The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, and the original goal of the North to preserve the Union was accomplished. The task that lay before Lincoln and Congress was to reintegrate the rebellious Southern states into the Union. For many white southerners “Reconstruction was a vicious and destructive experience – a period when vindictive Northerners inflicted humiliation and revenge on a pro-state South.”
Answer 1:

 Were the Black Codes another form of slavery?   
Based on Okten’s statements, discuss how the sharecropping/crop lien system created a vicious cycle.  Was this system simply another version of slavery?  Why or why not.   
Consider the following statement:  “The persistence of racism in both the North and the South lay at the heart of Reconstruction’s failure.” Agree or disagree, and explain your