The Reconstruction era represents the period following the American Civil War from April 9, 1865, to March 31, 1877. President Abraham Lincoln would be the first in a series of three presidents attempting to guide the Reconstruction era in American society postwar. The period often involved contentious debates between the executive branch and Radical Republicans in Congress regarding the methods for reunification of the North and South. The abolition of slavery under the 13th Amendment and subsequent advances under the 14th and 15th Amendments would usher in an experimental period in American society intended to determine the destiny of freedmen in the nation. Many Black men were elected to Southern legislatures in the period directly following the passage of the Reconstruction Amendments. Southern states criticized the carpetbaggers' (the derogatory name given to some northerners who moved to the post-war south to start businesses) greed and corruption and remained loyal to the former Confederates who were elected to office during the period. The end of the Reconstruction era came after the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in 1874 moved to no longer fund the effort. But what was to come of freed African Americans who needed protection and more direction from their government after 250 years of brutal slavery.