THE INEVITABLE FAILURE OF RECONSTRUCTION During the 1800s, the era following the American Civil War was considered a time of prosperity, privilege, and freedom for those affected by the calamitous war and the preceding period of oppression. This era of Reconstruction made a genuine effort to: Readmit the Confederate States into the Union, establish and defend the rights of newly freed African Americans, and integrate them into the social, economic, and political operations of the United States. However, the reality of this unfavorable situation was that radical Southern Democrats would institute new laws known as the "Black Codes" (OI) that would set a nationwide precedent that they would go as far as necessary to maintain their Confederate way of life. Other Southern radicals had also created white supremacist organizations to combat opposing Republicans and freedmen. The severity of the situation, combined with Confederate hatred, laid the groundwork for the ultimate failure of the Reconstruction efforts. After the American Civil War, in an attempt to readmit the Confederate States into the Union, Congress allowed the states to reenter the Union under the non-negotiable condition that each state must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment which "prohibits the States from refusing to any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (OI) In addition to this, Southern Democrats "gained strength when Congress finally removed the political handicaps of most antebellum leaders" (Doc 3), combined with the passage of the amnesty law, which restored democratic power in government and began the resuppression of the rights of African Americans (Doc. 3....... middle of paper ...... soldiers of the Union of the Former Confederate States (Doc 8) This would be known as the Compromise of 1877. (OI) This historic event concluded the government's efforts at reconstruction in the South which, as a whole, ultimately failed. Reconstruction era was intended to resolve the problems resulting from the American Civil War Unfortunately, Southern radicals went to great lengths to prevent this, as they believed in white supremacy. These radicals did not want to enable the Afro. -Americans to vote, but they were forced to do so when they agreed to readmission to the Union under the Fourteenth Amendment. To counter this, these Confederates created "black codes" to ensure racial segregation and even forged white supremacist organizations. All these events plus the Republican scandals led to the inevitable failure of the Reconstruction era..