The "failure" issue Reconstruction is widely considered a failure, though the reason for this is a matter of controversy. The Dunning School considered failure inevitable because it felt that taking the right to vote or hold office away from Southern Whites was a violation of republicanism. A second school sees the reason for failure as Northern Republicans' lack of effectiveness in guaranteeing political rights to Blacks. A third school blames the failure on not giving land to the freedmen so they could have their own economic base of power. A fourth school sees the major reason for the failure of Reconstruction as the states' inability to suppress the violence of Southern Whites when they sought reversal for Blacks' gains. Etcheson (2009) points to the "violence that crushed black aspirations and the abandonment by Northern whites of Southern Republicans". Etcheson wrote that it is hard to see Reconstruction "as concluding in anything but failure". Etcheson adds: "W. E. B. DuBois captured that failure well when he wrote in Black Reconstruction in America (1935): 'The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery. Other historians emphasize the failure to fully incorporate Southern Unionists into the Republican coalition. Derek W. Frisby points to "Reconstruction's failure to appreciate the challenges of Southern Unionism and incorporate these loyal Southerners into a strategy that would positively affect the character of the peace".
The "failure" issue Reconstruction is widely considered a failure though the reason for this is a matter of controversy The Dunning School considered failure inevitable because it felt that taking the right to vote or hold office away from Southern Whites was a violation of republicanism A second school sees the reason for failure as Northern Republicans' lack of effectiveness in guaranteeing political rights to Blacks A third school blames the failure on not giving land to the freedmen so they could have their own economic base of power A fourth school sees the major reason for the failure of Reconstruction as the states' inability to suppress the violence of Southern Whites when they sought reversal for Blacks' gains Etcheson (2009) points to the "violence that crushed black aspirations and the abandonment by Northern whites of Southern Republicans" Etcheson wrote that it is hard to see Reconstruction "as concluding in anything but failure" Etcheson adds "W E B DuBois captured that failure well when he wrote in Black Reconstruction in America (1935) 'The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery Other historians emphasize the failure to fully incorporate Southern Unionists into the Republican coalition Derek W Frisby points to "Reconstruction's failure to appreciate the challenges of Southern Unionism and incorporate these loyal Southerners into a strategy that would positively affect the character of the peace"