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Civil War and Reconstruction

Learn the causes of the Civil War, its key events and Lincoln's leadership, the Reconstruction Amendments, and how Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow began.

Practice this skill 35 min Civil War and Reconstruction Leer en español
Key idea

What you'll learn

The Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest war in American history. Reconstruction (1865–1877) came next. It was the nation's first attempt to rebuild with freedom and citizenship for formerly enslaved people.

In this lesson you will learn:

  • why the nation split;
  • how the war unfolded;
  • what Reconstruction changed;
  • why many of its gains were rolled back under Jim Crow.

How this shows up on the GED:

  • Lincoln's writings and speeches are favorite sources. Examples: the "House Divided" speech, the letter to Greeley, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural.
  • The text of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments appears often. You may be asked, "Which amendment applies?"
  • You may also see data comparisons of North and South, timelines of the road to war, and cause-and-effect questions about the end of Reconstruction.
Words to know

Key terms

  • sectionalism — loyalty to your region over the whole nation (Northerners vs. Southerners).
  • abolitionist — a person who worked to end slavery (Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman).
  • popular sovereignty (territories) — letting settlers vote on whether to allow slavery (Kansas-Nebraska Act).
  • secession — formally leaving the Union (South Carolina, December 1860).
  • Confederacy — the 11 Southern states that seceded. Union — the states that stayed.
  • border states — slave states that stayed in the Union (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri).
  • emancipation — freeing people from slavery.
  • Reconstruction — rebuilding the South and bringing it back into the Union, 1865–1877.
  • freedpeople — formerly enslaved people.
  • Black Codes — Southern laws (1865–66) that limited freedpeople's rights.
  • sharecropping — farming someone else's land for a share of the crop. It often led to debt.
  • Jim Crow laws — laws that forced racial segregation in the South.
  • poll tax / literacy test / grandfather clause — tools used to keep Black citizens from voting.

All Social Studies words in the glossary

Causes: sectionalism and the expansion of slavery

In plain words: North and South fought for years over one question. Would slavery spread into the new western lands?

The two regions had very different economies:

  • North: factories, cities, and railroads.
  • South: cotton grown on plantations by enslaved people. After the cotton gin (1793), cotton farming and slavery spread fast.

By 1860, about 4 million people were enslaved.

Comparison chart of the North and the South before the Civil War. North: factories, cities and railroads; free labor. South: cotton grown on plantations by enslaved people; cotton and slavery spread fast after the cotton gin (1793); about 4 million people enslaved by 1860. Center question: would slavery spread into the new western territories? Two economies, one dividing question NORTH factories cities railroads free labor SOUTH cotton plantations enslaved labor cotton gin (1793) spread cotton and slavery vs. Would slavery spread into the new western territories? about 4 million enslaved by 1860

The breaking point was whether slavery would spread into new western territories. Each deal held for a while, then broke down:

YearEventWhy it mattered
1820Missouri CompromiseMissouri slave, Maine free; no slavery north of 36°30′ in the Louisiana Territory
1850Compromise of 1850California free; a tough Fugitive Slave Act angered Northerners
1852Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe's novel turned many Northerners against slavery
1854Kansas-Nebraska ActPopular sovereignty → violence in "Bleeding Kansas"; Republican Party formed
1857Dred Scott v. SandfordCourt: Black Americans not citizens; Congress cannot ban slavery in territories
1859John Brown's raidFailed attempt to start a slave revolt at Harpers Ferry
1860Lincoln electedHe opposed slavery's spread; seven Southern states seceded
Schematic diagram, not to scale, of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. A dashed line marks 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude across the Louisiana Territory. North of the line, slavery is banned in the territory (free). South of the line, slavery is allowed. Missouri is admitted as a slave state even though it lies mostly north of the line (an exception). Maine, in the far northeast, is admitted as a free state, keeping the balance of slave and free states in the Senate. Schematic (not to scale): Missouri Compromise, 1820 Louisiana Territory 36°30′ N North of the line: slavery banned (free) South of the line: slavery allowed Missouri slave state (exception) Maine free state Balance kept: 1 slave state + 1 free state

Southern leaders claimed a states' right to leave the Union. But which right did they most want to protect? The right to hold people in slavery. Their own secession declarations said so.

The Civil War (1861–1865)

In plain words: The war lasted four years. The North had more of almost everything. The South had skilled generals and fought at home. In the end, the Union won and slavery ended.

