Civil War: The Years After The Reconstruction Era

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The years after the Civil War are known as the Reconstruction era 1865-1877. The South had three main issues to deal with. How to deal with the states as they rejoined the Union? How Southern whites should be treated? How to deal with the freed slaves?

Once the Civil War ended in spring of 1865, the South’s biggest challenge was how to go about reconstructing it. Abraham Lincoln’s plan was to be lenient towards the South and make it easy for southern states to rejoin the Union. Lincoln's plan was any state being readmitted must make slavery illegal. Shortly after the war ending President Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson took over presidency. Johnson was from the South and wanted to be even more lenient to the Confederate States.

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