The Failure Of Reconstruction In The United States

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Even though Reconstruction seemed like it would benefit the nation as a whole it ended up being a disappointment and did not benefit the country in a productive way. When Reconstruction ended, many of its goals were left unaccomplished. Three amendments were passed but not followed. The 13th amendment abolished slavery but the former slaves found themselves exploited by sharecropping which was basically a legal form of slavery that kept blacks tied to land owned by rich white famers. The 14th amendment granted full citizenship to former slaves but they still did not achieve complete equality. Even though the government banned discrimination the deep prejudice against blacks persisted. For example a series of laws called Black Codes allowed the southerners to have substantial control over free slaves.…show more content…
The 15th amendment granted former male slaves the right to vote but they could not afford it because of the taxes set by the state government forcing African Americans to pay to vote. Those that could afford it were forced to take literacy tests that were set up to make them fail. They were also threatened by terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan if they attempted to vote. Reconstruction was unsuccessful in more ways than one. It led to economic depression and scandal and also produced a legalized form of slavery. However, the most important way that it failed was in its ultimate goal of granting full equality to African Americans. Reconstruction was a disappointment to most political leaders since it did not benefit the country the way it had intended to and that is a
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