Answer: One important issue was the right to vote, and the rights of black American men and former Confederate men to vote were hotly debated.
Explanation: President Abraham Lincoln died 150 years ago today. He had been shot by actor John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in the nation's capital. His assassination came just five days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered the main Confederate forces in Appomattox, Virginia, ending four years of civil war, with over 750,000 casualties, two events with long-lasting effects.
Jeffrey Brown takes it from there.