During the period known as Reconstruction, the United States refought many of the issues of the War Between the States--not with armies, but in Congress and legislatures, in the press, and on the streets. Newly freed African Americans, white Southerners, and white Northerners had different concepts of freedom and differing opinions on what rights should be extended to freemen (and to whites in "Rebel" states) after the war. President Lincoln and, after his death, President Johnson were engaged in a political battle with Radical Republicans in Congress over how the South would be brought back into the Union. All that and more is captured in Reconstruction, a comprehensive overview written for high school and college students as well as general readers. Chronologically organized, the book covers the major aspects of the Reconstruction era. It explains why this era was important to the development of the country and addresses the successes and failures of Reconstruction policies. The work also speaks to the legacy of the era and shows how Reconstruction policies and the issues that underpinned them paved the way for the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century.