The period immediately following the American Civil War, from 1865 to 1877, when the United States was focused on rebuilding and reuniting the nation after the war.
Related terms
Reconstruction: The process of rebuilding and reintegrating Southern states into the Union after the Civil War.
Emancipation Proclamation: A presidential proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that declared all slaves in Confederate territory free.
Thirteenth Amendment: An amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1865 that abolished slavery throughout the United States.