When is reconstruction period

Congress during this period. After , an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and Black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority.

Though federal legislation passed during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant in took aim at the Klan and others who attempted to interfere with Black suffrage and other political rights, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South after the early s as support for Reconstruction waned.

Racism was still a potent force in both South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued.

In —after an economic depression plunged much of the South into poverty—the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War. When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in , Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for Reconstruction-era state governments in the South. In the contested presidential election that year, Republican candidate Rutherford B.

Hayes reached a compromise with Democrats in Congress: In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged Democratic control of the entire South. A century later, the legacy of Reconstruction would be revived during the civil rights movement of the s, as African Americans fought for the political, economic and social equality that had long been denied them.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. One of the most important aspects of Reconstruction was the active participation of African Americans including thousands of formerly enslaved people in the political, economic and social life of the South.

The name was originally a reference to low-grade farm animals. It has had three different manifestations in three different eras. The first era, when the group was founded, was in the aftermath of the Civil War, particularly during Reconstruction. The Klan operated as a vigilante group that targeted newly freed black populations and Republican politicians in the Reconstruction governments of the former Confederacy. Though it was officially disbanded in , it continued to function well into the the early s.

The Federal government passed a variety of laws and acts to dismantle the Klan in that period which had some success. The KKK did not resurface again until the beginning of the 20th century. Nathan Bedford Forrest July 13 - October 29 Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate cavalry leader.

After the war he served in the Ku Klux Klan but distanced himself from them by denying any formal connection. He was responsible for officially dissolving the first incarnation of the Klan in though they continued to operate afterwards for many years. Andrew Johnson December 29, — July 31, Andrew Johnson was Lincoln's last Vice-President and succeeded to office as the 17th President following Lincoln's assassination. He was the first President to be impeached and avoided removal from office by a single vote.

Rutherford B Hayes October 4, — January 17, The main accomplishments of his time in office was the end of Reconstruction and the begining of reforms to the civil service. Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tildon in but won in the electoral college when Democrats agreed to his election on the condition that Reconstruction and the military occupation of the three states still being reconstructed be ended.

This deal was known as the Compromise of Once Hayes took office he ended Reconstruction. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older.

This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. After the war was over, President Andrew Johnson returned most of the land to the former white slaveowners. Just 41 days before his assassination, the 16th President had used his second inaugural address to signal reconciliation between the north and south. But the effort to bind these wounds through Reconstruction policies would be left to Vice President Andrew Johnson, who became President when Lincoln died.

The plan also gave southern whites the power to reclaim property, with the exception of enslaved people and granted the states the right to start new governments with provisional governors. The 13th amendment was the first of three Reconstruction amendments. March 2, Reconstruction Act of The Reconstruction Act of outlined the terms for readmission to representation of rebel states.

The bill divided the former Confederate states, except for Tennessee, into five military districts. Each state was required to write a new constitution, which needed to be approved by a majority of voters—including African Americans—in that state. In addition, each state was required to ratify the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution. After meeting these criteria related to protecting the rights of African Americans and their property, the former Confederate states could gain full recognition and federal representation in Congress.

Leaders of the group include many prominent Republicans unhappy about vindictive Reconstruction policies and corruption in government, which they call Grantism. New York newspaperman Horace Greeley receives their nomination. Greeley's earlier radicalism, high tariff views, and well-known eccentricity repel many who oppose Grant.

The Democrats, on July 9, also nominate Greeley. May Grant signs an amnesty bill he had advocated. Although the final legislation is less generous than Grant had wanted, now only a few hundred former Confederates are excluded from political privileges.

June 5: The Republican Convention meets at Philadelphia. It will renominate Grant on the first ballot. September 5: The New York Sun charges that Vice President Colfax, Vice-Presidential nominee Henry Wilson, James Garfield, and other prominent politicians are involved in the operations of the Credit Mobilier, a corporation established by the promoters of the Union Pacific railroad to siphon off the profits of transcontinental railroad construction. Ultimately, two congressmen will be censured for their part in the swindle and many other politicians will be damaged in reputation.

November 5: Grant is reelected with an electoral college majority of , and a popular majority of , April The Colfax Massacre. The White League, a paramilitary group intent on securing white rule in Louisiana, clashes with Louisiana's almost all-black state militia. The resulting death toll is staggering: only three members of the White League die, but some one hundred black men are killed.

Of those, nearly half are murdered in cold blood after they surrender. September The panic of begins with the failure of a Wall Street banking firm, spreads to the stock exchange, and eventually leads to widespread unemployment. The law will stand only until , when the U. Supreme Court will strike it down. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden, in which both candidates claim victory, Hayes is declared president. In a back-room political deal, the Republicans agree to abandon Reconstruction policies in exchange for the presidency.

Reconstruction policies officially end. The South codifies and enforces segregation. Violations of black civil rights will not command national attention again until after World War II. Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ring in South America.

Her work helped lay the foundation for modern codebreaking today. I n the summer of , hundreds of wildfires raged across the Northern Rockies.

By the time it was all over, more than three million acres had burned and at least 78 firefighters were dead. It was the largest fire in American history.