WhenEvent
April 1861Fort Sumter: Confederates fire on a federal fort in South Carolina. Four more states secede (11 total).
September 1862Antietam: the bloodiest single day of the war. Lee's invasion of Maryland is stopped. This gives Lincoln the chance to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
January 1, 1863Emancipation Proclamation: freedom in areas in rebellion. About 180,000 Black soldiers eventually served in the Union army.
July 1863Gettysburg and Vicksburg: turning points. Lee's last invasion of the North fails. Ulysses S. Grant takes control of the Mississippi River.
1864Sherman's March to the Sea: destroys Southern railroads and supplies ("total war").
April 9, 1865Appomattox Court House: Lee surrenders to Grant.
April 14, 1865Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.
Timeline of the Civil War drawn to scale from 1861 to mid-1865: April 1861 Fort Sumter; September 1862 Antietam; January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation; July 1863 Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the turning points; late 1864 Sherman's March to the Sea; April 9, 1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox; April 14, 1865 Lincoln is assassinated. The Civil War, 1861–1865 (drawn to scale) 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 Apr 1861 Fort Sumter Sep 1862 Antietam Jan 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation July 1863 Gettysburg and Vicksburg late 1864 Sherman’s March to the Sea April 1865 Apr 9: Lee surrenders at Appomattox; Apr 14: Lincoln is assassinated

Strengths of each side:

  • Union: more people, factories, and railroads, plus a navy to blockade (block) Southern ports.
  • Confederacy: fought on home ground, with skilled generals such as Robert E. Lee.

About 620,000 soldiers died. Newer estimates are higher. The war kept the Union together and ended slavery.

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

In plain words: After the war, leaders argued about how to bring the South back. Congress added three amendments to protect freedom, citizenship, and voting.

Competing plans:

  1. Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan (1863) was lenient (easy). A state could return once 10% of voters swore loyalty and accepted emancipation.
  2. Andrew Johnson became president after Lincoln's death. He pardoned many Confederates. Southern states passed Black Codes.
  3. Radical Republicans in Congress then took control. The Reconstruction Acts (1867) split the South into five military districts. They also required new state constitutions.
  4. Congress impeached Johnson in 1868. The Senate found him not guilty by one vote.
Sequence chart of competing Reconstruction plans: 1863: Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan: lenient; 10% of voters swear loyalty; then 1865: Lincoln killed; Andrew Johnson pardons many Confederates; then 1865–66: Southern states pass Black Codes limiting freedpeople; then 1867: Radical Republicans: Reconstruction Acts, 5 military districts; then 1868: House impeaches Johnson; Senate acquits him by one vote. Who controlled Reconstruction? (1863–1868) 1863 Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan: lenient; 10% of voters swear loyalty 1865 Lincoln killed; Andrew Johnson pardons many Confederates 1865–66 Southern states pass Black Codes limiting freedpeople 1867 Radical Republicans: Reconstruction Acts, 5 military districts 1868 House impeaches Johnson; Senate acquits him by one vote

The Reconstruction Amendments:

AmendmentYearKey idea
13th1865Abolished slavery (except as punishment for crime)
14th1868Citizenship for all born or naturalized in the U.S.; due process; equal protection
15th1870No denial of the vote because of race, color, or previous servitude
Diagram of the three Reconstruction Amendments as three pillars. 13th Amendment, 1865: FREE, abolished slavery. 14th Amendment, 1868: CITIZEN, citizenship for all born or naturalized in the U.S., due process and equal protection. 15th Amendment, 1870: VOTE, no denial of the vote because of race, color or previous servitude. Memory trick: 13 free, 14 citizen, 15 vote. Reconstruction Amendments: 13 = free, 14 = citizen, 15 = vote 13th Amendment 1865 FREE abolished slavery 14th Amendment 1868 CITIZEN citizenship; due process; equal protection 15th Amendment 1870 VOTE no denial of vote because of race, color, or previous servitude

Achievements:

  • The Freedmen's Bureau (1865) built schools and helped freedpeople.
  • Black men voted and held office. Hiram Revels became the first Black U.S. senator in 1870.
  • Southern states created public school systems.

Limits:

  • Most freedpeople received no land. Many became sharecroppers. Picture renting a farm and paying with part of every harvest. One bad year could leave you in debt to the landowner.
  • The Ku Klux Klan used terror against Black voters.

