The Late Nineteenth Century: Struggling with Corruption and Fraud

Abstract

Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in late 1865 after the carnage and chaos of the war had ended. Lee had surrendered in April of that year, and Abraham Lincoln was shot less than a week later. Republicans, in command of Congress since the inauguration of Lincoln in 1861, were not deterred by his assassination. They imposed military rule on the defeated region after becoming dissatisfied with the results of conciliatory moves by the new president, Andrew Johnson. Occupation would remain in some states until the adoption of an 1877 understanding that helped end the stalemate over the national election of 1876 (see section 3.8).