Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

Rachel George
Mr. Johnson
APUSH
18 January 2018
To what extent can Reconstruction be considered both a success and a failure?
Reconstruction was the Union’s plan to finally bring the South back after the Civil War. During this time of Reconstruction, African Americans were said to be free through a number of amendments and acts. Although constitutional amendments ended slavery and restored the Union, many promises to the African Americans were not kept. The Civil War ended in 1865 with a victory led by the Union. The Reconstruction was a time period that lasted from 1865-1877 with a goal to compromise with the Southern states.. This was crucial because the U.S. had to be put back together in order to restore the damage the Civil War had done.

The other goal of Reconstruction was to make freed slaves citizens of the country, however African Americans still faced many challenges.
Reconstruction was a success in that it restored the United States as a unified nation, bringing the Union back together after being separated for four years.

It also enacted the three reconstruction amendments. The 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially outlawed slavery in the U.S. The 14th amendment gave citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. It prohibited local and state governments from depriving a person from their rights to life, liberty, and property. The 15th amendment gave male African Americans and men from any other ethnic group the right to vote. Federal legislation like the Freedmen's Bureau, an organization established by the federal government to provide relief for both blacks and whites who became impoverished because of the Civil War. They did everything from distributing food and clothing to providing education and securing pensions for freed people. The Civil Rights Act was also established to protect the rights of African Americans. All of these things worked to get African Americans back on their feet and attempt to participate equally in the society, economy, and the

government.
Even with amendments and acts that were done to help African Americans, they were still discriminated against by whites. Under President Johnson, whites received civil authority over the blacks in the South. In 1865, southern states passed a series of discriminatory laws against the African Americans called, “Black codes”. Black codes were laws set to restrict colored people from their freedom and to again be in control of African Americans. During this time period, race was determined by blood. The presence of any amount of blood relation to an African American, made one black, so anyone African American or was an African American by blood had to abide to the rules. It restricted them from the rights, starting their own businesses, and having certain jobs. African Americans were forced to sell their services out by the year for little or no money. Even though they were getting paid, they were receiving the lowest pay, and they were treated the same if not worse than when they were slaves. Black codes were also a way to not intermingle colored people with white people, so in a way it was like legal segregation. Anyone who was to violate the black codes were punished or imprisoned.
Black codes soon turned into the Jim Crow laws and took place of black codes, that promoted racial segregation of blacks and whites, but gave blacks equal status.

The conditions of racial segregation to blacks made them inferior in a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages. Blacks and whites were forced to go to seperate public schools, restaurants, restrooms, transportation, and drinking fountains. Even the military was segregated. When comparing the conditions of the places set aside for both the blacks and whites, the conditions for the whites were much nicer. Some laws could get as extreme as fining someone a large amount of money for interracial marriage. The KKK was also a major factor of segregation and racial attacks. The KKK became a group known for resistance to the Reconstruction Era. They are an association of violence directed at African Americans. Their primary goal was to re-establish white superiority. Not only did they kill African Americans, but they also killed, Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and different immigrant

groups.
Overall, Reconstruction failed to change anything about the social system regardless of what was done to help the African Americans. This time period did not make anything better for the African Americans but made it worse with segregation that created new social injustice that lasted for over a century.