Reconstruction (jan 1, 1865 – jan 1, 1877)

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In the aftermath of the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877, the US government attempted to repair the damage caused by the secession of eleven states from the Union and adapt to a society without slavery.

Andrew Johnson became president following Lincoln’s assassination. Southerners were offered pardons and state governments in the South were required to abolish slavery and rejoin the union before their rights were returned. The government created the Freedmen's Bureau at the end of the war to help former slaves adapt to life without slavery by providing medical aid, schooling and land. However, Johnson ordered that all land confiscated from white southerners during the war be returned to their previous owners, so the Bureau could not carry out all of its plans. The government also severely underfunded the Freedmen's Bureau, limiting its power and effectiveness.

Johnson’s leniency during Presidential Reconstruction made it easier for southern states to establish Black Codes. Black Codes were laws passed by southern governments that tried to regulate the lives of now free African-Americans. The Black Codes denied African-Americans rights such as the ability to testify against white people and vote. This was strongly opposed by Republicans in the North, who wanted a more progressive president than Johson. Violence broke out against Black people in the South as organizations like the Klu Klux Klan came to live.

Northern Republicans began to lose interest in helping African-Americans in the South. The election of 1877 marked a turning point in Reconstruction as Rutherford B. Hayes promised to remove troops and Northern influence from the South in return for the votes of Southern states and the “promise” to respect the civil rights of Black people.

With the removal of troops, the Black Codes that began during reconstruction turned into seeds for the system we know today as Jim Crow, a system which would oppress blacks for years to come.

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