The Successes And Failures Of The Reconstruction Era

The “Reconstruction Era” Is the timeframe in United States history from 1865–1877 that was proceeded by the 1861-1864 Civil War. (* Note: many prominent scholars/historians in the last few decades now believe Reconstruction efforts most likely began during the war approx. 1863.)

By the end of the Civil war, The Northern Union’s Annihilative Stratagems had eradicated southern crop and plantations, and decimated entire cities. The South was engulfed in political Pandemonium, social turmoil , and fiscal Putrefaction. Hyperinflation had precipitated a loaf of bread costing several hundred dollars, and Southerners starved to death by the thousands. Those that managed to not starve did so by relinquishing their homes, property and even clothing for food.
However, despite the monumental accomplishments, reconstruction failed to dismantle the resistance of white supremacy. Numerous white southerners formed vicious organizations such as the White supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, who used violence and intimidation to prevent black from voting as well as the whites advocated for them. Poverty also remained highly prevalent in the south, as they had benefited minimally from industrialization and were primarily still reliant on an “agricultural economy.” The widespread loss of many southerners land consequently created a dependency which precipitated reliance on borrowing and taking out liens just to survive. This reliance facilitated exploitation through sharecropping and tenant farming which created endless debt enslavement. Even worse, in 1890’s The “Jim Crow Laws” disemboweled the decade of Civil rights efforts made by the Radical Republicans by undermining the 14th and 15th amendments as the Supreme Court stipulated that the 14th and 15th Amendments were only applicable at a federal level. This would deprive African Americans of education, and hindered social and economic progression for over half a