In the book Redemption: Last Battle of the Civil War, Nicholas Lemann has given a different perspective of the reconstruction period in the south. His central point, or most elaborated point, was articulated clearly in his in-depth look into the failure of the reconstruction movement. Based upon my interpretation of his writings, he contributed the reconstruction movement failure on the lack of Republican strength, intimidation and violent schemes by the white Southerners which led to horrific violence against blacks, which eventually became the Democratic Party, and the overall lack of leadership with United States government that was not strong enough to endure such a turbulent time. Additionally, another main contributor to the failure of the reconstruction movement was the inability of the freed blacks to participate in elections. The overwhelming intimidation and vote elimination that was being brought on by southern, made it much easier for the blacks to believe in the inability to find refuge in a new south or for reconstruction to become …show more content…
Although there were times where optimism thrived and political success was gained by men like Ames, a growing resistance, which eventually transformed into a counteractive party to the Republicans, overthrew this effort in little time. They used physical abuse to intimidate black voters and this very effectively dispelled any progress they made in developing socially and politically in line with what was viewed as constitutional rights for African Americans. Furthermore, as the efforts of the Democratic Party grew more concentrated, blacks, due to fear, became almost completely disenfranchised from the voting process and were almost completely silenced and