Abstract Reconstruction failed in the United States because white Southerners who were opposed to it effectively used violence to undermine Black political power and force uncommitted white Southerners to their side. Although structural factors made it harder to suppress this violence, a series of policy failures proved most important. The Radical Republican-led U.S. government did not deploy enough troops or use them aggressively. Nor did it pursue alternative paths that might have made success more likely, such as arming the Black community. The violence caused Reconstruction to fail, and the victorious white supremacists embedded structural racism into the post-Reconstruction political and social system in the South. Reconstruction's failure illustrates the dangers of half measures. The United States sought to reshape the American South at low cost, in terms of both troop levels and time. In addition, the failure indicates the importance of ensuring that democratization includes the rule of law, not just elections. Most important, Reconstruction demonstrates that a common policy recommendation—compromise with the losers after a civil war—is often fraught, with the price of peace being generations of injustice.

中文翻译：

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白人至上主义、恐怖主义和美国重建的失败

摘要 美国的重建失败是因为反对它的南方白人有效地使用暴力来破坏黑人的政治权力，并迫使未承诺的南方白人站在他们一边。尽管结构性因素使得镇压这种暴力变得更加困难，但一系列政策失败被证明是最重要的。激进的共和党领导的美国政府没有部署足够的军队或积极使用它们。它也没有寻求可能使成功更有可能的替代途径，例如武装黑人社区。暴力导致重建失败，胜利的白人至上主义者将结构性种族主义嵌入到南方重建后的政治和社会体系中。重建的失败说明了半途而废的危险。美国试图在兵力和时间上以低成本重塑美国南方。此外，失败表明确保民主化包括法治而不仅仅是选举的重要性。最重要的是，重建表明，一项共同的政策建议——在内战后与失败者妥协——往往令人担忧，和平的代价是几代人的不公正。