1.+Reconstruction

 __** Reconstruction **__

Reconstruction is the name of the period of time between1863 and 1877 that the United States was recovering from the Civil War and bringing the country back into one nation. Since President Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson was in charge of this process. At first President Lincoln had proposed Radical Reconstruction, which was the process where a state would be welcomed back into the Union if ten percent of the state admitted that slavery was wrong. When Andrew Johnston became president, though, Congress changed the plan to Radical Reconstruction to make the South suffer more for what they had done. 

Reconstruction Plans after the Civil War  After the Civil War there were plans devised to rebuild the Southern States and reinstate them back into the nation, this was called Reconstruction. The three plans were Presidential Reconstruction, Congressional Reconstruction and Radical Reconstruction. and Both President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson had plans for Reconstruction. Abraham Lincoln proposed that Confederate citizens would take an oath of loyalty, and after 1/10th of the people for that state took it, they could be re-instated as a Union state. This plan never came active because Lincoln was assassinated just months’ before. After President Lincoln was dead, and Andrew Johnson served as President, the nation shot down Andrews Reconstruction plan. Andrew Johnsons plan consisted of white southerners taking an oath before re-instating him/her back into the Union, and any Confederate leader must ask permission and take the oath before Johnson. Johnsons plan was inactive soon after Congress was back in session. Congress, later set up the Freedman’s Bureau to help ex-slaves and blacks from the southern states, acts that didn’t let Confederate officials be a part of government, they sent armies to the 5 different sections of the Confederate and made each new southern state accept the 14th amendment. This was the Reconstruction Era. 

Problems  One of the main problems during the Reconstruction Era was how was the Nation was going to be reunited. Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln and Congress all came up with their own plans. After Abraham Lincoln died, and Andrew Johnsons plan was not wanted, Congress’ plan was put into action. Some of the other problems that were addressed after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Era were things like, no home, money or jobs for freed black slaves. The government made rules and acts to help all the newly black slaves, but in the end there were still problems with blacks and whites. The South and North showed racial-segregation to the black people even after slavery was abolished. Other problems were what work force would take over all the jobs of slavery. Eventually, more machines and motorized farming equipment helped. Many problems consisted during the Reconstruction Era, but people still looked at it as the “New Birth of Freedom” for the United States.

McElrath, J. (2009). The Reconstruction Era. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from About.com Web site: Unknown, Unknown (Unknown). Reconstruction. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from America's Story From America's Library Web site: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/recon  Unknown, Unknown (Unknown). Reconstruction. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from America's Story From America's Library Web site: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/recon    By: Allie Carlson and Blakely Smith