What parts of reconstruction after the civil war lead to the most drastic changes in American life?

I need to know what ideas or events besides the civil war changed American society the most between 1865-1888. The question is... "How is war the midwife of Revolution.|||Reconstruction was not like the name implies. It was an occupation only. The Union soldiers were suppose to be a police force but they did a bad job. This situation caused the development of the KKK which sparked racial tension and the long road toward civil rights in the 50's and 60's. Read, "Gone with the Wind" it does a pretty good job of telling what basically happened after the civli war. Also, the government didn't do anything to set blacks toward a better future. They sould have set up an education system like they did for the American Indian but they didn't. The government punished the south by having higher transportation taxes on goods going south than goods going north causing higher prices on items for sale in the south. This caused higher poverty levels in the south which continue till today.|||the invention of the telegraph