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RECONSTRUCTION
The Reconstruction
The process of re-admitting
and the Confederate states into
the Union
1865-1877
The Damaged South
• Cities, towns, and farms are
destroyed
• High food prices lead to
starvation
• Southern banks close and their
users go bankrupt
Lincoln's Plan
Wanted the process to be quick and
painless
•
The Ten Percent Plan
1.
2.
Swear allegiance to the Union
Agree that slavery is illegal
•
Once 10% agree, a new
government can be formed
•
Louisiana is the 1st to be
readmitted
Lincoln’s Assassination
•
April 14, 1865
•
President Lincoln attends a play at
Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.
•
Shot by John Wilkes Booth
• Southern who was against
Lincoln’s policies
•
Died the next morning
Vice President Andrew Johnson
sworn in as president
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
•
Similar to Lincoln’s- President
should be in charge
•
Wealthy southerners and former
Confederate officers must receive
presidential pardon to be free of
“charges”
•
BUT, he pardons more than 7,000
people by 1866
New State Governments
•
Johnson (D) was placed on
Lincoln’s (R ) ticket to appeal to
the border states
• Former slaveholder
• Democrat
•
Johnson’s plan to form “new
states” in the south was
questioned by Congress
New State Governments (cont.)
•
President Johnson’s Plan
1. President appoints temporary
governor
2. States must revise
constitutions
3. Voters elect state and federal
representative
1.
2.
Government must declare
secession was illegal
Must ratify 13th Amendment
New State Governments (Part 3)
•
1865: All but Texas are in the
Union, according to the president
•
Northern Republicans are upset,
Southern representatives were
leaders of the Confederacy
•
Congress refuses to readmit
southern states into the Union
Opposition to President Johnson:
Radical Republicans
Radical Republicans
10% too lenient-wants 50%
•
want the federal gov. to force change
•
Thaddeus Stevens & Charles Sumner
•
Gain support in Congress when Johnson
ignored black codes
Freedman’s Bureau
•
Gov. agency that provided relief
for freed people and certain poor
people in the South
•
900 agents for the ENTIRE
SOUTH
• Distribute food
• Provide education
• Legal help for freed people
Freedman’s Bureau: Education
•
Also establishes universities for
African Americans
•
Working adults go to evening
classes
• Education will help protect
rights and provide better jobs
•
Many white southerners don’t
believe freed people should be
educated
Freedom for African Americans
Slavery Ends
Thirteenth Amendment is
proposed
• Made slavery illegal in the
United States
• January 31, 1865 – proposed
• December 18, 1865 – ratified
•
Some (William Lloyd Garrison) say their
work is done, others (Frederick Douglass)
say it’s not until “the black man has the
ballot [vote]”
Changes for Freed Slaves
•
Couples legalized marriages
•
Searched for relatives that had
been sold
•
Newspaper ads placed for lost
children
•
Churches formed aid societies
•
Many traveled, especially away
from white counties
Forty Acres to Farm
•
During the war, William Tecumseh
Sherman divided plantations
• White planters refuse to give up
land
• The U.S. gov. returns land to
original owners
•
Freedman unsure where to live
Opposition to President Johnson:
Black Codes
Setting: 1866
•
Congress disagrees on rules for
accepting states into the Union
•
New southern states are passing
laws that deny African Americans
civil rights
• Black Codes
•
Example: Could be arrested if
unemployed; illegal to own a
gun, only allowed to rent in cities
Johnson vs. Congress:
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Pres. Johnson vetoes Freedman’s Bureau
Bill
Civil Rights Act of 1866
•
Congresses response
•
Gives African Americans the same legal
rights as white Americans
•
Johnson vetoes, but congress overrides
his veto
•
Propose the Fourteenth Amendment
to keep ideas constitutional
1866 Election
•
Johnson & Democrats oppose 14th
Amendment
•
Civil Rights is a key issue in 1866
congressional election
Johnson’s Campaign
Gets into fights with audience members
• Two major race riots break out in the south
•
Republicans gain the majority in Congress
The Fourteenth Amendment
1.
All born within the U.S. are citizens (except Native
Americans)
2.
Citizens have equal protection of the law
3.
States can’t take away rights without a trial
4.
Banned former C. officers from government office
5.
State laws can be reviewed by a federal court
6.
Congress can pass any needed law to enforce the
amendment
President Johnson is Almost
Impeached
•
Johnson argues that the Reconstruction
Act is overuse of federal power
•
Congress passes a law that limits
president’s power
• Johnson breaks the law
• But to trial and found guilty by Congress,
but one vote short in the Senate
• Impeachment – the process used by a
law-making body to bring charges
against a public official
Reconstruction Acts
•
Divided the south into 5 districts
•
U.S. military commander controlled each
district
To be readmitted…
1. Write a new constitution
2. Give African American men the right
to vote
Carpetbaggers
•a Northerner who moved to the South after
the American Civil War, during the
Reconstruction era (1865–1877). White
Southerners opposed them. fearing they
would loot and plunder the defeated South.
• 1868- Grant elected to first of two
End of
Reconstruction
terms
• 1870- 15th amendment allows
voting rights for African
Americans
• 1872- Amnesty Act- restores
rights of previously disqualified
Southerners
• 1876- disputed Hayes electionCompromise of 1877 ends military
occupation of the south
• Amendments 13-15 end
Legacy of
Reconstruction:
slavery and allow African
Americans the vote
• South becomes antiRepublican for the next
century
• Economic conditions for
African Americans do not
improve, leading to migration
• Differences between North
and South remain to this day