The Civil War, and the Reconstruction following it, was on the most significant periods in U.S. history. Here, the author explains President Lincoln's dilemma in keeping the country from engaging in a civil war and the subsequent struggle unite the North and South after the war ended. Primary source documents offer information on the Radical Republicans and their desire to give equal rights to freed blacks, and on the conditions that would not improve years as the country was forced to contend with riots, lack of rights for freed slaves, lynchings, and tampered elections.