Reconstruction was more than simply the end of war and the reintegration of the rebellious southern states into American national politics. Reconstruction was also about remaking the nation as a whole, for both victors and vanquished. In addition, Reconstruction also became a part of an enduring memory, both about the war's meaning and what happened after the end of formal hostilities."".
Reconstruction (1865-77) in U.S. history was the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and economic order founded on slavery had collapsed, with nothing to replace it. The 11 Confederate states somehow had to be restored to the Union and provided with loyal governments, and the role of the emancipated slaves in Southern society had to be defined. What is known as the reconstruction of the seceded States is a very difficult era to recall and many Americans who love their country do not like to bring back its harsh memories. Yet, it is a matter of history and it needs to be recorded in order that the parts played by the North and the South during that period are fully understood. It began under President Lincoln before the close of the war, and was carried on by President Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln, during the years of 1865 and 1866 (Franklin 1961, 31-33). .
Afterward, there was a second phase of reconstruction known as the congressional plan, which undid all that had been done by President's Lincoln and Johnson. On March 2, 1867, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Act, which, supplemented later by three related acts, divided the South (except Tennessee) into five military districts in which the authority of the army commander was supreme. Johnson continued to oppose congressional policy, and when he insisted on the removal of the radical Secretary of War, Edwin M.