Although the Union won the Civil War, it was the seceding states that won Reconstruction. Reconstruction saw the introduction of white supremacist groups, widespread lynchings, and political violence. Ultimately, those led by the Redeemers brought about the end of the Reconstruction era through a series of behind-the-scenes deals with Republicans. With the help of the Redeemers and the Democratic Party, segregation and white supremacy were enforced for nearly eighty years, effectively suppressing generations of blacks, preventing them from exercising the most basic rights guaranteed by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifth Amendments. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After the Civil War ended, white Southerners feared what Reconstruction would do to the Southern way of life. Although slavery had been eradicated, in the South “there was a strong desire to maintain a caste system”[1]. Southern whites feared that black independence would spell disaster for the Southern order of life. This sense of fear gave way to lynching and terror to enforce white supremacy over blacks. It is impossible to count the number of lynchings that occurred during Reconstruction and in the decades that followed. Lynchings, however, were not the only way to instill fear in blacks and prevent them from exercising their basic rights. Many African Americans accused of crimes had to rely on white paternalism to avoid harsh punishments. If they were able to name a white man of good standing in the community, the punishment they would receive for a crime would be much less than if he had no white man to vouch for him. Black dependence on whites was not the only method of systematic oppression adopted during Reconstruction. Although Reconstruction provided blacks with many tools for progress, such as the birth of black churches and schools, it also saw the rise of militias organized to prevent the ever-increasing numbers of African Americans from turning out to vote in elections. The KKK, White Line, and Red Shirts were all organizations that employed fear, intimidation, and violence to promote white supremacy and instill fear in African Americans. Outside of lynch mobs and white supremacist groups, Reconstruction efforts to advance blacks in the South were strongly opposed by Democrats, even Northern Democrats, and Republicans. Instead of offering a Reconstruction compromise, they flatly rejected it and called for “immediate amnesty for ex-Confederates and the restoration of the former Confederate states to their pre-war status[2].” They also opposed the Freedmen's Bureau, a government agency intended to help Southern blacks adjust to free life after the Civil War. In addition to Democratic opposition to Reconstruction efforts, Republicans also disagreed on how Reconstruction should be carried out. Their main goal after the war was to strengthen their party as much as possible and rebuild the economy. As Fellman states in the textbook, “one of the main reasons they supported black suffrage was to support Southern Republicans[3].” However, when they realized that very few Southerners supported widespread black suffrage, they quickly threw the issue into oblivion. Reconstruction efforts to equalize African Americans were also struck down by the Supreme Court. The Slaughterhouse and US v Cruikshank cases significantly weakened the federal government's ability to prosecute violators of black civil rights. The cases argued.