Who Slaughtered Reconstruction? North or South?

By Cole Creighton
W.E.B. Dubios said, Slaves went free, stood a brief moment in the sun, then went back towards slavery. Who caused the freedmen to go back towards slavery? After the bloodiest war in American history, the country needed a time of healing after the war. This period of time was called Reconstruction. Reconstruction met its unfortunate demise with the Compromise of 1877, which extracted the troops out of the South officially ending Reconstruction. This removal allowed the KKK to cause extortion to political leaders. The KKK used violence and intimidation, and the South disobeyed the 14th and 15th Amendments. To begin with, by causing extortion to political leaders, the South killed Reconstruction. The KKK killed political leaders that would vote for the Republican Party. This happened once when the KKK kidnapped Congressmen Abram Colby. They said they heard that he had voted for Grant. They asked him if he would vote for the Republicans. Colby said ,If there was an election tomorrow, I would vote for the Republican ticket (B1). After hearing this, they whipped him 1,000 times, and left him in the woods (B1). By doing this the KKK, made election unfair because Republicans could not vote freely. Another reason why the South killed Reconstruction was because the KKK used violence and intimidation. The KKK killed Republican Senator, John W. Stephens in a court room where everyone could see. They were trying to scare people into voting for the Democratic Party (A1). Also, they destroyed the homes of the people that did not agree with them (SS Textbook). They would not work together with the North. Lastly, disobeying the 14th and 15th Amendments caused the the South to end Reconstruction. The South passed Black codes, which denied African Americans of many rights. This was against the the 14th Amendment. The South ignored the 15th Amendment by making poll locations far from where African Americans lived. Also, they made them provide a poll tax that they could not afford (SS textbook). The South was trying to demote what Reconstruct was trying to promote. The South caused the death of Reconstruction by the KKK causing extortion to political leaders, the Klan using violence and intimidation, and ignoring the 14th and 15 Amendments. In conclusion, the South is responsible for the death of Reconstruction because they let the KKK rule over them and represent them. This issue is important because you can see the progress our country has made over the last two centuries.