In the immediate aftermath of the war, the federal government took steps to address the challenges of Reconstruction. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in Confederate territory. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery throughout the United States. And the Freedmen's Bureau was established to provide assistance to former slaves.
However, the process of Reconstruction was slow and difficult. The South resisted the changes that were being imposed, and there was widespread violence and unrest. The Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacist terrorist organization, was founded in 1865 and used violence to intimidate and murder African Americans.
In 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. The compromise resulted in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the recognition of white supremacy. This marked the end of the Radical Reconstruction era and the beginning of the Jim Crow era, which lasted until the 1960s.
The legacy of Reconstruction is complex and controversial. Some argue that Reconstruction was a failure because it did not fully achieve its goals of equality and justice for African Americans. Others argue that Reconstruction was a success because it laid the foundation for the civil rights movement and the eventual dismantling of Jim Crow segregation.