Losing the Civil War meant that the South would have to conform to the laws of the United States. Reconstruction aimed to bring the southern states back into the Union, reestablish southern loyalty to the United States’ Constitution, integrate freed slaves into society, and repair the southern economy that no longer had the advantage of slave labor.

Lincoln realized that, with the war over, anything that prolonged the divide between North and South would be harmful to the nation overall. The war devastated the Southern economy and population, leaving a lot of hard feelings towards the victorious North. More punitive actions against the South, Lincoln felt, would only make it harder to heal the divided nation. Lincoln’s view, while prudent, was not extremely popular.

The Wade–Davis Bill was proposed by the Radical Republicans who sought to punish the South for their rebellion and to reinforce the expectation of loyalty and obedience to the federal government. Lincoln vetoed this bill, setting the stage for a compromise on the issue of Reconstruction.

The Freedman’s Bureau played a key role in helping African Americans gain access to basic needs, education, property, and health care during Reconstruction.

Booth assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865 during the performance of a play in Washington, D.C.’s Ford’s Theater. Booth, a stage actor, had ties to the Confederate cause.

During Reconstruction, Johnson did not believe there was anything to be gained by promoting equal rights for African Americans. Instead, Johnson focused primarily on putting Union-loyal white leaders in place in Southern statehouses.

Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment in January 1865, formally outlawing slavery in the United States.

The Black Codes included tactics like fines, arrests, and kidnapping to force African Americans back into bondage working on Southern farms without, technically, enslaving them.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 defined citizenship and affirmed that all citizens are equally protected by the law. President Johnson vetoed the Act, but Congress overrode his veto to pass it.

By clarifying and expanding the definition of what constituted a United States citizen, the Fourteenth Amendment brought emancipated African Americans into American society and allowed them to take advantage of much-needed legal protections.

Ten Southern states were placed under the control of military leaders until such time as they passed the Fourteenth Amendment and put state constitutions in place that aligned with the United States’ Constitution. Over the next two years, partially due to the help of newly enfranchised African American male voters, all ten states complied with the Reconstruction Act’s mandates.

Throughout his term, Johnson would try to use his Executive Branch appointments and role as Commander in Chief to try to resist Radical Reconstruction efforts being forwarded by the Republican-controlled Congress. At every step, Congress intervened and put laws in place that circumvented and, in some cases, limited the President’s authority. The House of Representatives even voted to impeach Johnson over an appointment he made that violated the newly instated Tenure of Office Act.

The Fifteenth Amendment was designed to allow all male citizens the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This was a bold and progressive change to America’s Constitution, however feelings of racism persisted throughout the wounded nation. Equality at the ballot box would be a work in progress for decades to come.

The “carpetbaggers,” so named because of how they travelled light with inexpensive luggage made of fabric, were largely a benign group of Northern Republicans seeking a fresh start in the South (despite Southern Democrats’ fears to the contrary). They came from a wide variety of backgrounds ranging from highly-educated professionals to former Civil War soldiers. Both African Americans and whites were part of the “carpetbagger” migration.

While there were some improvements in African American life in the post-war South, many whites were reluctant to abandon their racist attitudes and biased practices. The next century would see African Americans continuing to fight for the legal rights they had been granted and were rightfully entitled to.

The sharecropping model left many tenant farmers in such dire straits that it was nearly impossible to break free from their economic shackles. Sharecroppers typically did not have enough good farmland or time to tend to it. As a result, these farmers remained in a form of economic bondage, tied to the landowner with no foreseeable way of making enough personal profit to become independent.

The Amnesty Act of 1872 completely flipped the script on Southern politics and halted the progress being made by Reconstruction efforts. By allowing the former Confederates to reenter the political arena, Republicans faced an uphill battle against the surge in Democratic support and voter-suppression tactics aimed at Republicans and African Americans.

The Compromise of 1877 gave the South and its Democratic majority the reigns to carry out social and legal reforms as they saw fit without federal interference or oversight. As a result, the Democrats began using their newfound majority to roll back many of the social programs put in place during Reconstruction that were designed to aid the poor and African Americans.

The