Editing Reconstruction era (section)

== Timeline ==
* August 6, 1861: The [[Confiscation Act of 1861]] becomes law.
* March 3, 1862: Lincoln appoints [[Andrew Johnson]] of Tennessee as the first military governor of a Southern state.
* July 17, 1862: The [[Confiscation Act of 1862]] becomes law, providing the legal basis for the Emancipation Proclamation.
* January 1, 1863: Lincoln issues the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], freeing all persons held in slavery in Confederate territory.
* December 8, 1863: Lincoln announces his "[[ten percent plan]]" for the recognizing unionist governments in Union-controlled Confederate territory.
* January 16, 1865: General William Tecumseh Sherman issues [[Special Field Orders No. 15]].<ref>[https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/ ''New Georgia Encyclopedia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212225842/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/|date=December 12, 2022}}</ref>
* February 3, 1865: Lincoln meets to discuss reconciliation with Southern representatives at the [[Hampton Roads Conference]].
* March 3, 1865: The [[Freedmen's Bureau bills|Freedmen's Bureau Act]] becomes law.
* April 9, 1865: General [[Robert E. Lee]] surrenders the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] to [[Ulysses S. Grant]], effectively ending hostilities on land.
* April 14, 1865: Lincoln [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|is assassinated]] by [[John Wilkes Booth]]. [[Andrew Johnson]] becomes President.
* December 6, 1865: The [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified.
* March 27, 1866: Johnson vetoes the [[Civil Rights Act of 1866]].
* May 1 to 3, 1866: [[Memphis massacre of 1866|Riots]] in Memphis, Tennessee kill 48, primarily freed African Americans, and injure 75.
* July 24, 1866: Tennessee is the first state reestablished or readmitted to the Union.
* July 30, 1866: At least [[New Orleans Massacre of 1866|38 people are killed and 146 wounded]] in New Orleans at a racially integrated constitutional convention.
* August 27 through September 15, 1866: President Johnson launches a [[Swing Around the Circle|national speaking tour]] to rally support for his policies.
* October 9 through November 6, 1866: [[1866 United States elections|Congressional elections]] return large majorities for the radicals, ending presidential reconstruction under Johnson.
* March 4, 1867: Congress passes the [[Reconstruction Acts|first Reconstruction Act]], establishing requirements for the readmission of additional states, over Johnson's veto.
* July 19, 1867: Congress passes the third Reconstruction Act, creating a system of military government throughout the South.
* August 12, 1867: Johnson suspends Secretary of War [[Edwin Stanton]] from office over his military reconstruction policies.
* March 2 and 3, 1868: Congress impeaches President Johnson on eleven articles of impeachment for violating the [[Tenure of Office Act (1867)|Tenure of Office Act]].
* May 26, 1868: The Senate narrowly votes against convicting Johnson.
* July 9, 1868: The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified.
* February 3, 1870: The [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified.
* May 31, 1870: The [[Enforcement Act of 1870]] becomes law.
* February 24, 1871: Representatives from Georgia, the final Confederate state to be readmitted, are seated in Congress.
* February 28, 1871: The [[Second Enforcement Act]] becomes law.
* April 20, 1871: The [[Ku Klux Klan Act]] becomes law.
* May 22, 1872: The [[Amnesty Act]] becomes law.
* March 1, 1875: The [[Civil Rights Act of 1875]] becomes law.
* November 6, 1876: The [[1876 United States presidential election|presidential election]] between Hayes and Tilden results in an electoral dispute over Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana.

[[File:Broad Street Charleston South Carolina 1865.jpg|thumb|The Southern economy had been ruined by the war. Charleston, South Carolina: Broad Street, 1865]]