Reconstruction SuccessReconstruction was the period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process used by the federal government to readmit defeated Confederate states into the Union. Although all aspects of the reconstruction were unsuccessful, the main objective of the time period was achieved, making the reconstruction a success on all fronts. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start a new life. One of the first goals of Reconstruction was to readmit the Confederate states to the Union, and during the debate in Congress over how to readmit the states, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were ratified. The United States had three different presidents between 1865 and 1877, all of whom had different opinions on how states' readmission actions should be conducted. President Lincoln devised the Ten Percent Plan in an attempt to convince the Confederate states to rejoin the Union. In Lincoln's plan, all Confederates, excluding high-ranking officials, would be pardoned if they swore allegiance to the Union and promised to obey its laws. Once ten percent of the people on the 1860 voter rolls had taken the oath of allegiance, the state would be free to form a state government and be readmitted to the Union. Many Republicans in Congress were angered by this plan, because they believed it was too lenient. After President Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency with a new plan, which became known as Presiden... middle of paper... Rican Americans could raise their children without the fear of someone selling them to them. The work ethic of African Americans also changed with the end of slavery. Husbands became the family's primary providers, and wives went to work later, or stopped working in the fields entirely, so they could care for their children and homes as they had seen white women do. The Reconstruction Period After the Civil War The war was successful because it brought the Confederate states back into the Union, which is what one definition of the term Reconstruction refers to, and it helped African Americans experience aspects of life they had never been allowed Before. Thanks to the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, former slaves were able to start a new life with the legal right to defend their actions..