Recostruction Era and African American Integration

Many Americans and people around the world remember the Civil War for a number of reasons. Some will argue that Northern victory in the war preserved the world’s first democracy. Others argue that the Civil War did not weaken the United States; it merely exposed the flaws in government and where it could be made stronger henceforth. Often, many forget that the Civil War affected the fate of nearly four million Americans, or slaves, as they were then labeled. The leaders of the Reconstruction were tasked with piecing a nation back together while keeping the idea of justice in mind. The Reconstruction had a somewhat successful beginning but unfortunately its potential in integrating freedmen into Southern society was never fully realized. Subsequently, African Americans, specifically southern African Americans, truly lost the American Civil War. The Southern Restoration undid the work of the Reconstruction, eventually pushing African Americans to the brinks of southern politi cs where they would remain until the late twentieth century. The leaders of Reconstruction made progress in offering African Americans a standard of education essential for furtherance of slaves. The Civil War turned Southern society, for nearly 250 years Black slaves had been enslaved and now they were free. Even more drastically, the tradition of Southern aristocracy was destroyed, physically, politically and even economically. The first years of the Reconstruction were actually successful; in 1867