Job #1: Put the U.S. back together    The main task of the Reconstruction period was to bring the 11 former Confederate states back again as part of the United States.  Also, the people of the Southern states had to be brought back as loyal citizens and voters.

Job #2: Helping the former slaves   The end of the Civil War meant the end of slavery - everyone understood that.  But beyond that basic fact was much uncertainty.  Creating a new place in society for the freed slaves was another big challenge for the years of Reconstruction.  Most of the freedmen, as they were called, had no education, no land, and no money.     The photo shows a black family in Richmond as the Reconstruction period began.

The legacy of the Civil War leaders    The country was lucky that some of the Civil War leaders on both sides wanted to move the country forward.  Three leaders left an especially important legacy or impact.  They were U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and Frederick Douglass, a famous public speaker.  Here are some facts about them:

Abraham Lincoln * Lincoln was the president of the U.S. (the Union) during the Civil War.  He was assassinated shortly after the war ended in 1865. * Preserving the Union was his most important goal, both during the war and after it ended. * Lincoln wanted reconciliation (to forgive and make friends again), not punishment of the South, after the war ended.

Robert E. Lee * Lee, from Virginia, was the most famous general for the South. * After the surrender in 1865 he urged Southerners to reconcile (become friends again) with the North and reunite as Americans. * Lee became president of Washington College in Virginia.  He introduced new ideas that changed and improved college education.  (The school is now Washington and Lee University.)

Frederick Douglass * He escaped from slavery before the Civil War began.  He became a famous public speaker against slavery and started a newspaper called The North Star. * After the war, he remained a strong voice speaking out for human rights and civil liberties for all people. * Douglass called for approval of constitutional amendments to guarantee voting rights for all citizens - black and white, male and female.

A picture of hopeful progress    Reconstruction was a time of enormous and often difficult changes, especially in the South.  The drawing below, however, tells another part of the story.  It is the market area of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1868.  The Civil War had ended three years earlier, and was sliding into history.  Slavery had been ended.  On this day, at least, townspeople, farmers, and shopkeepers - including both whites and blacks - are living the normal life of any city: buying, selling, and bargaining for prices in the market.  That was progress, indeed.