- Howard, Oliver Otis
- Major General Oliver O. Howard, a Medal of Honor recipient, commanded Union troops in both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the American Civil War and served as the only commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction. Continue Reading »
- Freedmen's Bureau Acts
- SEE Freedmen's Bureau»
- Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
- SEE Freedmen's Bureau»
- Freedmen's Bureau
- The Freedmen's Bureau was an important agency of the early Reconstruction era, assisting freedmen (freed ex-slaves) in the South. Continue Reading »
- Wade-Davis Bill
- Co-authored by Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade and Maryland Congressman Henry Winter Davis in 1864, the Wade-Davis Bill was an attempt to impose harsh Reconstruction terms on the South, which President Lincoln pocket vetoed. Continue Reading »
- Joint Committee on Reconstruction
- Created by the Thirty-ninth U.S. Congress, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction markedly altered the course of Reconstruction after the American Civil War. Continue Reading »
- Johnson, Andrew
- Born into poverty, Andrew Johnson rose to become the seventeenth President of the United States in 1865. Although acquitted in his trial before the U.S. Senate, Johnson remains one of only two presidents ever impeached by the House of Representatives. Continue Reading »
- Bingham, John A.
- An influential congressman from Ohio during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras, John Bingham drafted the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Continue Reading »
- Trumbull, Lyman
- Lyman Trumbull served as a United States Senator from Illinois for nearly three decades. During his tenure, he spearheaded the enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Continue Reading »
- Stevens, Thaddeus
- One of the more powerful Congressional Representatives in U.S. history, Thaddeus Stevens was a dominant member of the Radical Republicans who crafted Congressional Reconstruction policies after the American Civil War. Continue Reading »
- Seward, William H.
- William Henry Seward was Governor of New York and a United States Senator. He also served as Secretary of State during the administration of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. During his tenure as Secretary of State, Seward brokered a deal with Russia for the United States to purchase Alaska. Continue Reading »
- 14th Amendment
- SEE Fourteenth Amendment»
- 15th Amendment
- SEE Fifteenth Amendment»
- Reconstruction Acts
- The Reconstruction Acts were four bills passed by the United States Congress between March 2, 1867 and March 11, 1868 that established criteria and procedures for former Confederate states, excluding Tennessee, to regain readmission to the Union. Continue Reading »
- Fifteenth Amendment
- Approved by Congress on February 26, 1869, ratified by the states on February 3, 1870, and certified by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish on March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution affirmed that, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Continue Reading »
- Fourteenth Amendment
- Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was the second of the Reconstruction Amendments proposed by Congress and ratified by the states following the American Civil War. Continue Reading »
- Civil Rights Act of 1866
- Enacted by Congress over President Andrew Johnson's veto, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 aimed to counter Black Codes enacted by Southern states by validating the citizenship of former slaves and endowing them with specific, federally-guaranteed, civil rights Continue Reading »
- Ashley, James M.
- James M. Ashley was a five-term Ohio Congressman and Radical Republican leader who introduced the House proposal that would become the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Continue Reading »
- 13th Amendment
- SEE Thirteenth Amendment»
- Thirteenth Amendment
- Approved by Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished the practice of slavery except as a punishment for crime in the United States and bestowed Congress with broad powers to ensure the amendment's enforcement. Continue Reading »