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The Emancipation Proclamation was a speech given by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. This proclamation was significant because it freed enslaved peoples who were held in "rebellious states," and officially associated the Civil War with abolishing slavery.
Photo Credit: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/ep-and-dc-emancipation-exhibits-celebrate-freedom.

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Abraham Lincoln's proposed plan for the reentry of Confederate states into the Union, wherein a state would be readmitted if one-tenth of the state's prewar voters declared loyalty to the Union. This was significant because it was more about weakening the Confederacy than planning for a more equal post-war South.

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Mar. 1865: Freedmen's Bureau Established

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Mar. 1865: Freedmen's Bureau Established

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The Freedmen's Bureau was established with the aim of providing aid to recently freed enslaved peoples in the South, including distributing confiscated land to freed peoples. The Freedmen's Bureau is significant because it symbolizes a failure of Reconstruction, as figures such as President Johnson prevented the Bureau from being effective through actions such as giving land back to previous Confederate owners.

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President Lincoln was assassinated after suggesting in his final speech that some Black Americans should have the right to vote. This was significant because it enabled Andrew Johnson to become president and ushered in the period of Presidential Reconstruction, which was influenced by Johnson's racism and fervent belief in states' rights.
Photo Credit: https://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-the-last-living-witness-of-the-lincoln-assassination-2019-7

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Presidential Reconstruction was the period that occurred under Andrew Johnson. This period is significant because it was an extremely conservative form of Reconstruction, as Johnson pardoned all Southern Whites except Confederate leaders and planters (who were individually pardoned), and returned virtually all power to the state governments. The governments only had to abolish slavery, condemn secession, and suppress the Confederate debt, with no provisions about ensuring racial equity in their new society.
Photo Credit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-johnson/

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The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution effectively abolished slavery in the United States in every case except as punishment for a crime. This amendment is significant not only because it abolished slavery, but also because its ratification was one of the contingencies of Southern states being admitted back into the Union.

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Black Codes were laws created in former Confederate states that severely limited the economic, social, and political opportunities of free Black Americans in the South. Black Codes are significant because they illustrate how, even though slavery was abolished, the racist attitudes that enabled slavery continued to exist and prevent racial equality from becoming a reality.

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1866: Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills

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1866: Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills

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These were two bills passed by Republican Congress that attempted to create circumstances for racial equality in the South. The first sought to extend the life of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the second defined everybody born in the U.S. as a citizen who deserved equality under the law. Johnson vetoed both bills, but Congress overrode the veto to pass the Civil Rights Act. This was significant because it illustrates the divisiveness of Reconstruction; just because the Civil War ended, this does not mean that all members of society wanted racial equality.
Photo Credit: http://www.african-american-civil-rights.org/civil-rights-act-of-1866/

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1867: Radical Reconstruction and the Reconstruction Acts

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1867: Radical Reconstruction and the Reconstruction Acts

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Radical Reconstruction was the period of Reconstruction that occurred from 1867-1877, guided by Republican Congress. It was initiated by the Reconstruction Acts, which divided the South into military districts and outlined the creation of governments based upon universal male suffrage. Radical Reconstruction is significant because it differs vastly from Presidential Reconstruction and is characterized by legislation that actually attempted to create conditions of racial equality regardless of Southern racial attitudes.

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Late 1860s: Black Political Participation Rises

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Late 1860s: Black Political Participation Rises

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During Radical Reconstruction, Black Americans increased their political participation exponentially, and 16 African Americans served in Congress during this period. Additionally, more than 600 served in state legislators and hundreds more in local offices. This is significant because it illustrates how the Black community experienced a surge of rights during Radical Reconstruction that could have placed the nation on the road to racial equality. However, the following events illustrate how this surge of rights did not last.
Photo Credit: https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history

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The Ku Klux Klan was one of a number of white supremacist groups that emerged during Radical Reconstruction in response to the growth of African American political power. These groups used violence and intimidation to suppress Black communities and their leaders all throughout the South. The emergence of these groups is significant because it reveals the extent to which white Southerners would go in order to maintain Southern racial hierarchy. These groups present one of the clearest manners in which racial attitudes subverted law during the Reconstruction Era.
Photo Credit: https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history

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Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives following his attempt to remove Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton from office, which violated the Tenure of Office Act. Although Johnson was not removed from office due to the Senate vote (which was one vote short), his impeachment halted his efforts to impede Radical Reconstruction. This was significant because it enabled Congressional Republicans to continue passing legislation that aimed to create conditions for racial equality, which Johnson (who held strict racist opinions) could no longer obstruct.

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The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified on July 9, granted citizenship to all people born in the United States, including former enslaved peoples, and granted all citizens "equal protection under the laws." This Amendment is significant because it not only granted citizenship to African Americans, but it also gave Congress the right to enforce the Amendment, which enabled Congress to pass legislation in order to make the Amendment more of a reality. Although the Fourteenth Amendment was routinely violated by Southern states, it was eventually the foundation of the 1965 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. This illustrates that the legacy of Radical Reconstruction did enable a future fight for racial equality that is still occurring today.
Photo Credit: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/image/14thAmendment.htm

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1868-1877: Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Administration

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1868-1877: Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Administration

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Ulysses S. Grant was elected in Fall 1868, and provided a contrast to the previous Johnson Administration. During Grant's tenure, Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment and other acts to stop the suppression of African American political participation. Grant's Administration launched an offensive against the Ku Klux Klan in 1871 that eradicated it from Southern society until the 1920s. The Grant Administration is significant because it was an enabler of Radical Reconstruction, and Grant's reelection was the most peaceful election of the era. Had a more conservative democratic president emerged, the eradication of the KKK and the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment may not have happened.
Photo Credit: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ulysses-S-Grant

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The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified on February 3, prohibited states from removing voting rights based upon "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This Amendment is significant because, although it did grant people of color equal suffrage, it left open loopholes for states to interfere with voting rights without outright disenfranchisement. Southern states enacted laws such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses that revealed how racist Southern attitudes subverted equality-based legislation such as the Fifteenth Amendment.
Photo Credit: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/image/15thAmendment.htm

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1876: Democrats Gain Power in Most of South

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1876: Democrats Gain Power in Most of South

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As the 1870s progressed, Republicans shifted away from the causes of racial equality and the exercise of federal authority. By 1876, only South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were under Republican control in the South. The regaining of control by Democrats is significant because it set the stage for the solidification of the South's racial hierarchy following the end of Reconstruction, codified in Jim Crow laws and segregation measures.

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1876: Hayes v. Tilden Presidential Election

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1876: Hayes v. Tilden Presidential Election

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The election between the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and the Democrat Samuel J. Tilden was highly disputed, and the election of Hayes finally occurred as the result of a compromise. If Congressional Democrats did not block Hayes' election, he would return full control of Southern states to the Democrats. This agreement and election were significant because, similar to the Democrats gaining power in most of the states, it set the stage for the end of Reconstruction and the solidification of a strict racial hierarchy enforced by Southern laws.
Photo Credit: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/rutherford-b-hayes

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1877: Inauguration of Hayes and End of Reconstruction

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1877: Inauguration of Hayes and End of Reconstruction

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The inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes brought the era of Reconstruction to an end. Due to the compromise over the 1876 election, Hayes withdrew federal troops from the South, returning state power to Southern Democrats and ending Reconstruction. This is significant because the removal of federal troops ensured that the creation of state laws strengthening racial hierarchy would be passed with little opposition. The disenfranchisement of African Americans, strict segregation practices, and the exclusion of Black Americans from social and economic success became the standard in the South, and would persist for another hundred years before being challenged.