Why Did Reconstruction Fail

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Reconstruction failed because freedman became their own group somewhere between slave and full citizen. They no longer had to serve their master for the rest of their life however they had nothing going for them: no land, no investments, no specialized skills, and no education. Freedman could not leave the plantation they grew up on because they had nowhere to go and no way of getting there. Planters could then take advantage of the situation and the freedman would then end up living in the same quarters and not able to make a profit due to the steep prices the planters sold grain and cheap prices they bought from the freedman, leaving freedman always in the debt of their former masters, just as their ancestors had been when they were indentured