Was reconstruction a success or failure?
I believe that reconstruction was a success, for the reason that it left the country united and with a sense that something had been accomplished in the South. After the Compromise of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction, the South worked with the North on railroads, telegraph lines, industrialization and turning U.S. into a trade power. It was also a success that the US settled the debate of state's right vs. federalism. President Abraham Lincoln wants it to be an easy, quick, and presidential for the south to come back to the US so he comes up with the 10% plan.
When it comes to African-Americans in the South, I believe there was an effort made after Southern Legislatures passed many laws protecting African-Americans as well as voting for the 13th amend (abolishment of slavery), 14th amend (grants citizenship to former slaves) and 15th Amendments (give black men the right to vote). Also the freeman’s bureau and the civil rights act were important changes during the reconstruction period. They both help progress blacks, the freeman’s bureau by supporting African Americans to work with old plantation owners as employee and employer and not slave and master and the civil rights act which forbade discrimination towards Africans Americans and women. But lacks were still victimized by the KKK and other groups expressing white anger. White southerners also ensured that slaves would not be able to progress by passing various laws such as the black code and creating voter qualifications that most former slaves weren’t able to meet. Although reconstruction had some failures and flaws when it came to the African Americans, it offered the tools for new civil rights movements throughout American history.
In conclusion, I view Reconstruction as a success because it brought the United States together after a brutal war and gave the states the tools for a further Civil Rights movement.