Just the Facts: U.S. History : Reconstruction of the United States

Reconstruction in United States history, refers both to the period after the Civil War when the States of the breakaway Confederacy were reintegrated into the United States of America, and to the process by which this was accomplished. Northern moderates and radicals alike agreed that for the war to be declared a victory, three points had to be achieved: the Confederacy had to be truly dead, slavery had to be truly dead, and the possibility of either being revived had to be eliminated. How to achieve these three goals and who would decide when they were achieved, caused great controversy. This program presents each side of the controversy and how the goals to achieve reconstruction were outlines and achieved.