Ch. 16The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877
ContentsUnited States History

United States History · Chapter 16

16. The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877

The Reconstruction era from 1865 to 1877 was marked by significant political and social upheaval following the Civil War, including the assassination of President Lincoln and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Efforts to integrate Southern states back into the Union faced resistance and violence, particularly from white supremacist groups. Key legislative changes included the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, which aimed to secure rights for freed slaves. However, the period ended with the Compromise of 1877, leading to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the restoration of white Democratic control, effectively reversing many gains made during Reconstruction.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

  • Describe Lincoln’s plan to restore the Union at the end of the Civil War
  • Discuss the tenets of Radical Republicanism
  • Analyze the success or failure of the Thirteenth Amendment
  • Describe the efforts made by Congress in 1865 and 1866 to bring to life its vision of Reconstruction
  • Explain how the Fourteenth Amendment transformed the Constitution
  • Explain the purpose of the second phase of Reconstruction and some of the key legislation put forward by Congress
  • Describe the impeachment of President Johnson
  • Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the Fifteenth Amendment
  • Explain the reasons for the collapse of Reconstruction
  • Describe the efforts of white southern “redeemers” to roll back the gains of Reconstruction

Introduction

Figure 16.1 In this political cartoon by Thomas Nast, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly in October 1874, the “White League” shakes hands with the Ku Klux Klan over a shield that shows a couple weeping over a baby. In the background, a schoolhouse burns, and a lynched freedman is shown hanging from a tree. Above the shield, which is labeled “Worse than Slavery,” the text reads, “The Union as It Was: This Is a White Man’s Government.”
Figure 16.1 In this political cartoon by Thomas Nast, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly in October 1874, the “White League” shakes hands with the Ku Klux Klan over a shield that shows a couple weeping over a baby. In the background, a schoolhouse burns, and a lynched freedman is shown hanging from a tree. Above the shield, which is labeled “Worse than Slavery,” the text reads, “The Union as It Was: This Is a White Man’s Government.”
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Few times in U.S. history have been as turbulent and transformative as the Civil War and the twelve years that followed. Between 1865 and 1877, one president was murdered and another impeached. The Constitution underwent major revision with the addition of three amendments. The effort to impose Union control and create equality in the defeated South ignited a fierce backlash as various terrorist and vigilante organizations, most notably the Ku Klux KlanA white-supremacist vigilante organization founded in Tennessee in 1866 that used terror, arson, and murder to stop Reconstruction and suppress Black political participation., battled to maintain a pre–Civil War society in which whites held complete power. These groups unleashed a wave of violence, including lynching and arson, aimed at freed blacks and their white supporters. Historians refer to this era as ReconstructionThe post-Civil War process (roughly 1865-1877) of readmitting the former Confederate states to the Union and defining the citizenship and rights of formerly enslaved people., when an effort to remake the South faltered and ultimately failed.

The above political cartoon (Figure 16.1) expresses the anguish many Americans felt in the decade after the Civil War. The South, which had experienced catastrophic losses during the conflict, was reduced to political dependence and economic destitution. This humiliating condition led many southern whites to vigorously contest Union efforts to transform the South’s racial, economic, and social landscape. Supporters of equality grew increasingly dismayed at Reconstruction’s failure to undo the old system, which further compounded the staggering regional and racial inequalities in the United States.