The Reconstruction period was a time of great difficulty for the United States. President Andrew Johnson faced the task of reuniting the North and South after the Civil War. Reconstruction was a time when the government thought all people needed human rights, even African Americans. Up until that point, African Americans had no rights. They were still considered less than a full person in a society that proclaimed that all of God's people were created equal. The national debate over Reconstruction began during the Civil War. Laws guaranteeing the rights of African Americans were passed, but they failed dramatically. Reconstruction was definitely a failure due to Jim Crow laws. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay During the era of slavery, most Southern blacks remained in a cycle of poverty that allowed almost no escape. African Americans still lacked property, economic opportunity, and political power. Some former slaves desired to work their own land. The federal government sometimes granted land to blacks. Former slave owners tried to impose indentured labor. But the blacks insisted on sharecropping anyway. Blacks formed the majority of the Republican Party in the South. (Insert more information about the house and convention here) During Reconstruction, segregation was increasingly severe. The South designed black codes to return blacks to semi-slavery. Much violence and discrimination continued on a large scale during Reconstruction. Jim Crow made many contributions to segregation in America. Jim Crow laws legalized segregation and limited the civil rights of blacks. The Northern and federal governments have done little or nothing to prevent these laws. There were secret societies that tried to keep blacks out of political processes and oppress them. These terrorist organizations have also provoked insurgencies against state governments. After the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, the Southern state government and terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan denied African Americans the right to vote. As a result, 187 blacks were lynched every year from 1889 to 1899. Racist attitudes toward African Americans continued, in both the South and the North. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments guaranteed African Americans the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage. African Americans gained the right to testify in court and serve on juries. The Freedmen's Bureau and other organizations helped many black families obtain housing, jobs, and education. With the United States allowing these amendments, African Americans were no longer subjected to the humiliation of Jim Crow laws. Reconstruction in the South was unsuccessful because it failed to give blacks equal rights, and in the end, the South was socially, economically, and politically the same as before the war, if not worse, which concludes that it was completely ineffective. . But despite its overthrow, Reconstruction left an important legacy: a commitment to a republican society based on equality before the law, as exemplified in Reconstruction-era legislation that remained on the books even when unenforced. A century later, during the civil rights movement, Americans, both black and white, would build on that legacy, renewing their fight for equality. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now Reconstruction in the South was unsuccessful because..