Reconstruction was not doomed to fail. Republicans had squandered their opportunity to bring prosperity to ordinary white people and black people. The corruption of the Republican governments and the high taxes for small landowners were not just Democratic slanders; they were Republican failures. This, coupled with the failure to counter terror, which the government could have done, ended Republican rule in the South. When the Republicans acted forcibly against terror, they prevailed. The decision not to do so killed their party figuratively and literally.
