After the Civil War a period called the Reconstruction began.
The goal of this period was among others enabling the African-American citizens
their hard-won civil rights and getting the rebellious states back to the Union.
To enforce the amendments and to ensure that the new elections could be done
and in which African-Americans would also vote, the US government put the
former Confederate states under the rule of the US Army. It also temporarily
denied vote to the former Confederate officials and forbade them to run in the
elections.
