In reviewing events, documentary evidence, and biographical information, students come to understand the complex nature of political decision-making in the United States. In this lesson, they consider the momentous questions facing the country during the Reconstruction debate by weighing the many factors that went into the solutions offered. Students also think critically as they consider whether and how other solutions might have played out.

Restoring the Union
Congress and the Remaking of the South, 1865–1866
Radical Reconstruction, 1867–1872
The Collapse of Reconstruction