Download Chapter 18, Section 1

CHAPTER 18,
SECTION 1
Rebuilding the Union
Key Terms
• Radical Republican – a congressman who, after the Civil War, favored
using the government to create a new order in the South and to give
African Americans full citizenship and the right to vote
• Reconstruction – the process the U.S. government used to readmit the
Confederate states to the Union after the Civil War
• Freedmen’s Bureau – a federal agency set up to help former slaves after
the Civil War
• Andrew Johnson – Lincoln’s Vice President; Democrat; former slaveholder
from Tennessee; became president when Lincoln was assassinated
• Black codes – laws passed by Southern states that limited the freedom of
former slaves
• Civil rights – rights granted to all citizens
• Fourteenth Amendment – an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed
in 1868, that made all persons born or naturalized in the United States
(including former slaves) citizens of the country
Terms and People
• Abraham Lincoln – president who wanted to
bind up the wounds of the Civil War as quickly
as possible
• amnesty – a group pardon
• freedman – a man or woman who was legally
freed from slavery after the Civil War
• impeachment – bringing of formal charges
against a public official
Terms and People
• Hiram Revels – an African American senator
• Blanche Bruce – an African American senator
• scalawag – a southern white who had opposed
secession
• carpetbagger – a northern white who went
south to start a business or pursue political office
Reuniting the
Nation:
Civil War
Reconstruction
Opening Discussion
 Reflect
 What
on political parties/conflict.
do you know about those of the
past and also in the current world?
Bell Ringer


These questions focus on the divisions that
remained in the country after the Civil War.
1. Read the quote on page 533. Do you
think the speaker is a Southerner? Explain.
“The whole fabric of southern society must be changed…If the South is ever to be
made a safe Republic let her lands be cultivated by the toil of the owners, or the free
labor of intelligent citizens.” - Thaddeus Stevens, quoted in The Era of Reconstruction
by Kenneth Stampp

2. How do you think most white
Southerners would respond to the
speaker’s plans?
Objectives
• Describe the postwar challenges that faced the
nation.
• Compare and contrast President Lincoln’s plan
for Reconstruction with the plan proposed by
Congress.
• Identify the goals of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
• Describe the immediate impact of Lincoln’s
assassination.
Objectives
• Explain why conflicts developed over plans for
Reconstruction.
• Describe the changes in the South brought
about by Radical Reconstruction.
• Explain how Congress tried to remove President
Johnson from office.
How did the government try to solve key
problems facing the nation after the Civil
War?
After the Civil War, the nation faced enormous
problems, especially in the South.
The government developed a plan for states to
return to the Union and created an
organization to help people freed from slavery.
What was Reconstruction?
The plan to bring the Confederate
States back into the United States so
that the country could be ONE
NATION again
When the Union won the Civil
War the big questions were:
What should Southern states have to do to be readmitted to the Union?
What should happen to southerners who participated in the war effort?
What should happen to the newly emancipated slaves?
During the Civil War, vast stretches of the
South were devastated.
Americans had to
bring the North
and South
together again.
This process was
known as
Reconstruction.
Americans were forced to consider difficult questions
during Reconstruction.
What plans would
be made for
people who had
been freed from
slavery?
Who would help
the homeless
refugees who
needed food,
shelter, and work?
Lincoln’s View of Reconstruction
“With malice
toward none,
with charity for
all...”
Second Inaugural Address, 1865
President Abraham Lincoln and Congress
proposed different plans for Reconstruction.
President
Lincoln’s
plan
Ten
Percent
Plan
Congress’s
plan
WadeDavis Bill
When 10% of a state’s
voters swore an oath of
loyalty, they could
organize a new state
government.
When 50% of a state’s
voters swore loyalty, they
could organize a new
state government.
Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan made it easy for
southern states to rejoin the Union.
If . . .
Then . . .
10% of a state’s voters
swore loyalty to the
United States.
That state could form a
new state government.
That government
declared an end to
slavery.
