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Reconstruction
The period of rebuilding the South
and the United States following
the Civil War
Reconstruction Questions
• How would the issues that
caused the Civil War be
resolved?
• What would be the legal
status of the freedmen
(freed slaves)?
• How would the defeated
southern states be dealt
with after the war? And how
would they reenter the
Union?
• What would happen to
Confederate military and
government leaders?
Presidential Reconstruction
• Began by Lincoln and carried out
by Andrew Johnson
• Reflected Lincoln’s Second
Inaugural Address
• Called the Ten Percent Plan
– No revenge on former
Confederates (Lincoln granted
amnesty to them)
– An attempt to readmit the southern
states as quickly as possible
– States would be admitted when
10% of the voters in 1860 took an
oath of loyalty to the Union and
accepted emancipation of the
slaves
Radical Republicans
• Did not believe that the
president should dictate
reconstruction policies
• Believed that Congress should
determine how the south would
be readmitted
• Outraged by the black codes
passed by the southern states
after the war
• Wanted to keep the southern
Democrats out of the nation as
long as possible; to keep their
power in the Congress
Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Forced the southern states to
reapply for admission to the U.S.
• Southern states could rejoin the
Union when:
– 50% of the 1860 voters took the
oath of loyalty
– A new state constitution was
written and approved by
Congress
– State governments were created
that included African Americans
– The three Reconstruction
Amendments were ratified to
protect the rights of the freedmen
Reconstruction Amendments
• 13th Amendment – abolished slavery in the entire
U.S.
• 14th Amendment – defined citizenship to include the
freedmen and guaranteed all citizens due process
• 15th Amendment – granted the right to vote to all
male U.S. citizens over the age of 21 (including
African American males)
Progress Made by African Americans
During Reconstruction
• African American children could attend schools for the first
time
• Business and education opportunities were opened for
adults as well including operating newspapers, holding a
public office, or attending new colleges and universities
established for them
• Morehouse College –
founded in Atlanta in 1867
by a former slave and two
ministers for the education
of black men in the fields
of ministry and education;
originally known as the Augusta Institute
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Established by Congress
to help freedmen make
the transition to freedom
• Provided food, clothing,
jobs, medicine, medical
care, and sometimes
unclaimed land to the
freed slaves
• Largest contribution was
the provision of education
to many freed slaves
• The lack of land hurt the
slaves who were expert
farmers
Few Options
for Freedmen
• Sharecroppers – people who do
not own the land they farm but
agree to give the land owner a
portion of the crops they produce
• Tenant farmers – people who
pay rent to a landowner to be able
to farm their land
• Crop lien system – farmers
borrow money to farm land they
own and pay off their debt when
their crops are harvested
Because they usually worked for
their former owners, these options
were little different from slavery
and limited the success of the
freedmen.
New South
• Term used to describe the new
economy of the south which
included more industry
Carpetbaggers – northerners
who came to the south after the
war to invest in new businesses
(mostly for profit) and help the
freedmen; helped the south
rebuild
Scalawags – southerners who
worked with the carpetbaggers
and freedmen following the
war; considered traitors by
many other southerners
Military Occupation
The Reconstruction Act of
1867 also provided for the
division of the south into 5
districts with a military
general over each one.
This military occupation of
the south was to ensure
that the new federal laws
concerning the freedmen
were being followed by
southern states.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Johnson opposed many Radical
Republican goals and vetoed
many of their bills.
• Congress was angry when he
tried to stop their harsh treatment
of the southern states, so they
passed laws to limit his powers.
• Johnson ignored their laws and
Congress tried to remove him
from office with an impeachment
trial in which he was accused of
“high crimes and misdemeanors.”
• After a 3 month trial in the
Senate, Johnson remained in
office by one vote.
Resistance to Racial Equality
• Secret Societies –
Used murder, arson, and other
threatening actions to control
freed slaves and pressure them
not to vote
• Black Codes –
Laws written to control the lives
of the freed slaves and restrict
their voting rights; they allowed
plantation owners to take
advantage of African American
workers as if slavery had never
been abolished
The readmission of the states was
difficult and corruption was
evident in most Reconstruction
state governments.
Reconstruction ended with the
Compromise of 1877 (following
the Election of 1876) which
removed federal troops from the
southern states.
African Americans in the south
were now left unprotected and
the southern states began to
pass laws to restrict their rights
and establish segregation.