CookbookTeaching and coursesNo. 18
A unit study guide for a classone link for students, practice questions inside it
See it in know.sh
US HistoryUnit 5 study guide
2of 8
Timeline, 1865–1877
Evidence, key section, 2 sources, 280 words
Lincoln, Johnson, Revels and Hayes all appear below; read this section first. Every date here is one the test can ask about. Textbook pages 482–517 tell the same story at more length.
Reconstruction, 1865–1877
The war ends
The Freedmen’s Bureau is created
Congress sets up the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands: food, schools, labour contracts.
Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House
Five days later Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theatre; he dies on 15 April and Andrew Johnson becomes president.
Presidential Reconstruction
Mississippi passes the first Black Codes
Other southern legislatures follow, limiting where freedpeople may work, travel and own land.
The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified
Slavery is abolished. What it promised, and what it left out, is in section 5.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
Passed over Johnson’s veto, the first time Congress overrides a president on a major law.
Congressional Reconstruction
The first Reconstruction Act
Also over Johnson’s veto. Ten southern states become five military districts until they write new constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
- 24 February – 26 May 1868
Johnson impeached and acquitted
The House impeaches him; the Senate falls one vote short of the two-thirds needed to remove him.
The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified
See section 5.
The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified
See section 5. On 25 February Hiram Revels of Mississippi is sworn in, the first Black US senator.
The end
- 1877
Reconstruction ends
After the disputed election of 1876, Hayes takes office in March. In April federal troops leave the statehouses in Columbia and New Orleans, and the last Republican governments in the South fall.
Reconstruction, 1865–1877
- The war ends
- 3 March 1865 — The Freedmen’s Bureau is created
Congress sets up the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands: food, schools, labour contracts.
- 9 April 1865 — Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House
Five days later Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theatre; he dies on 15 April and Andrew Johnson becomes president.
- 3 March 1865 — The Freedmen’s Bureau is created
- Presidential Reconstruction
- November 1865 — Mississippi passes the first Black Codes
Other southern legislatures follow, limiting where freedpeople may work, travel and own land.
- 6 December 1865 — The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified
Slavery is abolished. What it promised, and what it left out, is in section 5.
- 9 April 1866 — The Civil Rights Act of 1866
Passed over Johnson’s veto, the first time Congress overrides a president on a major law.
- November 1865 — Mississippi passes the first Black Codes
- Congressional Reconstruction
- 2 March 1867 — The first Reconstruction Act
Also over Johnson’s veto. Ten southern states become five military districts until they write new constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
- 24 February – 26 May 1868 — Johnson impeached and acquitted
The House impeaches him; the Senate falls one vote short of the two-thirds needed to remove him.
- 9 July 1868 — The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified
See section 5.
- 3 February 1870 — The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified
See section 5. On 25 February Hiram Revels of Mississippi is sworn in, the first Black US senator.
- 2 March 1867 — The first Reconstruction Act
- The end
- 1877 — Reconstruction ends
After the disputed election of 1876, Hayes takes office in March. In April federal troops leave the statehouses in Columbia and New Orleans, and the last Republican governments in the South fall.
- 1877 — Reconstruction ends
```element timeline
{
"caption": "Reconstruction, 1865–1877",
"events": [
{
"date": "1865-03-03",
"title": "The Freedmen’s Bureau is created",
"body": "Congress sets up the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands: food, schools, labour contracts.",
"section": "The war ends"
},
{
"date": "1865-04-09",
"title": "Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House",
"body": "Five days later Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theatre; he dies on 15 April and Andrew Johnson becomes president.",
"section": "The war ends"
},
{
"date": "1865-11",
"title": "Mississippi passes the first Black Codes",
"body": "Other southern legislatures follow, limiting where freedpeople may work, travel and own land.",
"section": "Presidential Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1865-12-06",
"title": "The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified",
"body": "Slavery is abolished. What it promised, and what it left out, is in section 5.",
"section": "Presidential Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1866-04-09",
"title": "The Civil Rights Act of 1866",
"body": "Passed over Johnson’s veto, the first time Congress overrides a president on a major law.",
"section": "Presidential Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1867-03-02",
"title": "The first Reconstruction Act",
"body": "Also over Johnson’s veto. Ten southern states become five military districts until they write new constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.",
"section": "Congressional Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1868-02-24",
"end": "1868-05-26",
"title": "Johnson impeached and acquitted",
"body": "The House impeaches him; the Senate falls one vote short of the two-thirds needed to remove him.",
"section": "Congressional Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1868-07-09",
"title": "The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified",
"body": "See section 5.",
"section": "Congressional Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1870-02-03",
"title": "The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified",
"body": "See section 5. On 25 February Hiram Revels of Mississippi is sworn in, the first Black US senator.",
"section": "Congressional Reconstruction"
},
{
"date": "1877",
"title": "Reconstruction ends",
"body": "After the disputed election of 1876, Hayes takes office in March. In April federal troops leave the statehouses in Columbia and New Orleans, and the last Republican governments in the South fall.",
"section": "The end"
}
]
}
```Sources. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (archives.gov); the Freedmen’s Bureau records (archives.gov).
How it works
Draft the Reconstruction guide from your own unit plan and give the class one link: ten dated events from the Freedmen’s Bureau to 1877 on a timeline, key terms, and practice questions whose answers appear on review day. Then take a quiz on the guide yourself; every question you miss marks a gap.