The Reconstruction was the period after the American [[Civil War]] in which the former Confederacy was occupied by Northern troops. This was to ensure that the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] was carried out. Some equal rights were protected--for example, several African Americans were elected to Congress from this region--but this came to a rapid end when a stalemate in the [[1876 Presidential Election]] lead to the [[Comprimise of 1877]], which ended the occupation. Segregationist [[Jim Crow laws]] were passed, and the [[Ku Klux Klan]]'s influence increased greatly after the South was no longer under military supervision. | The Reconstruction was the period after the American [[Civil War]] in which the former Confederacy was occupied by Northern troops. This was to ensure that the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] was carried out. Some equal rights were protected--for example, several African Americans were elected to Congress from this region--but this came to a rapid end when a stalemate in the [[1876 Presidential Election]] lead to the [[Comprimise of 1877]], which ended the occupation. Segregationist [[Jim Crow laws]] were passed, and the [[Ku Klux Klan]]'s influence increased greatly after the South was no longer under military supervision. |