The end of Reconstruction and Jim Crow

In plain words: The North lost interest, the troops left, and Southern states took away Black citizens' rights again.

  1. Northern interest in Reconstruction faded.
  2. The Compromise of 1877 settled a disputed election. Rutherford B. Hayes became president, and federal troops left the South.
  3. Without federal protection, white Democrats took back control of Southern governments.
  4. Over the next decades, Southern states kept Black citizens from voting. They used poll taxes (a fee to vote), literacy tests (reading tests, often judged unfairly), grandfather clauses, and violence.
  5. They also passed Jim Crow laws that forced segregation — separate schools, trains, and public places.
  6. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court approved segregation as "separate but equal."

These systems lasted until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Cause and effect chain for the end of Reconstruction: 1870s: Northern interest in Reconstruction fades; then 1877: Compromise of 1877: Hayes president, federal troops leave; then 1877 on: White Democrats retake Southern state governments; then 1890s: Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, violence; then 1890s: Jim Crow laws force segregation; then 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson approves “separate but equal”. These systems lasted until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Cause → effect: how Reconstruction's gains were rolled back 1870s Northern interest in Reconstruction fades 1877 Compromise of 1877: Hayes president, federal troops leave 1877 on White Democrats retake Southern state governments 1890s Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, violence 1890s Jim Crow laws force segregation 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson approves “separate but equal”

Timeline, 1820–1877

Timeline from 1820 to 1877, not to scale: 1820 Missouri Compromise; 1850 Compromise of 1850; 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act; 1857 Dred Scott decision; 1860 Lincoln elected; 1861 attack on Fort Sumter, Civil War begins; 1863 Emancipation Proclamation; 1865 war ends and Thirteenth Amendment ratified; 1868 Fourteenth Amendment; 1870 Fifteenth Amendment; 1877 Reconstruction ends. Sectional Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction (not to scale) 1820 Missouri Compromise 1850 Compromise of 1850 1854 Kansas- Nebraska Act 1857 Dred Scott decision 1860 Lincoln elected 1861 Fort Sumter; war begins 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1865 War ends; 13th Amendment 1868 14th Amendment 1870 15th Amendment 1877 Reconstruction ends

Notice how each deal over slavery's spread broke down. In the end came secession and war.

Worked example

Worked example 1 — Which amendment applies?

Scenario: In 1880, a state law says only white men may serve on juries. A Black man convicted by an all-white jury challenges the law.

Question: Which amendment best supports his challenge? (A) 13th (B) 14th (C) 15th (D) 19th

Think-aloud:

  1. Name the issue. It is unequal treatment by a state law. It is not about slavery, and it is not about voting.
  2. The 14th Amendment says no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
  3. Check the others: 13th = slavery. 15th = voting. 19th = women's right to vote (1920).

Answer: B. The Supreme Court agreed in Strauder v. West Virginia (1880).

Worked example

Worked example 2 — Sequence and cause

Question: Which event most directly led to the violence known as "Bleeding Kansas"? (A) the Missouri Compromise (B) the Kansas-Nebraska Act (C) the Emancipation Proclamation (D) the Compromise of 1877

Think-aloud:

  1. Bleeding Kansas happened in the mid-1850s. So the cause must come just before that.
  2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) let settlers vote on slavery. Settlers for and against slavery rushed in and fought.
  3. Check the others:
    • The Missouri Compromise (1820) had banned slavery there.
    • The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) came later.
    • The Compromise of 1877 came much later.
Cause and effect chain: 1820: Missouri Compromise bans slavery in the area (north of 36°30′); then 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act: settlers vote on slavery (popular sovereignty); then 1854–55: Pro- and antislavery settlers rush into Kansas; then mid-1850s: Violence: “Bleeding Kansas”. The Kansas-Nebraska Act is the direct cause of Bleeding Kansas. Cause → effect: Bleeding Kansas 1820 Missouri Compromise bans slavery in the area (north of 36°30′) 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act: settlers vote on slavery (popular sovereignty) 1854–55 Pro- and antislavery settlers rush into Kansas mid-1850s Violence: “Bleeding Kansas”

Answer: B.

Worked example

Worked example 3 — Reading a comparison table

Railroad miles, 1860: Union 22,000; Confederacy 9,000.

