The Reconstruction after the Civil War consisted of failures as well as successes. Despite having the intentions of positively affecting political and constitutional issues, yet failing to do so, the National Government from 1865-1877 successfully integrated many positive social changes. The National Government during that time caused increased sectional bitterness and made the Constitution more questionable than ever. It also, however, released the slaves and helped them recover while helping the South rebuild its shattered slavery free economy.
             The National Government during 1865-1877 can be seen as ineffective politically. Their legislature increased sectional bitterness by not taking a firm stance on the question of slavery. A failure of the National Government was the fact that the Freedmen's Bureau was disbanded in 1872. The Freedmen's Bureau helped supply the poor blacks with food and the bare necessities. But, disbanding it meant that the agents and federal troops were no longer in the South to protect the freed slaves. This led to white planters again creating slave-like conditions. The Black codes, which were just like slavery but under a different name, the Poll Tax that made people pay in order to vote, and the Grandfather Clause, which said that in order to vote your grandfather had to vote, didn't allow the freed blacks any rights. Another failure was that it was impossible for blacks to get a decent education. This affected the jobs blacks could get. Most black men could not get work except as laborers. This was just like slavery. The blacks were again slaves to the white landowners. A great number of former slaves still lived in poverty. These former slaves were barley able to keep themselves as well as their families fed, clothed, and sheltered. The Ku Klux Klan, which was a racist and terrorist organization, also affected the blacks and whites sympathetic to the black cause by threat...