Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

In the history of the United States , the term Reconstruction Era has two senses : the first covers the complete history of the entire U.S. from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War , the second sense focuses on the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877 , as directed by Washington , with the reconstruction of state and society.

Reconstruction Era

Reconstruction addressed how the eleven seceding states would regain self-government and be reseated in Congress , the civil status of the former  leaders of the Confederacy , and the Constitutional and legal status of freedmen , especially their civil rights and whether they should be given the right to vote.

Voting for the first time in 1867

Reconstruction policies were implemented  when a Confederate state came under the control of the Union Army. President Abraham Lincoln set up reconstructed governments in several southern states during the war , including Tennessee , Arkansas , and Louisiana. He experimented with giving land to former slaves in South Carolina. Following Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 , President Andrew Johnson tried to follow Lincoln’s policies and appointed new governors in the summer of 1865. Johnson quickly declared that the war goals of national unity and the ending of slavery had been achieved , so that reconstruction was completed. A sweeping Republican victory in the 1866 Congressional elections in the North gave the Radical Republicans enough control of Congress to override Johnson’s vetoes and began what is called “Radical Reeconstruction” in 1867. Congress removed civilian governments in the South in 1867 and put the former Confederacy under the rule of the U.S. Army. The army conducted new elections in which the freed slaves could vote , while whites who had held leading positions under the Confederacy were temporarily denied the vote and were not permitted to run for office.

Radical Reeconstruction in 1867

They introduced various reconstruction programs , including the founding of public schools in most states for the first time , and the establishment of charitable institutions. They raised taxes, which historically had been low as planters preferred to make private investments for their own purposes , offered massive aid to support railroads to improve transportation and shipping .With the Compromise of 1877 , Army intervention in the South ceased and Republican control collapsed in the last three state governments in the South.

Reconstruction Era 1877