Download Rebuilding the South

Planning Reconstruction
 At the end of the Civil War, southerners
were starving and poor.
 Reconstruction was the process of reuniting
the nation and rebuilding the southern
states without slavery.
 It lasted from 1865 to 1877.
 President Lincoln wanted to reunite the
nation as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Ten Percent Plan
 Lincoln wanted to offer southerners a pardon for
all illegal acts supporting the rebellion.
 To receive the pardon, they had to swear an oath
of loyalty to the United States and accept a ban
on slavery.
 Once 10 percent of voters in a state made that
pledge, they could form a new state government.
 The state the could be readmitted to the Union.
Conflict
 People pointed out that Congress had the power to
admit states.
 They argued that Congress, not the president, should
control the southern states’ return to the Union.
 Other Republicans disagreed with Lincoln’s Ten Percent
Plan.
 These Republicans believed that along with the slavery
ban (Wade-Davis Bill):
 A majority of adult males need a loyalty oath.
 Only southerners who never supported the
Confederacy could vote or hold office.
The Thirteenth Amendment
 People were afraid that the Emancipation
Proclamation would be short lived.
 On December 18, 1865, the Thirteenth
Amendment was ratified.
 The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed
slavery.
 Frederick Douglass insisted that “slavery is
not abolished until the black man has the
ballot.”
Freedmen’s Bureau
 In 1865, Congress established the Freedmen’s
Bureau.
 The purpose was to provide relief for all poor
people- black or white- in the South.
 Also, the Freedmen’s Bureau helped to promote
education in the South.
 Laws in the South kept African Americans from
learning to read and write.
 Colleges and schools were established to serve
over 150,000 students.
A New President
 On April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife attended a
play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.
 During the play, John Wilkes Booth sneaked into the
President’s theatre box and shot him.
 Lincoln died the next morning as a plot went across
the nation to kill other government officials.
 Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn into office
that morning.
 Republicans liked Johnson because he seemed to
favor a tougher approach to Reconstruction than
Lincoln.
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
 Instead, Johnson’s plan was easier:
 Southerners who took the loyalty oath could vote for
representatives.
 The new state government had to declare secession
illegal.
 By the end of 1865, all the southern states except Texas
set up their new government.
 When these new representatives tried to take their seats,
Congress refused to let them in.
 They complained that the new southern representatives
had been military and political leaders of the
Confederacy.