After the civil war, there were many problems left to be solved. Thousands of land and many transportation means were destroyed, millions of soldiers diminished, the Southern economy was ruined, and freed blacks who have no idea what to do with their freedom were the results as well as the problems left from the war. Reconstruction was the answer but even though it started out right in the beginning, it certainly didn't last nor was very successful. Spanning from1865 to 1877, the efforts of reconstruction failed economically and socially. The problems of the postwar South were widespread and severe. Public structures, private homes, and farm buildings had been burned, railroad tracks uprooted, cotton gins wrecked, and the earth scorched in many sections of the defeated land. Perhaps the most important result of the Civil War was the emancipation of nearly 4 million Southern slaves. The sudden release of so many people would have been a tremendous problem even in an atmosphere free from the bitterness. The question was how could anyone get ahead in that society? The former slaves were sent out into a world which they had no idea about. They had no basic skills or training. So many of them did what they thought was best and stayed on the plantation, a place which they knew best. One former slaves reflects back to the experience he had in saying, "Freedom wasn't no different I knows of. I works for Marse John just the same for a long time. He says one morning, 'John, you can go out in the field iffen you wants to or you can get out iffen you wants to, cause the government says you is free. If you wants to work I'll feed you and give you clothes but can't pay you no money. I aint got none.' Humph, I didn't know nothing what money was,nohow, I knows I'll git plenty victuals to eat, so I stays." Many slaves did stay because they did not know of any other alternative. Another problem w...