Reconstruction and its Effects

Reconstruction, one of the most turbulent and controversial eras in American history, began during the Civil War and ended in 1877. It witnessed America's first experiment in interracial democracy. Just as the fate of slavery was central to the meaning of the Civil War, so the divisive politics of Reconstruction turned on the status the former slaves would assume in the reunited nation. Reconstruction remains relevant today because the issues central to it -- the role of the federal government in protecting citizens' rights, and the possibility of economic and racial justice -- are still unresolved.
-America's Reconstruction:People and Politics After the War. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2003. Web. 11 November 2012. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/introduction.html

Today, you will explore whether or not the United States' efforts to reconstruct from 1865-1877 successfully answered the issues raised by the end of the Civil War and whether there is unfinished work that we are still dealing with today.  To do so, open this document and follow its instructions carefully.  You will need to do a "save as" to your own documents in order to edit it.