Question: About how many times as many railroad miles did the Union have? (A) 1.5 (B) 2.4 (C) 13 (D) 31

Think-aloud:

  1. "How many times as many" means divide: 22{,}000 \div 9{,}000 \approx 2.4.
  2. Check the traps:
    • (C) is the difference in thousands (22 − 9 = 13). That is not a ratio.
    • (D) is the total.
  3. What it means: railroads moved troops and supplies. The Union could move them faster. It is like one delivery company with more than twice as many trucks as its rival.
Bar model drawn to scale of railroad miles in 1860: Union 22,000, Confederacy 9,000. The Union bar is split into pieces the size of the Confederacy bar: 9,000 plus 9,000 plus 4,000, which is about 2.4 Confederacy bars. 22,000 divided by 9,000 is about 2.4. The difference, 22,000 minus 9,000 = 13,000, is not the ratio. Railroad miles, 1860: how many times as many? Union 9,000 9,000 4,000 = 22,000 Confederacy 9,000 ×1 ×2 ×2.4 22,000 ÷ 9,000 ≈ 2.4 times as many (not 13 — that is the difference in thousands)

Answer: B.

Worked example

Worked example 4 — Point of view

Background: In 1865–66, Mississippi's Black Code required freedpeople to sign yearly labor contracts. Anyone who quit before the year ended could be arrested and forced to return.

Question: Why did Radical Republicans most likely oppose laws like this? (A) They wanted Southern states to rejoin quickly. (B) The laws kept freedpeople in conditions close to slavery. (C) The laws raised taxes on Northern factories. (D) The laws gave freedpeople too much land.

Think-aloud:

  1. Forced contracts and arrest for quitting mean you lose the freedom to choose your work. Imagine being arrested for leaving a job.
  2. Radical Republicans wanted real freedom and civil rights for freedpeople. So they saw these laws as slavery under another name.
  3. Check the others: (A) is the opposite of their view. (C) and (D) are not supported by the text.

Answer: B.

Common mistake

Common traps

  • "The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery." No. It applied only to areas in rebellion. The 13th Amendment ended slavery nationwide.
  • Mixing up the three amendments. A memory trick: 13 = free, 14 = citizen and equal protection, 15 = vote.
  • Thinking Lincoln's first war goal was ending slavery. In 1862 he wrote that his "paramount object" — his main goal — was to save the Union.
  • Thinking the 15th Amendment gave women the vote. It protected voting regardless of race. Women waited until the 19th Amendment (1920).
  • Thinking Jim Crow voting laws openly mentioned race. They avoided race words. The unfairness was in how they were designed and enforced.
  • Treating data as proof of the outcome. Having more resources does not guarantee a quick win. A team with a bigger budget can still lose games.
Test strategy

GED strategy for this period

  1. Learn the anchor years: 1820, 1850, 1854, 1857, 1860–61, 1863, 1865, 1868, 1870, 1877, 1896.
  2. Read Lincoln carefully. He often balances two ideas — official duty vs. personal wish, or Union vs. slavery. Questions test whether you keep both in mind.
  3. For amendment questions, name the issue in one word first: slavery, citizenship, equal treatment, or voting. Then look at the choices.
  4. For data, check the legend and units. Compare the right series.
  5. For cause and effect, make sure the cause happened before the effect.

Check yourself

Civil War and Reconstruction
Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech (1858)

Abraham Lincoln gave this speech in Springfield, Illinois, when he accepted the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. At the time, the nation was bitterly divided over whether slavery should spread into the western territories.

(1) "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.

(2) Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.

In paragraph 1, what does Lincoln mean by "the house"?

Answer choices
Hint

Look at the sentence that follows the quotation: what does Lincoln say "cannot endure"?

Check yourself

Civil War and Reconstruction
Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech (1858)

Abraham Lincoln gave this speech in Springfield, Illinois, when he accepted the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. At the time, the nation was bitterly divided over whether slavery should spread into the western territories.

(1) "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.

(2) Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.

Which statement best expresses Lincoln's prediction in this speech?

Answer choices
Hint

Read the last sentence of paragraph 1 and then paragraph 2. What are the two possible futures?

Summary

  • The North–South conflict centered on slavery spreading west: the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and Dred Scott.
  • Lincoln's election (1860) led to secession. The war began at Fort Sumter (1861) and ended at Appomattox (1865).
  • Lincoln's main goal was saving the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) made ending slavery part of the war.
  • The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments ended slavery, defined citizenship and equal protection, and protected voting regardless of race.
  • The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. Poll taxes, literacy tests, Jim Crow laws, and Plessy (1896) rolled back the gains.
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