must be number "4" - other.

Good question!

 

Good response agedman. I would have picked #4. The South was treated harshly by the Yankee government and then there were the Carpetbaggers.

 

The Northern Unions being hired to build the Southern railroads, certainly did not help.