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Chapter 12
Reconstruction & the
New South
p. 416-441
At the end of the Civil War, Americans face the problem of
how to reunite the nation. Disagreements over
Reconstruction lead to conflicts in government and in the
South. With the end of Reconstruction, African Americans
in the South will lose many of the rights they had gained.
Chapter 12, Section 1
Rebuilding the Nation
p. 420-423
As the Civil War ends, Americans face
the problems of how to reunite the
nation.
Lincoln Wins Re-election
• Victories in the battlefield
ensure Lincoln’s victory in the
Election of 1864.
• Seems to be a diminished man
• Personal Tragedies:
– Death of his son Willie
– Wife’s mental illness
• Public Adversities:
– Abuse in the press
– Death threats
– Burden of war
Guilt over high death rate
• New dilemma:
• RECONSTRUCTION
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Can you spot John Wilkes Booth?
Table Question:
How would you handle the reuniting of
the states?
Would you be lenient (“soft”) on the Confederates OR
would you punish (be “hard”) them?
RECONSTRUCTION
Preparing for Reunion
Main Idea: President Lincoln and Congress do not agree about how to bring the
Union back together.
• Lincoln’s 10% Plan (from
1863 - to make it easy for southern
states to rejoin the Union)
– To heal wounds quickly
1. 10% voter loyalty oath to U.S.
2. Form new State Governments
3. Must declare an end to slavery
• Lincoln offers amnesty to
former Confederates.
– a government declares that will
officially overlook violations of
existing laws
Lincoln contemplates the fate of the South.
The Wade-Davis Bill
• The “Radical Republicans”
in Congress disagree with
Lincoln.
– Think he’s too lenient
• Pass the Wade-Davis Bill
1. 50% voter loyalty oath
2. Anyone who voluntarily
fought for the Confederacy
barred from voting (for life)
Benjamin
Henry
WADE
DAVIS
• Lincoln refuses to sign
- Never becomes law
• The South lay in ruins.
– Who needs help? see p. 424
Thaddeus Stevens
- a leading Radical Republican
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Main Idea: The Freedmen’s Bureau provides education and economic help to freed
slaves and poor whites – ALL people who had been displaced by the war.
• Provides assistance and
emergency relief to
freedmen
– enslaved people who had been
freed by the Civil War
• Sets up schools to teach
freedmen to read & write
– Assists poor whites as well
• Helps freedmen find jobs &
resolves disputes between
whites & blacks
– to decide; to solve
Freedmen’s School House
Lincoln is Murdered
Main Idea: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ends the chance of a lenient
Reconstruction
• April 14, 1865 (Good Friday)
– 5 days after Lee’s surrender
• Ford’s Theater - during the
play “Our American Cousin”
– Shot by John Wilkes Booth
• Lincoln had premonitions &
dreams about his death.
• Dies the next day at 7:22 AM
“He now belongs to the ages.”
1st
-Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War)
President to be assassinated
John Wilkes Booth
• Very popular actor of his day
• Fanatical southern
sympathizer
– Felt guilty about avoiding
military service
• Killed at a Virginia farmhouse,
while resisting arrest.
• Newspapers of the time said,
“Booth has killed the South’s
greatest friend.”
John Wilkes Booth
“The Handsomest Man in America”