Reconstruction was the period of time when African Americans went from being

enslaved, to being able to vote, and getting their basic human rights that were stripped away
from them just because of the color of their skin. After the civil war the policy of Reconstruction
was made to reconnect eleven states that left the union, and welcoming former slaves as
American citizens with basic unalienable rights. Although there were perceptions of corruption in
the Republican party, ultimately violence from the Ku Klux Klan, and racism in the North and
South resulted in the demise of Radical Reconstruction.

Government corruption played an important role in the denouement of Reconstruction.

There were traitors from the South in the Republican party who did not support, and advocate
Reconstruction (Document A). Four years into Reconstruction Blacks still couldn’t speak freely
in Georgia. Abram Colby, an African American, was elected to the Georgia State Legislature
during Reconstruction. He was taken out of his home by the Ku Klux Klan and was offered
$2,500 if he’d let another man go to the legislature in Abram’s place, after he rejected this offer
he was whipped and “left for dead”. Even after four years of Reconstruction taking place, racism
and crimes against humanity are still occuring in the Legislature (Document B). In the 1870s
Northerners grew sick of carpet bag government, and questioned how much they should help
African Americans, they started focusing more on how corrupt the government was getting, for
example, Panic of 1873 and corruption in Grant’s administration. Political violence continued in
the South, and public opinion started going against Reconstruction policies (Document C).

Another key component to the culmination of reconstruction was racism, since black
people were now able to vote the South wasn’t happy about this at all and as a repercussion to
spark outrage the Ku Klux Klan stabbed John W. Stephens and “hung him on a hook” in the
Grand Jury room of the Court House (Document A). The terrorist group was forming and they
were ruthless against African Americans, as I stated before they tortured Abram Colby because
he wouldn’t give up his place in the legislature (Document B). The Boston Evening Transcript
argued that “ the blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…”
This statement is saying that since they have trauma from being slaves they are unfit to have
any part in the government, and fundamentally saying only whites should have part in the
government (Document D).

The Ku Klux Klan made it so difficult to keep reconstruction moving forward, it made
people question if all the deaths and horror was worth it and this thought process, in the fullness
of time, slowly ended reconstruction. The KKK formed in the south and this group was made up
of some highly ranked, and “first class men” in society such as doctors, lawyers, and farmers
(Document B). They wanted to get themselves in the legislatures so they had some control over
reconstruction, and eventually disassemble it (Document B). The KKK shows that even though
blacks had the 14th amendment, and reconstruction made sure the rights of African Americans
were protected, the KKK didn’t care and committed crimes against their civil rights (Document
B).

In conclusion the south ultimately ended reconstruction because of racism