Answer: E - The economic panics that occurred from the 1870s to the 1890s are not considered byproducts of the failure of Reconstruction. Reconstruction was ultimately a bust because it wasn't nearly aggressive enough in mandating changes to the economic, social, and legal institutions in the Southern states. In the decades following Reconstruction, it became glaringly apparent that the South was significantly behind the North in terms of economic prosperity and diversity, education, and racial integration and suffrage. The regressive political factions that took control of state and local governments in the South once federal troops were removed in 1877, not only sought to establish segregationist legislation, but refused federal intervention in a number of areas, like education and business, thus dooming the region to stagnation that is still readily apparent today
