Evaluate the extent to which Reconstruction changed United States society in the period from 1865 to 1900

So In 1865, following the Civil War, southern state legislatures began enacting Black Codes to restrict freedmen's rights and maintain the plantation system. The Republican-controlled Congress responded to these measures by passing the three great postwar constitutional amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth to be exact) that abolished slavery, guaranteed the newly freed blacks equal protection of the laws, and gave all male American citizens the right to vote regardless of their "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

also, as Reconstruction came to an end in 1877, the concept of equal rights collapsed in the wake of legislative and judicial actions. The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 greatly limited the rights of blacks and strengthened Jim Crow laws in the South.

Asian, Irish and other immigrant Americans were also restricted from public life, isolated in segregated schools, and discriminated against in regard to employment and housing. They also suffered under bans on racial intermarriage and limitations on real property ownership.

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the best description of postwar writers might be progressive.

following the war, writers showed a tendency to work on artistic or social matters rather than political themes. while postwar literature may not have been the greatest period of english literature, the themes provided excellent critics a high number of novels. such examples include anthony burgess, anthony powell and frank kermode, all of which can be placed under the progressive view.