In the history of the Unite States, "Reconstruction" refers to the period between 1863 or 1865 and 1877 when the federal government focused on resolving the consequences and aftermath of the American Civil War (1861–1865). It is also the common name for the general history of the post-Civil War era in the former Confederacy between 1865 and 1877. The start of the period is often dated to the capitulation of the Confederacy in 1865, shortly after which the practice of slavery was brought to an end. Some historians, however, date its beginning to 1863, the year of the Emancipation Proclamation.