After the War

Bringing the two halves of the nation back together after the war was no small task, especially after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's plan for reconstruction was simple: 

• Execute a quick return to the Union
• Pardon the Southerners if they took an oath of allegiance 
• After 10% of voters in a state had taken the oath, the state could rejoin and form a state government.

When Johnson took over the presidency he agreed with Lincoln's plan but he also wanted states to ratify the 13th amendment, making slavery illegal (see full text here), and nullify the ordinances of secession. Congress was unhappy with this "soft" reconstruction and wanted the states under military rule and they wanted them to ratify the 14th amendment as well. This stated that all people born or naturalized on US soil were citizens, regardless of race, also that no state would be allowed to deny the "privileges and immunities" of citizens, deprive a person of life, liberty,or property without "due process of law," or deny a person "equal protection of the laws." The 14th was not the last of the "Reconstruction Amendments," there was a 15th as well. This amendment stated that all men of any race, color, or previous condition of servitude were allowed to vote. Even with these amendments to the constitution, blacks were not equal to whites and many whites treated them as if they were still their servants. They considered blacks violent, dirty, and uneducated. The Freedmen's bureau was founded to help blacks get out of these stereotypes. With the help of Northern schoolteachers the Bureau set up many primary and technical schools for blacks across the nation. It also helped create schools for blacks to learn how to teach. The bureau was the main reason African Americans progressed at all.