Download Reconstruction PPT - East Penn School District

The Battle to Rebuild
 2/3’s of the South was destroyed from the war
 agricultural systems, railroads, bridges, housing and the
economy were ruined
 People in the South were unemployed, homeless and
hungry
Reconstruction Problems
 How should the Southern states become part of the
Union again?
 If you were President, what would you do to get the
United States back together?
Before dying, Lincoln had a
plan for Reconstruction
 He wanted to reconcile with the South. He did not want to
punish them.
He felt harsh treatment
would be
counterproductive
Pocket Veto
 Congress passed the Wade Davis Bill but Lincoln stopped it
with a pocket veto
 He refused to sign it and the Congress’s session expired so the
bill “died”
 Why would Lincoln do this?
Lincoln’s Plan
 Any southerner that took an oath of loyalty to the
Union would be pardoned
 When 10% of voters took the oath, the state could
organize a new state government.
 The Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln’s plan
The Radical Republican
Plan
 Do NOT allow Confederate leaders to regain power
 Give African Americans federal help and the right to
vote
 Allow the Republican Party to take control of the
south
Moderate Republicans
Believed Lincoln was too lenient and the Radicals were
too harsh!!!!
Solution!
The Wade Davis Bill
 Majority of white men in Confederacy take an oath of
loyalty to the Union
 State governments would be created
 The state governments would: abolish slavery and
refuse former Confederate leaders and military officers
the right to vote or hold office
Johnson’s Plan
 Offered pardons to all former Confederates who
pledged loyalty to the Union- excluding former
officers and officials
 Confederate states had to rewrite state constitutions,
revoke secession & ratify the 13th amendment
Problem: many southerners elected former Confederate
leaders to represent them in Congress
Republicans are angry
 Republicans rejected new southern members to
Congress
 Southern legislatures passed black codes that limited
the rights of African Americans in the South
 This also angered Republicans
Radical Republicans take
control
 Passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866
 Granting citizenship to all person’s born in the U.S. except
Native Americans
Republicans call for new
laws
 The South erupts in violence between whites and
blacks
 14th amendment: granted citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in the US and declared that no
state could deprive a person of life liberty or property
without due process of law
 States also had to give equal protection of the laws
Election of 1866
 Congressional seats tilt in favor of the Republicans
 The Military Reconstruction Act is passed
 The South is split into 5 military districts, a Union
general is placed in charge of each district
Stop Johnson from
interfering
 How?
 Pass the Tenure of Office Act: required Senate
approval to fire anyone whose appointment had
required Senate consent
 This is unconstitutional!
Johnson’s Impeachment
 Johnson fires Sec. of War Stanton without approval from
Congress
 This violates the Tenure of Office Act
 He was charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors” in
office
 The Senate tried him and voted
 The outcome: NOT GUILTY- Johnson was 1 vote short of
being convicted and removed from office
Election of 1868
 General Ulysses S. Grant is nominated to run for the
Presidency by the Republicans
 He wins
 The Republican congress passed the 15th amendment
granting African American men the right to vote