After the Civil War the South went through a period of reconstruction where they tried to rebuild their society that now included freedmen. It is a common opinion that reconstruction in the South was a failure, but it was possible for it to have been a successful revolution for the people of the south through increased awareness from the Government, a better focus on education, and a more complete process of land redistribution, When the Civil war ended, the US government put into action many laws, such as voting rights for black males and the end of slavery. Once these laws were put into place by the government, the Grant administration took up a “let alone policy” and did just that, didn‘t interfere in what was happening in the South. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan started to terrorize blacks for trying to vote, so much so that the black vote was decreased dramatically to the point where it had no effect on the final results.
The US government did nothing in situations like these causing blacks to go back to their original social positions, ending the chance of a successful revolution. Education was another aspect of the reconstruction period that failed miserably. Schools for blacks were introduced in the south to try and promote equal rights, but with not enough educators, students, infrastructure, and money, the education program came to a halt. Blacks were not allowed into white schools for fear of blacks becoming too educated Here again, the US government failed to help make reconstruction successful. They stayed out of the South with the hope of avoiding another conflict, and with that the blacks of the south were again brought down to their same social status again. With education, blacks could have had equal opportunities as whites and could have started competition in the workforce, but instead they were forced to continue being farmers, in some cases tied to their former masters’ land; definitely not an aspect of the revolution that should have been going on.
Like education, another failed aspect of the reconstruction period was the failure of the land redistribution movement. If the land redistribution had been successful, blacks would have had their own land to work and to profit from, but with the failure of it, blacks had nowhere to go but back to the farms from which they had came from, Again, just like with education, the government stayed out of the south to avoid the conflict and nothing happened with the land redistribution. The government was the root of the problem with the failure of reconstruction in the south which ended the possibility of a revolution. With an increase in their involvement in the South, the education system for blacks, as well as the land redistribution program might have been more successful, which could have meant a more successful revolution.
