It is without question that at the end of the civil war the north claimed complete victory over the south; but as to the reconstruction of the south the north’s losses are characterized by missed opportunities to create equality and stability for all of the citizens of the south. It is a wonder that the death of one man, president Lincoln, could radically change the destiny of so many. Had he lived the north’s victory over the south might have been succeeded by a victory for all of the south’s citizens economically, politically, and most importantly socially. With his death came an era of political power struggles amongst the northern government officials and a politically weak president, Andrew Johnson. What resulted from this struggle of power in the north was an opportunity for southern ideals of social segregation and inequality to eventually remerge. Its not that the south didn’t get reconstructed; it was constructed on a poor foundation of inadequate social protections that even the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments could not completely protect.
One clear example of the political power struggle amongst northern government officials and the weakness of president Johnson was the attempted sabotage of the freedman’s bureau and Civil rights bill. The freedmen’s bureau was developed before Lincoln’s death as a positive means to aid in the reconstruction of the south. The intent of the freedmen’s bureau was to allow for this to happen in a forgiving way as to not foster resentment of the south’s white citizenship. The freedman’s bureau was an attempt to protect the newly freed slaves from the Black codes, which southern government had passed. One of its main focuses was the rebuilding of schools to better establish black education. It had helped the freedmen to find jobs and to put plantation owners back onto farms to make a living again. The civil rights Bill was also written to protect blacks in the south mainly from the Black Codes. The bill...