Download To Reconstruct a Nation

To Reconstruct a
Nation
Reconstruction
O The entire nation felt the effects of the Civil War
O Towns, factories, farm fields, and railroads lay in ruins,
especially across the South.
O With slavery ending, and the wealth many plantation
owners had enjoyed gone, society had been forever
changed.
O The entire nation needed to be remade, or
reconstructed, in the wake of the war’s changes.
Some Lose, Others Gain
O Most Americans were relieved the fighting was
finally over, but they mourned the loss of so many
lives.
O In the South, returning soldiers were shocked to
see what was left of their land, their homes, and
sometimes their families.
O In 1865, the nation ratified the 13th amendment,
which outlawed slavery in every state.
O More than 275,000 black people in TN celebrated
their freedom, calling the day they found out
“Day of Jubilee.”
Adjusting to a New Life
O What is this
picture’s theme
(message)?
The Freedmen’s Bureau
O The Freedmen’s Bureau is the name of the
agency that was created to help former
slaves.
O The official name was the Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.
O The mission was to help former slaves and
other victims of the Civil War to start or
rebuild a life for themselves and to help
protect the newly won rights of freedpeople.
Sharecropping
O Sharecropping- where a farmer agrees to
work land owned by someone else, and grow
crops the landowner wants to grow. At
harvest time, the landowner then gives a
share of the crop to the sharecropper.
Sharecroppers then sell their portion of the
crop for whatever price they can get.
O It became another way to “control” former
slaves – it did not pay well, and many
sharecroppers went into debt.
“I was in debt, and the man I rented land from said
every year I must rent again to pay the other year,
and so I rents and rents and each year I gets deeper
and deeper in debt.”
-John Solomon Lewis, a Louisiana sharecropper
Presidential Reconstruction
O Lincoln’s plan:
O Allow southern states back into the Union
without too much anger on either side
O Remake the country so the war would never
happen again
O But then…..
Lincoln is Killed
O President Lincoln was assassinated at
Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. while
watching a play with his wife.
O John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the head.
O Booth then leapt from the balcony to the
stage, broke his leg, but still managed to
escape.
O He was later found and killed.
A Tennessean
in the White House
O A few hours after President Lincoln was
killed, Vice President Andrew Johnson was
sworn in as President.
O He had a very difficult task before him as
America mourned its great leader.
O He was a Tennessean and a Democrat
O At first, President Johnson wanted to punish
the Confederate leaders.
Presidential Reconstruction
O He soon changed his mind and suggested
the Confederate states be returned to the
Union as soon as they ratified the 13th
amendment.
O Confederate leaders would have to
personally seek a presidential pardon from
him for their actions during the war.
O Most Republicans thought this plan was too
easy on former Confederates and did not
honor the sacrifice and death of the war that
had just been fought.
Congress Takes Control
O Congress attempted to take control over
Reconstruction, and passed laws making
things tougher on southern states.
O Andrew Johnson often vetoed, or rejected
these laws.
O Congressional Reconstruction started when
Republicans won a majority of seats in
Congress. The Republicans were now able
to override Johnson’s vetoes.
The Reconstruction
Amendments
O After Congress took over Reconstruction, it
said former Confederate states could only
be readmitted into the Union if they passed
the 13th and 14th amendments.
O 13th- abolished slavery in the U.S.
O 14th- gave African Americans full rights as
American citizens
Tennessee is Readmitted
O Tennessee became the first southern state
O
O
O
O
to rejoin the Union.
TN Gov. William Brownlow wanted to return
to the Union quickly.
Some states did not ratify the amendments
They instead passed laws known as black
codes to limit the rights of freedpeople.
Congress grew concerned and sent in troops
to take over states in the period known as
Military Reconstruction.
The Vote for Black Men
O TN also became the first state to give the
right to vote to black men.
O Two years later, Congress passed the 15th
amendment, giving African American men in
every state the right to vote.
O Federal soldiers tried to make sure every
black man had a chance to vote, and make
sure former Confederates did not vote or
hold political office.
Warning Signs on the Horizon
O Many southerners had opposed the federal
government’s policies during Reconstruction.
O In 1866, many of them were frustrated and
turned to violence.
The Ku Klux Klan is Founded
O The goal of the club was to restore what they
called “southern honor.”
O Even though in public they said they did not want
to engage in violence, but a violent attitude was
present in the KKK from the beginning.
O Over the next few years, their idea spread rapidly
over the entire South, making Reconstruction
the second most violent time in our nation’s
history.
O This is why many historians today refer to
Reconstruction as the Second Civil War.