Reconstruction begins in earnest following the war. 

While President Lincoln attempts to foster friendship and forgiveness between the Union and the former Confederacy, his assassination on April 14, 1865, drives a wedge between North and South again.

Republicans in the federal government make it their goal to oversee the rebuilding of the South and to ensure the rights of African Americans.

They will persist until the Compromise of 1877, when the Republicans will agree to cease protecting the rights of African Americans in the South in order for Democrats to concede the presidential election of 1876.