How did white southerners plan to restore the south?

White southerners aimed to restore the South after the Civil War through a combination of economic recovery, political power retention, and social control. They sought to re-establish agricultural dominance, particularly through sharecropping and tenant farming, while resisting Reconstruction efforts that aimed to grant rights to formerly enslaved people. Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan emerged to intimidate and suppress Black political participation and enforce racial segregation. Additionally, they pushed for the implementation of Jim Crow laws to legally institutionalize racial discrimination and maintain white supremacy.