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The Reconstruction Act The two very different approaches used to get the Southern states back into the Union and defining the status of ex-slaves appeared after the Civil War. President Lincoln sought a smooth and easy readmission of the South with no big hassle on guaranteeing full rights for ex-slaves. Congress imagined a more hurtful reconstruction program with stress on improving the conditions of the ex-slaves. With the assassination of Lincoln the Congressional Reconstruction plan …

…racial segregation in all public facilities from schools to transportation. The actual impact of Reconstruction upon Blacks changed dramatically from the original intent of the Republican Reconstruction program. Designed to ensure political rights, economic and educational opportunity for ex-slaves, and interracial equality, the heritage of Reconstruction for southern Blacks was politically, a system economically, severely limited opportunities educationally, and a more completely racially segregated society than had existed on the verge of the Civil War.