The Reconstruction: Success or Failure

The Reconstruction of 1865-1877 was a failure for many reasons. Firstly, the Reconstruction could not resolve the main dispute of the Civil War- slavery, which is part of the reason why it was conceived. In a way, the Reconstruction hindered any other serious actions to be taken to get rid of slavery for a very long time because the pride of the whites had been so severely shaken. Second, the Reconstruction was too "beyond its time" so it was illogical to try and in force it, but they tried. Some government leaders believed that African- Americans prevented the US from achieving racial equality and this widely shared mind- set did not help the Reconstruction at all.

The Reconstruction in its entirety achieved very little, nonetheless, it was the first step into achieving racial equality.