Reconstruction

In the history of the United States, "Reconstruction" was the period after the American Civil War when the southern states of the breakaway Confederate States of America|Confederacy were reintegrated into the United States of America.

The constitutional amendments

The 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments were adopted in the wake of the Civil War: the 13th, which abolished slavery; the 14th, which granted civil rights to Negroes; and the 15th, which granted the right to vote to all otherwise qualified adult males regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The 14th Amendment was opposed by the Southern states, and as a pre-condition of readmission to the Union, the Southern states were required to accept it (or the 15th after adoption of the 14th). All Southern states were readmitted by 1870—Georgia was last on July 15 of that year, and all but 500 Confederate sympathizers were pardoned when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Amnesty Act on May 22, 1872. Reconstruction nevertheless continued until 1877, when the contentious Presidential election was decided in favor of Rutherford B. Hayes, supported by Northern states, over his opponent, Samuel J. Tilden. Some historians have speculated that the disputed election was simply handed to Hayes in a political exchange for an end to Reconstruction; this theory characterizes the settlement of that election as the Compromise of 1877. Not all historians agree with that theory; some see the election as coinciding with a decreased desire for inter-elite conflict, an increased will to integrate the Southern social hierarchy with the larger American society, and a drive to redirect the military to campaigns against Native Americans.

Related Topics:
Constitutional - 13th - 14th - Civil rights - Negroes - 15th - 1870 - Georgia - July 15 - Ulysses S. Grant - Amnesty Act - May 22 - 1872 - 1877 - Rutherford B. Hayes - Samuel J. Tilden - Compromise of 1877

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