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Reconstruction Notes
Three Plans
I. Reconstruction: Rebuilding the south economically and politically
II. Issues
A. How to help newly freed slaves
B. How should former Confederate states be let back into the Union
C. Replacing the Plantation System
III. Abraham Lincoln’s Plan
A. Lincoln wanted to be lenient toward the former Confederate states
B. He wanted to heal the wounds of the Civil War as quick as possible
C. Lincoln’s Plan
1. Statehood: As soon as 10% of a former Confederate States population
swore an oath of allegiance to the U.S. they could set up a new state
government.
IV. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
A. John Wilkes Booth was a popular actor and Confederate spy. During the war,
he originally tried to kidnap President Lincoln in a plan to exchange him for
Confederate prisoners of war. His plan failed when Lincoln took a different road
then where Booth and his fellow conspirators were waiting. When the war end
Booth decided to try to assassinate Lincoln. He shot Lincoln while he was
attending a play at Ford’s Theater. He and his fellow conspirators were later
captured and executed.
V. Andrew Johnson’s Plan
A. Johnson was a Southern Democrat from Tennessee who had remained loyal to
the Union during the Civil War.
B. Northern Republicans controlled Congress.
C. The Republicans wanted to punish the South for the Civil War.
D. Johnson’s Plan
1. Pardoned all Southerners willing to take an oath of
allegiance
2. A majority (over 51%) of voters would need to swear an
oath of loyalty to the Union
3. State would need to ratify the 13th Amendment in order to
rejoin the Union.
4. 13th Amendment 1865– Made Slavery Illegal
VI. Radical Reconstruction
A. Outrage by Johnson’s lenient treatment of the South the North elected over a
2/3 majority Radical Republicans to Congress.
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B. With control over Congress the Radical Republican pushed through their own
plan of reconstruction. With over a 2/3 majority in both houses they could
override any presidential vetoes.
C. The Republican Congress gets so fed up with Johnson that they impeach him
and put him on trial in the Senate. Johnson wins the impeachment trial by one
vote.
1. Impeach – to charge with wrong doing
D. Republican Plan
1. Military Reconstruction Act –The law
divided the south into five military districts.
2. No state could be readmitted to the Union
with out creating a new constitution that
guaranteed suffarage (right to vote) to African
Americans.
3. They states also had to ratify the 14th
Amendment.
4. 14th Amendment 1866– Gave African
Americans citizenship and equal protection
under the law.
5. Former confederate Soldiers could not hold an elected office
VII.
President Ulysses S. Grant
A. Grant won the election of 1868. His administration was one of
the most corrupt in history.
B. Hiram Revels & Blanch Bruce were the first African
Americans elected to the U.S. Senate.
C. 15th Amendment 1870 – All men (over 21) were granted the
right to vote. No state could deny any man the right to vote
due to race, religion, or previous condition of servitude.
D. Many Southern States got around the 15 Amendment by using
literacy tests and poll taxes.
1. Literacy Test- People would have to pass a test in order to be allowed
to vote.
2. Poll Tax – People would have to pay a tax in order to vote.
3. Grandfather Clause – Gave people the right to vote if their
grandfathers voted. Even if they could not pass the literacy test or pay the
poll tax. This law allowed many poor white southerners to vote.
VIII.
Effects of Reconstruction
A. Political Changes: “The Solid South” -The southern states become loyal to
the Democratic Party, which supported segregation.
B. Social Changes: Southern Whites deny African Americans their rights
1. Black Codes – laws passed in the south to keep African Americans in
a slave like role
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2. KKK – The Klu Klux Klan – A secret organization founded in 1866 to
intimidate freed slaves through threats and acts of
violence. Their goal was to prevent African
Americans from voting.
C. Economic Changes: The plantation system was
replaced with sharecropping.
1. Sharecropping- A system in which a farmers
rented a piece of property and agreed to give part of
their crops (usually 1/2) to a Land Lord. They often
borrowed money from the Land Lord to buy seeds,
tools, and other equipment. If they did not grow
enough food they sunk into debt owing the landlord
money.
2. Industry started to develop in the South
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