March 3, 1865

Government agency to help formerly enslaved people and poor whites in the South.

Provided food, housing, education, and medical care.

April 14, 1865

Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Changed Reconstruction leadership and direction dramatically.

April 15, 1865

Became president after Lincoln’s assassination.

Favored a lenient Reconstruction policy toward the South.

1865–1866 (varied by state, beginning in Mississippi and South Carolina)

Laws that restricted African Americans’ freedom.

Tried to force freed people into labor with low wages.

December 24, 1865 (Pulaski, Tennessee)

White supremacist group using terror and violence.

Aimed to stop Black people from voting and exercising rights.

April 9, 1866

Granted citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. (except Native Americans).

Tried to protect freed people’s rights against Black Codes.

May 1–3, 1866

White mobs attacked Black residents and Union soldiers.

Dozens killed, homes and schools burned.

March 2, 1867

Divided the South into 5 military districts.

Required Southern states to write new constitutions and ratify the 14th Amendment.

July 9, 1868

Granted citizenship to all born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection.

Targeted at protecting freedmen’s rights.

1867–1868

New state constitutions drafted with participation of African Americans.

Expanded rights, including public education.

February 3, 1870

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Major step in Black male suffrage.

1875

Campaign of violence and intimidation to suppress Black voting.

Helped Democrats regain political power in the South.

March 2, 1877

Resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election.

Federal troops withdrawn from the South → end of Reconstruction.