Civil War & Reconstruction

Granted 160 acres of public land to any citizen or intended citizen who paid a small filing fee and agreed to live on and improve the land for five years. Distributed 270 million acres — 10% of all U.S. land.

Enabled westward expansion and became the most significant land redistribution in American history.

Granted federal land to states to fund the creation of colleges focused on agriculture and mechanical arts. Established dozens of land-grant universities that remain prominent educational institutions.

Democratized higher education and created the public university system.

Executive order by President Lincoln declaring all enslaved persons in Confederate states to be free. While it did not immediately free any slaves in practice, it transformed the war into a fight for human freedom and authorized Black military enlistment.

Redefined the Civil War's purpose and paved the way for the Thirteenth Amendment.

Established a system of national banks and created a uniform national currency. Imposed a tax on state bank notes to encourage adoption of the national banking system.

Created the national banking framework that preceded the Federal Reserve System.

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime. It was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments that transformed the Constitution.

Permanently ended the institution of chattel slavery in the United States.

Declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens regardless of race and guaranteed equal rights to make contracts, sue, and own property. Passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto.

Became the first federal civil rights law and directly motivated the Fourteenth Amendment.

Divided the former Confederacy into five military districts and required southern states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and adopt new constitutions granting Black male suffrage before readmission to the Union.

Imposed the most significant federal intervention in state governance in American history.

Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection and due process of law. Overturned the Dred Scott decision and became the basis for most civil rights litigation.

Established the constitutional foundation for equal protection that underpins modern civil rights law.

Prohibited the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Enforcement was undermined by Jim Crow laws for nearly a century.

Established the constitutional right to vote regardless of race, though effective enforcement required the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Authorized the President to use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan and protect the civil rights of African Americans. Made it a federal crime to conspire to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights.

Created the federal civil rights enforcement mechanism now codified as 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Guaranteed equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and jury service regardless of race. The Supreme Court struck down the law in the Civil Rights Cases (1883).

Represented the high-water mark of Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation before being invalidated by the courts.