The state could take part
in national government
again.
Former Confederates
would receive amnesty.
The Wade-Davis Bill was much stricter.
If . . .
Then . . .
50% of a state’s
voters swore loyalty to
the United States.
That state could rejoin
the Union.
People in that state
had voluntarily fought
for the Confederacy.
They would not have
voting rights.
Lincoln refused to sign the bill, so it was
never passed.
Republican leaders had different ideas about how
to keep their party strong in the new South.
Lincoln believed that
a “soft” policy would
help him win support
from influential
southerners.
Others argued that a
strict plan would
keep the South from
regaining power and
weaken their control.
The government also had to deal with the needs of
freedmen.
In 1865, Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau.
The bureau’s first duty was to provide emergency relief
to people displaced by the war.
The Freedmen’s Bureau set up schools in the South.
Many southern states lacked public education before
the war.
Now, public schools began to educate both blacks
and whites.
The Freedmen’s Bureau defended the freedom of former
slaves in several ways.
It helped
freedmen
find jobs.
It resolved
disputes
between
white
Americans
and
freedmen.
It set up its
own courts to
deal with
some
disputes.
President Lincoln did not live to put his plans into
practice.
Lincoln was shot by
John Wilkes Booth,
a Confederate
sympathizer, while
attending a play.
Booth was captured and killed, but Americans
remained stunned by Lincoln’s death.
Lincoln’s successor was Vice President Andrew
Johnson, a southern Democrat who had remained
loyal to the Union.
Johnson had shown bitterness toward the
Confederates.
Many Americans expected him to take a strict
approach to Reconstruction.
How did disagreements over Reconstruction
lead to conflict in government and in the
South?
President Andrew Johnson and Congress
disagreed over plans for Reconstruction.
This led to a battle for power between
Congress and the Presidency.
Like Lincoln, President Johnson proposed a less
demanding plan for Reconstruction.
• He gave amnesty to
most former
Confederates.
• He allowed southern
states to organize new
governments and elect
representatives to
Congress.
Johnson required states to ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment.
This amendment
abolished slavery and
forced labor.
Slavery
The Thirteenth Amendment gave Congress
the power to make laws to enforce its terms.
Reconstruction Begins
1. What challenge did the South face after the Civil War?
– Building a new society not based on slavery
2. What was Reconstruction?
– The process the federal government used to readmit the
Confederate states to the Union (1865-1877)
3. What were Johnson’s Reconstruction policies?
– Insisted new state governments ratify the 13th Amendment
– Insisted they accept the Supreme power of the federal government
– Offered amnesty to most white Southerners and said he would
return their property in exchange for a pledge of loyalty
CONFLICTS OVER RECONSTRUCTION
Congress rejected Johnson’s lenient approach
and began to debate a new plan.
To sidestep the
abolishment of
slavery, some
southerners
supported black
codes, a system
of near-slavery.
Anger over these
developments led
Radical
Republicans in
Congress to
adopt a hard
line.
Black Codes
White Southerners sought
ways to control newly freed
African Americans
They wrote Black Codes to
regulate civil and legal
rights, from marriage to the
right to hold and sell
property
African American men who
were arrested for vagrancy
due to unemployment
In many ways the codes
guaranteed African
Americans would continue
working as farm laborers
The struggle over Reconstruction led to direct
clashes between the President and Congress.
Congress passed
the Civil Rights
Act of 1866. It
gave citizenship to
African Americans.
Johnson
vetoed the
bill.
Congress overturned the veto. It became law.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
Next, Congress passed the Fourteenth
Amendment.
The Fourteenth Amendment
All people born or naturalized in the
United States are citizens.
States must allow all males over 21
to vote.
The Fourteenth Amendment was not fully
enforced until the 1970s.
Radical Republicans won enough support to
begin a series of reforms known as Radical
Reconstruction.
They passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The
act stated that to return to the Union, southern
states had to:
write a new
state
constitution
ratify the
Fourteenth
Amendment
allow African
Americans to
vote
The act imposed military rule on states that
refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment,
dividing them into five military districts.
Overall, the Reconstruction policies of the Radical
Republicans were much stricter and more
comprehensive than those of President Johnson.
President Andrew
Johnson
• majority of white men
must swear oath of
loyalty
• states must ratify 13th
Amendment
• former Confederate
officials may vote and
hold office
Radical Republicans
• state governments must
disband
• states must write new
constitutions
• states must ratify 13th
and 14th Amendments
• must allow African
American men to vote
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
■4. What policies of new Southern state governments angered Congress?
– Some refused to ratify the 13th Amendment
– Passed the black codes
– The new governments seemed too much like the old
■5. How did Congress deal with the Southern states?
– Refused to seat representatives from the South
– Set up a committee to study conditions in the South
and decide if Southern states should be represented
6.
How did the Radical Republicans wish to reorganize the South?
– Wanted federal government to play an active role
– Demanded full and equal citizenship for African Americans
– Wanted to destroy the South’s old ruling class
– Wanted small farms, free schools, respect for labor, and political
equality
The Civil Rights Act/The Fourteenth
Amendment
■7. What were the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth
Amendment?
– Civil Rights Act of 1866 
■ All persons born in U.S. (except Native Americans) were citizens
■ Entitled to equal rights regardless of race
■ President Johnson vetoed this bill, but Congress overrode the veto
– Fourteenth Amendment  “Equal protection of the laws”
■ All people born in U.S. were citizens and had the same rights
■ Said that any state that kept African Americans from voting would lose
representatives in Congress
– Southern states would have less power if they did not grant black
men the vote
– Overturned the Dred Scott decision
■8. What was the effect of opposition to civil rights legislation?
– Congress overrode Johnson’s veto, passed 14th Amendment
– Johnson and the former slave states (except TN) passed the
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
The Civil Rights Act/The Fourteenth
Amendment, continued
■9. What were the provisions of the Reconstruction Act of 1867?
1. Divided the South into five military districts, each run by an army
commander
2. Members of the ruling class before the war lost their voting rights
3. Before Southern states could be readmitted to the Union, they
had to:
1. Approve new state constitutions that gave the vote to all adult men,
including African Americans
2. They must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
Radical Reconstruction brought about many
improvements:
Southern states
opened their
first public
schools.
Taxes and voting
rules became
fairer for all
citizens.
Legislators
granted women
property rights.
States rebuilt
bridges, roads,
and buildings.
For the first time in American history, African
Americans in the South played an active role
in politics.
African Americans were
elected to local and
statewide offices.
Hiram Revels and
Blanche Bruce
became the nation’s
first African American
senators.
Thomas Waterman Wood, artist
In his 1868 painting, His First Vote, how do you think the
man felt about voting?
The Republican Party built a strong following
during this time, based on three groups.
1
Freedmen voters.
2
Scalawags, or southern whites
who had opposed secession.
3
Carpetbaggers, or northern whites
who came to work in the South.
Radical Republican power peaked in 1868.
The Radicals tried to remove President Johnson
from office by impeachment. Johnson received
just enough votes to stay in office.
Then, General
Ulysses S. Grant
won the 1868
presidential
election.
Grant was a
moderate, so the
Radicals began to
lose power.
The New Southern
Governments/Johnson is
Impeached
■10. What groups controlled the drafting of new state constitutions in the South in
1867?
– ¾ were Republican
■
■
■
½ of those were poor white farmers (scalawags)
¼ were carpetbaggers
Rest of were African Americans
■11. What were the effects of the new state constitutions?
– Set up public schools
– Gave the vote to all adult males
– By 1870, voters in all southern states approved the constitutions, so the
Confederate states were back in the Union
■12. Why was President Johnson impeached? What was the verdict in the
impeachment?
– He violated the Tenure of Office Act (fired Stanton)
– He was acquitted by a single vote