Chapter Overview

Even before the end of the American Civil War, President Lincoln worked to complete a plan for returning the seceded states to the Union. His idea was to treat the soon-to-be defeated South with a measure of compassion…an even-handed response that would more readily integrate the rogue states back into the nation. At the same time, African Americans were hoping for as much of an even-handed chance at equality from a government many had served as soldiers. This eleven-year period of post-Civil War history, known as the era of Reconstruction for obvious reasons, saw every faction in the land jockeying for position in the new America that would come from the flames of the war. Reconstruction saw African Americans quickly elected to national, state, and local positions of authority but cannot be said to have undone all the prejudice and racism that still lingered in both South and North. By 1877, a resurgence of white supremacy had overtaken the southern states and again threatened to disrupt the Union.

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you should understand the following:

• The ideas and hopes that President Lincoln had for the remade Union through "Presidential Reconstruction"
• The progression of events to "Radical Reconstruction" in response to President Johnson's handling of Lincoln's legacy
• The social context for all Americans after the war
• What impact the war and Reconstruction had on the economies of the South and North
• The reasons behind the end of Reconstruction