Reconstruction is the period after the United States Civil War when the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union in 1865-1877. Reconstruction is probably the most controversial period in U.S. history. The South needed to be rebuilt socially, economically, politically, and physically. In order to do this, President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson, and the Congressional Republicans put forth their very best effort to help them out. President Lincoln's main goal was to uphold the Constitution and keep the country united. The main goal of the Congressional Republicans was to integrate newly freed black as normal citizens into society. Basically, President Lincoln and the Congressional Republicans aimed at enhancing the United States. .
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During the years of the war, President Abraham Lincoln hoped that the southern states could be reestablished by meeting a minimum test of political loyalty. In December 1863, President Lincoln set up a process for Political Reconstruction for reconstructing the state governments in the South so that Unionists were in charge rather then secessionists. His Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 would provide full presidential pardons, which would be granted to most southerners who took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the U.S. Constitution and accepted the emancipation of slaves. It would also provide that a state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the U.S. president as soon as at least 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath. Also, Lincoln's proclamation means that each southern state would be required to rewrite its state constitution to eliminate the existence of slavery. His policy was designed to shorten the war and to give added weight to his Emancipation Proclamation. On April 11, 1865, Lincoln encouraged northerners to accept Louisiana as a reconstructed state.
