北方聯盟在內戰時期擊敗南方之後，政治家開始面對如何重組分裂的國家的任務。當時對於是否應針對前南方聯盟各州脫離中央的行為予以嚴懲，曾經引起相當熱烈的辯論。在林肯總統於1865年遇刺之後，接納敵人的工作就交給繼任的強森 (Andrew
Johnson) 總統。1867年通過的重建法案 (The
Reconstruction Act) 提出了南方各州重新加入聯邦的相關程序。1868年通過的憲法第14修正案也正式給予奴隸國家公民的身份。後來在1870年通過的第15項修正案裡，又賦予黑人男性投票的權利。不過，這些都只是重建這個分裂國家的初步行動罷了。
After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, politicians faced the task of putting the divided country back together. There was great debate about how severely the former Confederate states should be punished for leaving the Union. With the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, it was up to President Andrew Johnson to try to reunite former enemies. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) provided former slaves with national citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted black men the right to vote. These were only the first steps, however, toward reconstructing the fragmented nation.
