Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

I believe that Reconstruction was more of failure than success. After examining these documents, they made me believe that Reconstruction was just a hidden way of slavery. After abolishing slavery, Southerners did many things that makes you think it’s another way of slavery. Sharecroppers went into debt, the Black codes, Jim Crow Laws, the K.K.K, all made it unequal for colored people. Reconstruction was more of a failure for the country by affecting many freemen and it cause a scary era for the country.
Reconstruction was a failure because it affected many freemen. Sharecroppers would go into debt because they would have to buy their own tools and clothes. This would cause the freemens to go into debt. They would lose their jobs

for being in too much debt. With the Black Codes, freemen would get punished for things that whites wouldn’t. Black codes restricted the freedom for freemen because they would have certain rules that whites did not. “ Every negro is to be in the service of (work for) some white person, or former owner.” Negroes would not be allowed to go have meetings in town. If a negro was eating with a white, the negro would get their food AFTER the white. Reconstruction was also the reason on why the group K.K.K was formed. They would go and burn buildings that belonged to negroes or kill them. They would pretend to be ghosts from the war and they would haunt the negroes and write them letters. “They set in and whipped me a thousand licks more, with sticks and straps that had buckles on the ends of them.” The K.K.K would go and whip certain people. Like they did when there was Slavery. If a slave did something wrong, for example, try to escape, they would get whipped. Or worse killed. The K.K.K were groups of people, who never wanted to abolish slavery! They treated freemen like they were still slaves, but they weren’t! Reconstruction was a failure for the states too. Many southerners lost their jobs because they had no slaves to plant their crops. Reconstruction was a fail on the people, but somewhat a successful thing for the government.
During Reconstruction, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were made.

“ Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or and place subject to their jurisdiction”. This is a quote about the thirteenth amendment, which abolished slavery. “ All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside….” This is quoting the fourteenth amendment. It made all colored people rightful citizenship. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude.......” This quote comes from the fifteenth amendment. It gave colored men the right to vote. The amendments were a huge change in Reconstruction. They did give colored people the freedom that they deserved. Even though, many southerners did not follow these amendments,it affected many lives throughout the country. It helped bring peace for the colored as well. All three amendments were able to give some rights to colored people. They never hurt them, but did cause anger to

whites.
In conclusion, Reconstruction was more of a failure then success. It did help rebuild the country after the war, but still made freemen suffer. Southerners put sharecroppers in debt, killed the with the K.K.K, and hurt them with many laws. With all of that, came the amendments. They did bring rights to the negroes. But there was a price to whites. It caused much drama for many people. Separating the negroes and whites will always be a failure to many's’ eyes. Reconstruction was a failure era for the country and will never be a full success