APUSH Period 5 — Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877

The second half of Period 5 in AP United States History asks two large questions: how a war to save the Union became a war to end slavery, and why the Reconstruction that followed promised so much and delivered so little. Period 5 as a whole carries between 10 and 17 percent of the exam, and Reconstruction is one of the developments exam writers return to most often.

The material follows the war from Lincoln's first inaugural address, written to hold the border states, through the failure of the Confederacy's cotton diplomacy with Britain, the Emancipation Proclamation and what it did and did not free, and the enlistment of black soldiers. It covers the Republican program Congress passed once Southern members had left, the Homestead and Pacific Railway Acts, and the conflicts of the Northern home front, where the draft and its 300-dollar commutation fee ended in the New York City riots of 1863. The Gettysburg Address shows how Lincoln redefined the purpose of the war.

Reconstruction is then taken in order: Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan against the Radicals' Wade-Davis Bill; the Black Codes passed under Andrew Johnson's plan and Congress's answer in the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment; the land question, from Sherman's field order to Johnson's return of land to former owners; sharecropping and the crop lien; the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and Johnson's impeachment; and the retreat that ended with the Compromise of 1877.

The twelve quiz questions mix short primary sources quoted in the question, from Lincoln's speeches and the Emancipation Proclamation, with questions on cause, effect and comparison: how one plan differed from another, what a policy changed, which development limited another. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the tempting wrong ones fail, including the chronology traps between the Reconstruction plans of 1863, 1864 and 1867.

The nineteen flashcards hold the battles, laws, amendments and plans of the period with their dates and their significance, from the border states in 1861 to the end of federal Reconstruction in 1877.

Work through the material after studying Unit 5 in class, or with the companion material on 1844 to 1861 when you review the whole period before the May exam.

  • Explain how Union war aims moved from preserving the Union to ending slavery between 1861 and 1865
  • Describe the wartime Republican program and the conflicts of the Northern home front
  • Compare Lincoln's, Johnson's and the Radical Republicans' plans for Reconstruction
  • Explain why land redistribution failed and how sharecropping and crop liens shaped the postwar South
  • Explain how violence, Northern retreat and the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP U.S. History course framework (course and exam description effective fall 2026), Unit 5, Period 5: 1844–1877, topics on the Civil War, government policies during the war, Reconstruction and the failure of Reconstruction. Quoted sources are Lincoln's speeches and the Emancipation Proclamation (public domain).

Sample question

In his first inaugural address, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln said: 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.' The speaker's main purpose was to

See the answer

reassure the slave states still in the Union, especially the border states, that his aim was to preserve the Union and stop slavery's expansion

Seven states had already seceded; Lincoln needed to keep Virginia, the upper South and the border states loyal. He repeated that he would not touch slavery where it existed, while still opposing its spread into the territories. He never accepted slavery in the territories, never offered to recognize secession, and at this point was not promising emancipation.

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