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Union Demobilized
The Union Army is quickly demobilized. From a troop strength of one million on May 1, only 152,000 Union soldiers remain in the South by the end of 1865. -
Freedmen's Bureau
Assisted former slaves and poor white in the South by distributing clothing and food. It also set up more than 40 hospitals, around 4,000 schools, 61 industrial institutes, and 74 teacher-training centers. -
Civil Rights Act
Gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws(black codes) that restricted African American lives -
Tennessee Returns to Union
Tennessee is the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union. -
New Orleans Riots
Riots and a race massacre break out in New Orleans, Louisiana. A white mob attacks blacks and Radical Republicans attending a black suffrage convention, killing 40 people. -
Third Reconstruction Act
Congress passes the Third Reconstruction Act. Registrars are directed to go beyond the loyalty oath by determining the eligibility of each person who wants to take it; district commanders are authorized to re-take control by replacing the preexisting state officeh -
Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
Makes all persons "born or naturalized in the United States" citizens; stipulates that states that prevented male citizens from voting would lose a percentage of their congressional seats; barred most Confederate leaders from holding political offices -
Fifteenth Amendment Ratified
States that no one can be kept from voting because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" -
Enforcement Act
Prohibited discrimination by state officials in voter registration on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
