Answer – Reconstruction was a period in American history immediately after the Civil War, during which the former Confederate states were inducted back into the Union, and federal legislation was passed to try to ensure full citizenship and the attendant civil rights for the Black population across the country. 

Explanation:

The key issue of the US Civil War was to end slavery. The period that immediately followed was engaged in addressing the status and rights in American society of the newly freed former slaves. 

With the North emerging victorious, the Southern Confederate states were expected to withdraw their pre-Civil War secession, as well as to accept readmission into the Union and the country-wide abolishment of slavery. This process, however, was not a smooth one, and this period saw much violence and controversy.

The Reconstruction era can be divided into two – Presidential Reconstruction and Congressional or Radical Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, took office when President Lincoln was assassinated days after the War officially ended in 1865. It was him who led what is now known as Presidential Reconstruction. He allowed a swift induction of the Confederate states, pardoning almost all the secessionists, and without any protections for the newly freed, turning a blind eye to the Black codes instituted by several Southern states. In fact, he vetoed legislation passed by Congress to ensure civil rights and protections for the Black population. This caused a deep rift between him and the legislature, leading eventually to his impeachment in 1868 by the House of Representatives. (He was acquitted by one vote in the Senate.)

The Congressional elections in 1866 transferred more power to the Republican Party. Many of the newly elected legislators took positions that were termed “Radical Republican” and Congress drove through several reforms such the “Reconstruction Amendments” (the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments), the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. The last of these sectioned the South into military districts from which the old civilian governments (populated by former Confederate leaders) sanctioned by President Johnson were removed. Republicans formed governments in the Southern states and the US military was used to ensure that Black men were able to vote. 

These measures were not well-received by most of the white population of the Southern states. They held Republican leaders and their allies in contempt, referring to them as “carpetbaggers” (those who came from the North), and as “scalawags” (locals who supported the Republican agenda). In opposition, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed, to terrorize these leaders and those of the Black population who exercised their rights. The KKK was nearly eradicated in 1871 under orders of then President Ulysses S. Grant.

As the 1870s drew to a close, a change was apparent in the attitudes of the Republican Party nationwide. The enthusiasm for racial integration and reform in government had visibly dwindled. The sweeping use of federal power over that of the states was also beginning to be questioned with several states in the South moving into Democratic control. National attention was shifting to economic issues as a depression set in from 1873 to 1877. 

Reconstruction was considered officially over in 1877 as Rutherford B. Hayes assumed office after a contested election settled only by a compromise recognizing Democratic control of the Southern states.

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