Surrender The Civil War ended less than a week before Lincoln was murdered On April 9 1865 general Robert E Lee surrendered his Confederate forces to Union Commander Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in central Virginia Though several small battles occurred in the following weeks Lee controlled most of the Confederate troops His surrender in early April ended the major fighting This document promised to free the slaves in the Confederacy which made the South fight even harder They knew their loss would mean the end of slavery On April 15 1865 the country was at peace but it faced many problems Southern cities were destroyed The states that seceded had to rejoin the Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14 1865 ﱚ6ﱚ
Abraham Lincoln led the United States during the Civil War and worked to free the slaves The Civil War ended when General Robert E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Courthouse United States Northerners did not agree on how this should be done Many people wanted the South to be punished for starting the long and expensive war Finally the end of the war freed millions of slaves in the South as Lincoln had promised Everyone wondered what roles and rights these men and women would have They seemed not to know what was to be their fate since their great benefactor helper was dead and their hopeless grief affected me more than almost anything else though strong and brave men wept when I met them U S Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles describing a group of former slaves mourning Lincoln’s death These questions troubled everyone southerners and northerners blacks and ﱚ7ﱚ
Reconstruction Historians usually divide Reconstruction into three or four phases The first phase was Presidential Reconstruction 1863 1867 when Reconstruction was controlled by the presidents Historians sometimes divide this into two parts Lincoln’s Reconstruction and Johnson’s Reconstruction The next phase was Congressional Reconstruction or Radical Reconstruction 1867 1869 This was the period when Congress pushed through its plan for Reconstruction The final phase of Reconstruction was Redemption 1869 1877 when white Southerners took control and started to undo the changes made by the Republicans whites everyone from politicians to farmers When President Lincoln died on April 15 1865 the questions still had no answers The country wondered how Vice President Andrew Johnson would address the nation’s countless problems when he became president All of these issues were the focus of Reconstruction the period from 1863 to 1877 During this time politicians and citizens tried to rebuild the country This would not be quick or easy Some groups were in favor of showing mercy to the South They wanted to allow southern states to reenter the Union without harsh punishment Other northerners however wanted to punish the South They blamed these states for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died and the chaos that followed the bloodshed Politicians also debated the fate of former slaves and free blacks The freed slaves hoped for liberty and the chance for equality and success The politicians disagreed about how ﱚ8ﱚ
After slavery ended in the United States former slaves needed new homes and jobs much the U S government should help the freed slaves They questioned whether blacks should be allowed to vote in elections and attend school Officials could not agree on these or other important topics After Lincoln’s death everyone wondered if the United States would ever truly be united again His death is a terrible loss to the country perhaps an even greater loss to the South than to the North for Mr Lincoln’s humanity and kindness of heart stood between them and the party of the North who urge measures of vengeance and severity Nineteenth-century author Sidney George Fisher commenting on Lincoln’s death ﱚ9ﱚ
