reconstruction

[ree-kuhn-struhk-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of reconstructing, rebuilding, or reassembling, or the state of being reconstructed.

   the gigantic task of reconstruction after a fire.

2. something reconstructed, rebuilt, or reassembled.

   a reconstruction of the sequence of events leading to his death; accurate reconstructions of ancient Greek buildings.

3. (initial capital letter)

   1. the process by which the states that had seceded were reorganized as part of the Union after the Civil War.

   2. the period during which this took place, 1865–77.

Reconstruction

/ ˌriːkənˈstrʌkʃən /

noun

1. history the period after the Civil War when the South was reorganized and reintegrated into the Union (1865–77)

Reconstruction

1. The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. During Reconstruction, the South was divided into military districts for the supervision of elections to set up new state governments. These governments often included carpetbaggers, as former officials of the Confederacy were not allowed to serve in them. The new state governments approved three amendments to the Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment, which had a provision keeping some former supporters of the Confederacy out of public office until Congress allowed them to serve; and the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights for black men. Once a state approved the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, it was to be readmitted to the United States and again represented in Congress. The official end of Reconstruction came in 1877, when the last troops were withdrawn from the South.

The program established for Reconstruction, largely the work of Republicans in the North, was far more severe than what President Abraham Lincoln had proposed before his assassination. Large numbers of white southerners resented being kept out of the “healing” of the nation that Lincoln had called for and were unwilling to give up their former authority. Ill feeling by former Confederates during Reconstruction led to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and a long-standing hatred among southerners for the Republican party.

Other Word Forms

• reconstructional adjective
• reconstructionary adjective
• pre-Reconstruction noun
• self-reconstruction noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of reconstruction¹

First recorded in 1785–95; re- + construction

Example Sentences

Kate was told she would need a mastectomy, but advised that because of her particular type of cancer, she should not have breast reconstruction at the same time.

Read more on BBC

American companies will have an important role to play in reconstruction, investment, and long-term development.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The communities will be aimed at providing Gazans displaced by the war with housing, schools and hospitals until more permanent reconstruction can take place, U.S. officials said.

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To catalyze an agreement, Washington is counting on Russia’s desire for revived economic relations with the West and Ukraine’s need for reconstruction funds.

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This digital reconstruction of the entire mouse cortex gives researchers a new way to explore brain function by recreating conditions such as Alzheimer's or epilepsy inside a virtual environment.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• rehabilitation 
• reorganization 
• repair 
• restoration