why-reconstruction-matters
It
was not economic dependency, however, but widespread violence, coupled
with a Northern retreat from the ideal of equality, that doomed
Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and kindred groups began a campaign of
murder, assault and arson that can only be described as homegrown
American terrorism. Meanwhile, as the Northern Republican Party became
more conservative, Reconstruction came to be seen as a misguided attempt
to uplift the lower classes of society.
One
by one, the Reconstruction governments fell. As a result of a bargain
after the disputed presidential election of 1876, the Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes assumed the Oval Office and disavowed further
national efforts to enforce the rights of black citizens, while white
Democrats controlled the South.
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