Reconstruction his assassination Radical Republicans ensure the rights of African Americans Reconstruction Amendments abolishment of slavery full citizenship to Americans of African descent suffrage for adult Black men Compromise of 1877 Union the South President slavery
Reconstruction began in earnest following the defeat of the Confederates. While President Lincoln attempted to foster reconciliation between the Union and former Confederacy, his assassination on April 14, 1865 drove a wedge between North and South again. "Radical Republicans" in the federal government made it their goal to oversee the rebuilding of the South and to ensure the rights of African Americans, and the so-called Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution guaranteed the abolishment of slavery, full citizenship to Americans of African descent, and suffrage for adult Black men. They persisted until the Compromise of 1877.
