Reconstruction

noun

1. The act or result of reconstructing.
2. The period (1865–1877) during which the states that had seceded to the Confederacy were controlled by the federal government before being readmitted to the Union.
3. The act of constructing again.
4. Specifically, in United States history, the process by which, after the civil war, the States which had seceded were restored to the rights and privileges inherent in the Union. The period of reconstruction extended from 1865 to about 1870.
5. That which is reconstructed.