The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments established a new vision of equality before the law, regardless of race, as the definition of American citizenship, and of the national government as the protector of the fundamental rights of all Americans (Intro X). Powerful words on paper, and if they would have been acknowledged by those whose prejudice against blacks was stronger than the acceptance that they are an individual people with rights, it is possible reconstruction may have lasted and our history as a country would have been much different. How would the country (or the world) be if reconstruction would have been a success? How would it have been if the Ku Klux Klan had not decided that white supremacy was the only way? I am disappointed that hate and racism are still so prominent in society today and not just whites against black, or blacks against white, it is everyone. History repeats itself, this is a known fact. Unless we do something, learn from past mistakes, and make the world a better place for our…