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January 1st- Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slavery illegal and freeing those slaves.
July- The largest riot in American history starts over the military draft
December 8th- The Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction is announced -
Early 1864- Lincoln begins Reconstruction in the former Confederate state of Louisiana.
July- Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill
November 8th- Lincoln is reelected -
January 16th- General William Tecumseh Sherman issues Special Field Order 15, setting aside part of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida by settled by the freed slaves.
January 31st- The Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the Union, is passed by congress.
December- Southern towns and cities start to be flooded by the freedmen. -
April- Civil Rights Bill grants citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all males in the United States
July 24- Tennessee re-joins the Union
July 30- Racial Riots break out in New Orleans -
March 1st- North Carolina's first election with black candidates.
March 2nd- Radical Reconstruction starts.
August 11th- Johnson orders Grant to take over the War Department temporarily. -
Winter- Black and white lawmakers begin to work side by side.
June- Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina is readmitted to the Union.
September- Black elected officials are removed from the Georgia state legislature -
The Freedmen's Bureau consists of nearly 3,000 schools, serving over 150,000 students in the South.
February 26- Congress passes the Fifteenth Amendment
Fall- Violence against blacks continues throughout the South and Georgia legislator is kidnapped and whipped. -
February 3rd- The 15th Amendment is ratified.
March 30th- Texas is readmitted to the Union.
July 15th- Georgia is the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union. -
(1871) October- Congress hears testimony from victims of Klan violence.
(1872) May 22nd- Grant signs an amnesty bill he had advocated.
(1872) November 5th- Grant is reelected -
April 13th- The Colfax Massacre took place.
September 18th- The panic of 1873 begins with the failure of a Wall Street banking firm, spreads to the stock exchange, and eventually leads to widespread unemployment.
Winter- Articles begin to appear in the New York Tribune, accusing black lawmakers in South Carolina of corruption. -
(1874) Fall- The political tide has finally turned in the Democrats' favor.
(1875) March 1st- As one of its last acts, the Republican-led Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill of 1875.
(1877) March 4th- Hayes is declared president.