Provides a detailed overview of the reconstruction era of the United States, from 1865 to 1877. Describes how the United States was forced to question how the new relationship of the former Confederacy and the Union be handled and how to deal with former slaves.

Following the Civil War, life in the south had changed dramatically. A significant change was found in the social order. Slavery no longer existed, leaving blacks as the majority in some states. To most Southern whites, this was a startling and frightening fact.

Essay shows the ways and to what extent the constitutional and social developments between 1860 and 1877 amounted to a revolution.

Reconstruction in the south after the Civil War.

A look at post-Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-twentieth century. Reconstruction eventually failed because while African Americans were made more equal, they were made only second class citizens tied to the land as sharecroppers. The Civil Rights Movement addressed this failure by demanding legitimate equality as opposed to the artificial rights provided by Reconstruction.