![]() ![]() ![]() In December 1863, less than a year after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln announced the first comprehensive program for Reconstruction, the Ten Percent Plan. ![]() The national debate over Reconstruction began during the Civil War. In the South, a politically mobilized black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican party to power, and with it a redefinition of the purposes and responsibilities of government. At the national level, new laws and constitutional amendments permanently altered the federal system and the definition of American citizenship. Reconstruction witnessed far-reaching changes in America's political life. It was also a time when the entire nation, but especially the South, was forced to come to grips with the legacy of slavery and the consequences of emancipation. ![]() Traditionally portrayed by historians as a sordid time when vindictive Radical Republicans fastened black supremacy upon the defeated Confederacy, Reconstruction has lately been viewed more sympathetically, as a laudable experiment in interracial democracy. Reconstruction (1865-1877), the period that followed the American Civil War, is perhaps the most controversial era in American history. Administering the Oath of Allegiance to Confederate soldiers ![]()
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