Was Reconstruction Ultimately a Success or Failure?
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Was Reconstruction ultimately a success or a failure?
Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War, lasting from 1865-1877, where the government brought back the seceded states and reformed the Union. The government was able to pass the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments (Abolishing slavery, Equal rights, and Voting not based on race) fairly easily, but didn’t accomplish much more than that. Due to this, I share the opinion that Reconstruction was a failure.
The main goal of Reconstruction was to integrate African Americans into society as free people, not as slaves. The Freedman’s Bureau was underfunded, leaving majority of the slaves without help and still stuck in the South. Blacks were unable to get jobs other than sharecropping, which provided very minimal pay. Black codes were restricting former slaves were passed, even though they were unconstitutional. These black codes were no different from the old slave laws, except they replaced the word “slave” with “negro”. After Reconstruction was ended after 12 years, Southern states were able to do whatever they wanted to, and they segregated African Americans from society and made it very difficult for them to vote. Also, Reconstruction failed to help blacks economically. They did not get any of the land they were promised and had to work in conditions little different from slavery.
While the country was reunited, the South was in terrible shape. Reconstruction was supposed to help repair the South, as it was in ruins following the Civil war. It was also supposed to help the South economically. The agriculture of the South failed to recover quickly, even though there were many workers, such as the now free slaves who were sharecropping. Also, the industrial development could not take off because Southerners lacked money to invest in industries.