Following the Civil War (1861–1865), the nation faced three urgent questions: On what terms should the South rejoin the Union? What rights should freed people have? Who would control this process — Congress or the President?
Reconstruction Amendments
13th(1865) Abolished slavery
14th(1868) Citizenship, equal protection, due process
AP Exam Tip (Period 5): Reconstruction is one of the most tested topics. Know the three amendments, the difference between Presidential vs Congressional Reconstruction, why Reconstruction ended (Compromise of 1877), and its long-term failure — leading to Jim Crow laws that persisted until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s–60s.