History, Reconstruction

As the Civil War ended, the United States faced unprecedented tasks: to bring the defeated Confederate states back into the Union and to determine the status in American society of almost 4 million former slaves. These goals dominated the years from 1865 to 1877, the era known as Reconstruction. During these years, Congress imposed a legislative revolution that transformed the South. Republican legislators passed ambitious laws, approved major constitutional amendments, overhauled Southern state governments, and spurred extensive change in the former Confederacy. The most significant change that Congress made was to enfranchise African American men. The pivot of reconstruction policy, black suffrage was the era’s major achievement.