Reflection of what I have learned about Reconstruction

During this part of this course I have learned that the U.S. government was very disorganized and many of the government officials could not agree on what policies were to be implemented.The  rights of the freedmen were not the main focus of reconstruction. The freed slaves were discriminated against and impoverished as a result of laws that were passed especially by the Southern states they truly did not support equality of black men and did nothing to protect their Civil Rights as American Citizens. It was a sad example of equality and a poor example of what our country stands for. The persecution of anyone under the laws our forefathers had in mind was not shown in the Reconstruction era of the late 1800's.My understanding of what actually happened is that our countrymen failed to uphold the rights of the newly freedmen and also the many white people who tried to stand in unity with the blacks hoping that they could change the way our society viewed them as people and as Americans.Though the end result was new laws being passed to protect all citizens under law the violence that led up to these changes will forever be a mark on our society that for many years to come would prove that equality among men of any race can and will be defended throughh peaceful Resistance. The bloodshed between Americans was truly a waste of human life and I believe it could have been avoided if the Executive  branch of our government would have been more instrumental in forcing the Southern state governments to support the emancipation of the slaves.It was a hard road to change the belief systems of the South and though it was a hard fought battle the end result was an equal view of all people under the Constitution so the end result was positive but the sacrifices were too many I am glad that the pursuit of liberty,justice,and the pursuit of happiness was preserved for me and all others through this terrible time in our country