Reconstruction Era
United States, 1863–1877. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Reconstruction era, often simply called Reconstruction, was a period in United States history that followed the American Civil War (1861–1865) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the abolition of slavery and federal control over, and reintegration of, the former Confederate States into the United States. Three amendments were added to the United States Constitution to grant citizenship and equal civil rights to the newly freed slaves. To circumvent these, former Confederate states imposed poll taxes and literacy tests and sought to intimidate and control the Black population and discourage or prevent them from voting.
Seat of power: Washington, D.C.
Rulers
Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States, 1861–1865
He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederacy and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states "in rebellion" to be free. He promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which, in 1865, abolished chattel slavery.
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln: Alexander Gardner, Public domain, file
Andrew Johnson
President of the United States, 1865–1869
Johnson favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union without protection for the newly freed people who were formerly enslaved, as well as pardoning ex-Confederates. He came into conflict with the Republican Party-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1868. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote.
Portrait of Andrew Johnson: Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain, file
Ulysses S. Grant
President of the United States, 1869–1877
As president, Grant stabilized the post-war economy, supported Reconstruction and the Fifteenth Amendment, and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan. Grant signed a bill to create the United States Department of Justice and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans.
Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant: Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Public domain, file
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Culture
- Congress established a Freedmen's Bureau to provide much-needed food and shelter to the newly freed slaves.
- The Bureau's powers were expanded to help Black Americans find family members from whom they had become separated during the war. It arranged to teach them to read and write.
- Constitutional conventions held throughout the South gave Black men the right to vote. New state governments were established by a coalition of freedmen, supportive white Southerners, and Northern transplants.
- Violent groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, White League, and Red Shirts, engaged in paramilitary insurgency and terrorism to disrupt Reconstruction governments and terrorize Republicans.
Picture
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the South.
Image: Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891, artist, Public domain, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.