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Chapter 18: Reconstruction and
the Changing South
18.1 – Early Steps to Reunion
• South was shattered after the war
Victorious North?
• Nearly 800,000 soldiers needed jobs
• Gov’t factories were closing down
• On the bright side, northern soil was relatively
untouched
Defeated South
• Many bridges, homes, barns, and more were destroyed
• Railroads were demolished; major cities like Richmond
and Atlanta were gone too
• Confederate money was worthless; southern banks
closed
• Freedmen – former slaves now free; made up of nearly
four million individuals
Reconstruction
• The rebuilding of the South
• Lincoln was very worried about the process
Lincoln’s Plan
• These notes are to be found on the reading I
gave you
Wade-Davis Bill
• A rival response to Lincoln’s plan
• People thought Lincoln’s was too generous
• White men in the South must swear loyalty to the
Union
• Those who VOLUNTEERED to fight for the CSA cannot
vote or hold office
• Lincoln disapproved of this bill
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Congress and Lincoln agreed on this
• Month before Lee’s surrender, Congress allowed
a new agency to be formed
• Named the Freedmen’s Bureau
• Gave food and clothing to former slaves
– Also tried to help find jobs, set up schools, and
provide medical care
Lincoln is Assassinated
• Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was never
passed
• April 14, 1865 – Lincoln attended a play with his
wife at Ford’s Theater in D.C.
• Southern actor, John Wilkes Booth, snuck into
Lincoln’s box
• Booth shoots Lincoln in the back of the head
The Original Plot
• Kidnap Lincoln; plan was altered when Lee
surrendered
• Instead, kill Lincoln, VP Andrew Johnson, and
Sec. of State William Seward
• Lincoln is killed, VP Johnson is never attacked,
Seward is stabbed several times but survives
The End of Booth
• Booth was able to escape with a co-conspirator
• Almost two weeks later, Booth is trapped in a
barn
• Eventually, Booth is shot and killed
• Co-conspirators were hanged and jailed
Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction
• Milder than expected
• Southern voters needed to pledge loyalty to
the Union
• Every state must pass the 13th Amendment
– Banning slavery in the U.S.
Congress Rebels
• Johnson allows elections in the South to elect exCSA politicians to Congress
– African Americans couldn’t vote either
• Republicans in Congress were furious
• Reps. in Congress didn’t allow southern
representatives join in session
• Reps. set up a Joint Committee on Reconstruction
instead
18.2 – Radical Reconstruction
• Southerners refused to respect being let back
into the Union
• Despite the 13th Amendment, southern
legislatures passed the Black Codes
– Laws that limited the rights of freedmen
Black Codes
• Could marry and own some property
• Could not vote, own guns, or serve in juries
• Some laws included the only work to be servants
or farm laborers**
• Sign contracts to work—no contract, punishment
to work on a plantation
Congress Reacts
• Blame Johnson’s mild plan for the passing of the
black codes
• Violence broke out against freedmen
• Accused the South for “trying to preserve
slavery”
• Johnson ignored members of Congress—Radical
Republicans vowed to take control
Radical Republicans
• Led by Charles Sumner (MA) and Thaddeus
Stevens (PA)
• Two goals: break the power of wealthy
plantation owners, and ensure freedmen
could vote in the South
Civil Rights Act 1866
• Gave citizenship to freedmen
• Johnson vetoes; Congress overrides
Fourteenth Amendment
• Fearing the Supreme Court would rule the C.R.A. 1866
as unconstitutional, Rad. Reps. Issue the 14th
Amendment
• All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are U.S.
citizens with equal rights
• Approved in 1868
• Johnson actually encouraged southern states to reject
it!
Congressional Elections of 1866
• Johnson tried to get voters to reject the
Radicals
• With violence breaking out on freedmen,
northerners knew Johnson needed to leave
• Republicans took the majority of the empty
seats in Congress
Radical Program
• With many Reps. in Congress, easy to override
vetoes
• Reconstruction Act (you are responsible to
understand the Reconstruction Act based on
the handout)
Impeached President
• Johnson is still working against the Rad. Reps.
• Fires several military commanders and other
Radical supporters
• Congress moves to impeach (remove) him
from office
The Trial
• Feb. 24, 1868, the House votes Johnson out
• Needed 2/3 vote by the Senate
• However, Johnson did not really do anything
illegal to be impeached
• One vote shy from getting him out
A New POTUS—A Familiar Face
• Johnson is a lame duck for the rest of his term
• Reps. elect Grant to be the next POTUS
• First election for freedmen—nearly 500k vote
for Grant
Fifteenth Amendment
• Passed in 1870, it forbade any state to deny
citizens the right to vote because of race or
color
18.3 – The South Under
Reconstruction
• Three new groups of people took over
southern politics
– White Southern Republicans
– Northerners
– African Americans
White Southern Republicans
• Supported new Republican gov’ts
• Businessmen that disapproved of secession
• Known as scalawags to CSA supporters
Northerners
• Many northerners came to the South after the
war (opportunities)
• Known as carpetbaggers to CSA supporters
African Americans
• With a voice, they want to be heard and take
action
• Sixteen were elected to Congress between 18691880
• Hiram Revels – first African American senator
(finished J. Davis’s term)
• Blanche K. Bruce – first to finish a full senator’s
term
Conservatives Resist
• White southerners who supported the CSA
• Racist ideals
• Helped create secret societies like the Ku Klux
Klan
• The KKK first tried to keep African Americans and
Reps. out of office
– Soon turned into racist, violent animals
Congress vs. the KKK
• Made it illegal for the KKK to keep people
from voting
• KKK became more secretive and still put fear
into African Americans
Rebuilding the South
• New schools, factories, railroads, telegraph
wires
• Allow women to own property
• Taxes were raised which angered southerners
and believed Reps. to be dishonest
“Nothing but Freedom”
• Freedmen found little success with jobs
• No real plan was put into action
• African Americans needed to test their luck or
return to what they knew—farm labor
• Sharecropping – rented and farmed a plot of land
– Given seed and tools by owner in return for share of
the crop at harvest time
18.4 – The End of Reconstruction
• By the mid-1870s, Radical Republicans began
losing power
• Thought the South had the right to run their
own gov’ts
Grant’s Presidency
• Grant added many buddies to his offices
• Some of the men stole large sums of money
from the gov’t
• He did win the reelection in 1872
Election of 1876
• Read page 531. Summarize the events and
results of the Election of 1876 into your
notebook.
Restricted Rights of African Americans
• Poll Taxes – voters must pay a tax to vote
– Poor African Americans could not
• Literacy Tests – voters are required to read and
explain a section of the Constitution
– Uneducated African Americans did not pass
• Grandfather Clauses – illiterate white voters were
allowed to vote if their father/grandfather voted
before 1/1/1867
– African Americans were not allowed to vote before
this date
Segregation
• Segregation became the new law for the
South
– Legal separation of races
• Schools, trains, theaters, restaurants,
playgrounds, cemeteries, and hospitals were
all segregated
– Known as Jim Crow Laws
Industry in the “New South”
• Cotton production eventually recovered
• Used its vast natural resources to build from
the ground up
Agricultural Resources
• More textile mills were created to turn cotton
into cloth
• Tobacco industry began to rise again
New Industries
• Oil, coal, and iron ore mining and refineries
were springing up all over the South
• Southern yellow pine was a valuable source
for lumber
• Ready for new beginnings