Reconstruction (1866-1877)

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	Reconstruction (1866-1877)

The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867

After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, politicians faced the task of putting the divided country back together. There was great debate about how severely the former Confederate states should be punished for leaving the Union. With the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, it was up to President Andrew Johnson to try to reunite former enemies. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) provided former slaves with national citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted black men the right to vote. These were only the first steps, however, toward reconstructing the fragmented nation.

A Song Full of Hope

The "Reconstruction Amendment"

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Reconstruction

	A Song Full of Hope "James Weldon Johnson Was Born"

	A Vogue Way of Life "Conde Nast Was Born"

	A Woman on a Mission "Activist Jane Addams Was Born"

	A Woman's Right to Vote "Carrie Burnham Argued for the Right to Vote"

	Accusing a President "Vote to Impeach Andrew Johnson"

	An Office in the Sky? "Frank Lloyd Wright Was Born"

	Armchair Explorer "National Geographic President Gilbert H. Grosvenor Was Born"

	Boss Tweed Escaped! "Boss Tweed Escaped From Prison"

	By The Boardwalk "The Atlantic City Boardwalk"

	Custer's Last Stand "Custer's Last Stand"

	Derby Day! "The First Kentucky Derby"

	Education for All! "Fisk School Opens"

	Free to Learn "Howard University Was Founded"

	Home of Cliff Dwellers and Gold Miners "Colorado Became a State"

	Hug a Tree "First Arbor Day"

	Life on the Prairie "Laura Ingalls Wilder Was Born"

	Mrs. O'Leary's Cow "The Great Chicago Fire"

	Remembering Our Soldiers With Flowers and Parades "The First Official Memorial Day"

	Robbery On the Rails "The First Known Train Robbery in the U.S."

	Sleeping in the Great Outdoors "John Muir and the Sierras"

	The "Reconstruction Amendment" "14th Amendment to the Constitution Was Ratified"

	The Bell is Ringing! "The First Telephone Call"

	The Brooding Midwest? "Writer Sherwood Anderson Was Born"

	The Fires of 1871 "Fire in the Midwest"

	The Mask that Grins and Lies "Paul Laurence Dunbar Was Born"

	The Other San Francisco Treat! "San Franciscan Andrew Smith Hallidie Patented the First Cable Car"

	The Real Uncle Sam "Illustrator James Montgomery Flagg Was Born"

	The Wizard of Menlo Park "Thomas Edison and the First Phonograph"

	Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain "Chief Joseph Surrenders"

	What's Alaska Worth? "Purchase of Alaska"

	Working 9 to 5 "National Labor Union Requested an Eight-Hour Workday"

	Ziegfeld and His Follies "Showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. Was Born"

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