Download Reconstruction 1865

Reconstruction
1865 - 1877
Rebuilding the South
Reconstruction
 rebuilding the South
 bringing the South back into
the Union
Lincoln’s Assassination
 April 14, 1865 (5 days after the war
ended)
 Lincoln = first president to be
assassinated
 Assassinated at Ford’s Theater in D.C.
 by John Wilkes Booth – Confederate
supporter – who hoped this would
create chaos within govt. and help
Confed. win war!
Lincoln… Johnson’s Plan
 Granted amnesty to all white
southerners, except leaders
 Right to vote to all blacks who were
educated or served in military
 10% Plan
– when 10% of voters of state took a
loyalty oath, state could form a new
govt. with new constitution (without
slavery)
Struggle for Control of
Reconstruction
 Battle between
President Johnson
and Congress
 Johnson’s policy =
easy on the south:
amnesty
– Ex: black codes
(control former
slaves/restrict
freedom)
Struggle for Control of
Reconstruction (contd.)
 Congress
enacts bills to
help freedmen
(14th Amend.,
Freedmens’
Bureau, and
Reconstruction
Act of 1867)
Impeachment of
Johnson
 Johnson was 1st
President impeached
by Congress because
of his ideas on
Reconstruction & his
“slap on the wrist”
actions
 Not convicted &
stayed in office
Civil War Amendments
 13th – freed the slaves
 14th – gave all freed men
citizenship
 15th – gave all citizens the right to
vote (not women)
Jim Crow Laws
 Laws enforcing segregation of
blacks & whites in South after Civil
War
Ku Klux Klan
 White Supremacist
organization set up in South
to scare blacks away from
voting & seeking equal
rights
 claimed to be “the Ghosts of
the Confederate Soldiers”
 Segregation & Oppression
continue
Freedmen’s Bureau
 Govt. agency to
help former
enslaved people
Scalawags
Southerners who sided with the
Republicans & their policies for
Reconstruction
Carpetbaggers
 Northerners who settled in the
South after the war
 Supported the Republicans
President Grant (1869-1877)
 enforced civil rights laws & fought KKK
violence
 did not have an entourage of political
advisors; instead relied on Army buddies
 Whiskey Ring – scandal involving distillers &
corrupt officials making millions of $$$ off
of tax evasion on liquor
– Grant not directly involved in “ring”
Compromise of 1877
 Debate on presidential election between
Hayes (Republican) & Tilden
(Democrat)
 Hayes would get presidency IF…
– Republicans agreed to withdraw remaining
fed. troops from the south
– Because they leave, Reconstruction comes
to an end!