on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant surrendered to the Union. After four years and countless deaths, the seemingly perpetual blood-bath was over. Also marking the end of the war was the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. More people died in the Civil War (almost 625 thousand) than in any other US War in history. Though the south had been defeated, there was no real winner. The United States had been dealt a blow that would take years to undo. A reconstruction of the union was greatly needed. Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the rest of congress all had different ideas of how the Union should be reconstructed. Where Lincoln and Johnson favored a less strict approach to the re-unionization, congress believed that the punishments to the south should be just that, punishments. Obviously, the south favored Lincoln and Johnson's ideas more so than that of congress. Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated before he could implement his plan. His death was mourned by north
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