Confused Trump Says the Civil War and Reconstruction Were the Same Thing: A Fancy Way of Saying the Civil War'

"Truth be told, Reconstruction is not a fancy way of saying the Civil War. The term refers to the period after the Civil War, in which the former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union and had to adhere to the Constitution and federal statutes, particularly the newly-ratified 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which abolished slavery, granted citizenship and the attendant rights to all persons born in the U.S. (including former slaves), and prohibited denial of voting rights based on race, respectively."

"Reconstruction ended in 1877 as part of a deal to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876. Afterward, southern states enacted notorious Jim Crow policies, which revoked the rights gained by Black people during the Reconstruction period, often violently."

During a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, President Trump mischaracterized 19th-century U.S. history by treating the Civil War and Reconstruction as identical periods. Trump recounted a conversation with Governor Greg Abbott about Republican electoral performance in border towns, interpreting Abbott's reference to Reconstruction as merely a fancy term for the Civil War. Reconstruction actually refers to the post-Civil War era when former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union and required to comply with the Constitution and federal statutes, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. This period, which ended in 1877, was followed by Jim Crow policies that systematically revoked rights gained by Black Americans during Reconstruction.

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