Reconstruction
    n 1: the period after the American Civil War when the southern
         states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union;
         1865-1877 [syn: Reconstruction, Reconstruction Period]
    2: the activity of constructing something again
    3: an interpretation formed by piecing together bits of evidence
    4: recall that is hypothesized to work by storing abstract
       features which are then used to construct the memory during
       recall [syn: reconstruction, reconstructive memory]

Reconstruction \Re`con*struc"tion\ (-str?k"sh?n), n.
   1. The act of constructing again; the state of being
      reconstructed.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (U.S. Politics) The act or process of reorganizing the
      governments of the States which had passed ordinances of
      secession, and of reestablishing their constitutional
      relations to the national government, after the close of
      the Civil War.
      [1913 Webster]