#reconstruction-era

#reconstruction-era

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.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was the pivotal event in United States history and the largest armed conflict in the Western world following the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) and prior to the beginning of the First World War (1914). The central cause of the war was the institution of slavery, which had increasingly caused conflict between Southern states, which relied heavily on slave labor for their agrarian economy, and Northern states, which were heavily industrialized and had far less need for slaves.

Gone are the heady days of the beach read, summarily swapped for the kinds of books a school board can really get behind. At least, that's true for the lucky folks who still get to make learning their primary occupation. For everyone else, there's a consolation for the drudgery of the day job: those happy off-hours when, instead of The Great Gatsby, say, you can still crack open whatever you darn well please.