Download Reconstruction and Its Effects Chap 12

Reconstruction and Its Effects
Chap 12
The U.S. begins to rebuild the South,
but former slaves face new challenges
as support fades for the policies of
Reconstruction.
Reconstruction
1. Time period following the Civil War
2. Period of time between 1865 and 1877
in which the United States rebuilt after the
war
3. Process the federal government used to
readmit the defeated Confederate states
to the Union
Three Reconstruction Plans
• Lincoln’s 10% Plan
• Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• Congressional Reconstruction
Plan
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
1. Government would
pardon all Confederates
except high-ranking
officials
2. Swear allegiance to the
Union
3. After 10% of 1860 voting
list swore allegiance,
state could participate in
Congress
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
• Wade-Davis Bill
– proposed that Congress would handle
Reconstruction
– Majority of voters not just 10% had to take
oath
– Lincoln used Pocket Veto
• veto of a bill brought about by the president's
failure to sign it within ten days of the adjournment
of Congress
Johnson’s Plan
1. State would declare
secession illegal
2. States would swear
allegiance to the
Union
3. States would ratify
the 13th amendment
Congressional Reconstruction
1. Southern states
divided into five
military territories
2. Residents write
temporary
constitutions
3. African-Americans
had to be allowed to
vote
4. States had to ratify
14th amendment – full
citizenship to African
Americans
Impeachment of Johnson
• Impeach – formally charge him of misconduct in office
• Johnson had angered many individuals in the
Democratic as well as the Republican party
• Accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act
• House brought 11 charges against Johnson
• The Senate did not find Johnson guilty
Reconstruction
• U. S. Grant Elected
– Fifteenth Amendment protects voting rights of
African Americans - no
one can be kept from
voting because of “race,
color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
– Grant elected president
in 1868; wins 9 of 10
African-American votes
Reconstructing Society
Various groups contribute to the rebuilding
of Southern society after the war.
Physical Conditions of the
South
• Many southern states had to completely rebuild after the
war
• Sherman had destroyed $100 million worth of property in
Georgia and South Carolina alone
• Plantations had no value
• 1/5 of the male population was dead
• Many men who returned were mutilated and maimed for
life
Reconstructing Society
• Politics in the Postwar
South
– Scalawags —farmers
who joined Republican
Party, want to improve
position
– Carpetbaggers —
Northern Republicans,
moved to the South after
the war
Reconstructing Society
• Former Slaves Improve Their Lives
– Freedman’s Bureau – created by congress
in 1866 to help freed African Americans
– Black Codes – discriminatory laws to
restrict African American lives
– Civil Rights act of 1866 forbids black
codes
Education
• 90% of freed African-Americans over the
age of 20 were illiterate in 1870
• Through the Freedman’s Bureau and local
churches, African-Americans started
schools
• African-American universities such as
Hampton (Virginia) were formed at this
time
African-American Churches
• African-Americans
started their own
churches
• Church was the center of
the African-American
community
• African-American
ministers emerge as
political and community
leaders
African-American Politics
Throughout the
South, AfricaAmericans were
voting. AfricanAmericans filled
political offices
throughout the South.
Hiram Revels
becomes the
countries first AfricanAmerican senator.
Sharecropping and
Tenant Farming
• Free blacks had no land, therefore they were
forced into contracts with former plantation
owners
• Sharecropping occurred when land owners
give farmers land and seed in return for a
portion of the crop
• Tenant farming occurred when farmers
purchased their own tools and rented the land
they worked
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• • Ku Klux Klan—
southern vigilante
group, wants to:
– destroy Republicans,
aid planter class,
repress African
Americans
– to achieve goals,
KKK kills thousand
of men, women,
children
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• Ku Klux Klan—
southern vigilante
group, wants to:
Dang…
– Enforcement Acts of
1870, 1871 uphold
federal power in
South
– In 1872, Amnesty Act
passes, Freedmen’s
Bureau expires
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• Support for Reconstruction Fades
– Republicans splinter; panic of 1873
distracts North’s attention
– Supreme Court rules against Radical
Republican changes
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• Democrats “Redeem”
the South
– Redemption – what
Democrats called their
return to power
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• Democrats “Redeem”
the South
– Compromise of 1877
• 1. Democrats accept
Hayes as president
• 2. W/D of fed. Troops
in the S.
• 3. Fed. $ to improve S.
infrastructure.
• 4. appt. of conservative
S. cabinet member
The Collapse of Reconstruction
• Democrats “Redeem” the South
– Home rule- South is granted this which means
they can govern their citizens w/o fed. gov’t.
involvement.