The Failure of Reconstruction
A Document-Based Question
by Kathleen Burrell
HIST 530A, Fall 2002
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Historical Context:
After the Civil War the nation had about four million newly freed slaves.
The victorious Union was faced with the extraordinary task of protecting
the new freedmen's rights of citizenship. First, the former Confederacy
was divided into five military districts. Then amendments were passed to
protect freed people's natural rights. Southern states were not pleased,
and made compromises were in order to rid themselves of these "military
dictatorships."
By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had
ratified these amendments and were readmitted into the Union.
Reconstruction ended
in 1877 with the removal of Union troops from Confederate territory. After
Southern state governments were restored, the citizenship rights of the
freedmen declined. Soon these former slaves were once again in servitude;
this time through a system of state-enforced segregation and
discrimination.
Question: Why is the South's Reconstruction considered a
failure?
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