Download CHA3U – Civil War and Reconstruction – Notes/Review

Civil War and Reconstruction – Notes/Review
After Slavery
 The South was in disarray. Government, transportation, the
economy, agriculture – all had failed.
 Without slavery, the plantation system collapsed.
 Farm owners struggled to keep their property.
 Poor African Americans and whites tried their best to survive off
the land.
 Some became tenant farmers: farming land they rented.
 Other became sharecroppers: people who worked the owner’s
land, and received a share of the crops in return.
 Many workers fell into debt and were forced to work years and
years to pay it off – not much different than slavery!
The Freedman’s Bureau
 Created to assist families in the war-ravaged South.
 Its primary mission was to assist African Americans adjust to
their new freedom.
 It founded hospitals, and helped northern teachers come South
and help create educational opportunities for African Americans.
 The Bureau encouraged African Americans to sign contracts with
landowners – bargaining their labour for money or a share of the
crops.
Reconstruction
 Some thought the South should be punished for the war.
Lincoln argued that the task was to restore the Union.
 Lincoln offered amnesty to all Southerners who pledged loyalty
to the Union. Once 10 percent of a state made the pledge, it
could be re-admitted into the Union.
 Lincoln was assassinated soon after realizing that he would need
to compromise with Radical Republicans who wanted to punish
the South.
 Andrew Johnson became president after Lincoln’s death, and
tried to carry out his policies, but he was very unpopular.
 In the summer of 1865, when Congress was in recess, Johnson
implemented his reconstruction program.
 His conditions for re-admission into the union were: abolishment
of slavery, repeal of secession, and repudiation of war debts.
 When Congress returned in December, every state except Texas
had followed the plan and asked to return to the Union.
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However, many Congressmen expressed alarm that former
Confederate leaders had assumed positions of power in the
South.
Congress refused to allow Southern members to take their seats
in Congress.
White Men and Black Codes
 The Radicals were also concerned about the treatment of former
slaves in the South.
 Like Lincoln, President Johnson believed that the federal
government’s involvement concerning race ended with the
abolishment of slavery.
 Southern governments set up laws called ‘black codes’ that
made it clear that African Americans were to be treated as a
class of subordinate status.
 In no Southern state were African Americans allowed to vote,
testify against whites, handle weapons, or serve on juries.
 Some blacks were arrested for being ‘vagrants’, and their labour
was sold off to the highest bidder.
The North Responds
 In 1865 Congress began enacting policies to restore the Union.
 They proposed bills to provide economic aid to African Americans
and protection of their civil rights. When these bills were passed,
Johnson vetoed them.
 In April, 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill, which
granted citizenship to African Americans and gave the federal
government power to intervene to protect the rights of freed
men and women.
 Johnson vetoed this bill, but Congress overrode his veto.
The 14th Amendment
 Congress thought the Civil Rights Bill might be declared
unconstitutional, so they passed the Fourteenth Amendment in
June, 1866. The amendment defined citizenship to include
African Americans, and required that no state deny any person
“equal protection of the laws.”
 Radicals won an overwhelming victory in the 1866 congressional
elections, giving them a mandate to enact their own
reconstruction program.
Radical Reconstruction
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Goals: replace Southern governments with military rule, ensure
former Confederates would have no role in governing the South,
and ensure that African Americans’ right to vote was protected.
By 1868, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina,
and South Carolina had regained statehood. By 1870, each of
the 10 states under military rule had been readmitted to the
Union.
Government during Reconstruction
 Scalawags: white Southern Union sympathizers.
 Carpetbaggers: Northerners who came South.
 Many confederates were barred from participating in
government, so many ‘carpetbag’ governments rose to power in
the South.
 They were corrupt and inefficient, but also spend funds to rebuild
industry and establish schools.
 Johnson continued to struggle for control of reconstruction with
Radical Republicans in Congress.
 Johnson survived impeachment proceedings, but a Radical
Republican, Ulysses S. Grant, won the presidential election of
1868.
Restoring Southern Power
 The Ku Klux Klan helped Southern whites gain control of their
state governments.
 By 1876, only South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana did not
have governments controlled by white Democrats, many of
whom were former Confederates.
 After the disputed presidential election of 1876, the Republicans
were forced to agree to several Democrat demands.
 A Southerner would get the job of postmaster general. Funds
were provided for improvements in the South. And federal troops
were forced to withdraw from Southern states.
 Without troops to protect them, African Americana lost many of
their civil rights, and the carpetbag governments collapsed.
After Reconstruction
 Segregation: Southern states passed “Jim Crow” laws which
legally separated blacks from whites.
 The New South: Northern financiers allied with white Southern
leaders to improve the South’s economy. Agriculture and
transportation production soared.
Few gains for African Americans
 Reconstruction offered only temporary help to freed blacks.
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After reconstruction, many blacks experienced similar conditions
to slavery.
They were bound to the white power structure as sharecroppers
and tenant farmers.
They were unable to get what they needed most: land and
education.
However, the constitution now included the 14th and 15th
amendments, which included African Americans as citizens and
guaranteed their right to vote. These would provide the legal
basis to challenge segregation and Jim Crow laws in the 1900s.