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Reconstruction
Mrs. Saunders
Reconstruction
Robert E. Lee’s
surrender to Ulysses S.
Grant at Appomattox
Courthouse in Virginia in
1865 brought an end to
the Civil War, and the
Reconstruction Era
immediately followed.
Reconstruction was the federal government’s plan
to rebuild and re-establish the states of the former
Confederacy. In short, Reconstruction was the
period when the federal government tried to rebuild
the South and restore the Union after the Civil War.
"Reconstruction of the South." In this idealized portrait of the free soil and free labor America of
the north, Federal generals lead the way toward peace. George Thomas beats swords into plows
while Philip Sheridan holds a scythe ready for the harvest. Other generals work a bellows, turn a
cannon into water piping to run a mill, and offer jobs to skilled laborers. The freedmen run to
educator George Peabody and the white children at his feet who proclaim "Come here and learn
to be a citizen." The South would be reconstructed in the mold of this modern America; the
patriarchal, agricultural South was to be no more. 1867 lithograph by John Smith of Philadelphia.
Reconstruction
The Civil War and
Reconstruction resulted
in Southern white
resentment (irritation)
toward both Northerners
and Southern AfricanAmericans.
Reconstruction ultimately
led to the political,
economic, and social
"We Accept the Situation." A Reconstruction
control of the South by political cartoon which depicts the freedman
to cast his vote while the
whites. Unfortunately, going
disenfranchised former Confederate glumly
the economic and
looks on. Many southern whites bitterly
political gains of former resented the transfer of political power to
slaves were temporary. their former slaves. Thomas Nast cartoon.
Lincoln’s Plan
A Thomas Nast cartoon regarding
Reconstruction. Here, Columbia is
replacing the seceded states in the
Union. She has laid down her sword and
shield and now proclaims "Let us have
peace." She advances under the banner
"Equal Rights, With Malice Towards None
And Charity To All." This was the symbolic
picture of the U.S. now that the war was
over and Reconstruction begun.
Lincoln believed that since
secession was illegal,
Confederate governments
in the Southern states
were illegitimate (not legal
governments) and the
states had never really left
the Union. As a result,
Lincoln believed that
Reconstruction in the
Southern states was a
matter of quickly restoring
legitimate state
governments that were
loyal to the Union.
Lincoln’s Plan
Lincoln also believed that once the war was over, the
federal government should not punish the South.
Instead, it should reunify the nation as quickly as
possible. In his second inaugural address President
Lincoln outlined how he believed the United States
government should act during Reconstruction.
President Abraham Lincoln entering
Richmond on April 4, 1865, one day after
Federal troops had captured the city. Touring
the still smoldering ruins of the Confederate
capital, Lincoln first visited the Richmond
home of Jefferson Davis and sat at his desk.
Then, with an escort of only ten sailors, he
walked the streets of Richmond, where he
was soon surrounded by a crowd of former
slaves shouting "Glory to God! Glory! Glory!
Glory!" Some reached out to touch Lincoln to
make sure he was real. Engraving by J. C.
Buttre.
Lincoln’s Plan
Lincoln said, “With malice towards none,
with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us
strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind
up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow
and his orphan – to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations.”
Lincoln’s Assassination
Just a few
days after
Lee’s
surrender at
Appomattox,
John Wilkes
Booth
assassinated
Abraham
Lincoln at
Ford’s
Theatre in
Washington,
D.C.
The executions of Lewis Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt
for their roles in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. A military tribunal
was set up to try eight people accused of being Booth's accomplices. All eight
were found guilty of having participated in the plot to varying degrees. Three were
given life sentences in prison and a fourth was sentenced to six years.
The other four (including
Mrs. Surratt, who was
probably innocent) were
sentenced to die by
hanging. Their sentence
was carried out on July
7, 1865. The others
convicted (with the
exception of one who
had died in prison) were
pardoned by President
Andrew Johnson in
1869. Accused
conspirator John Surratt
was extradited from
Egypt in 1866, but was
acquitted.
Andrew Johnson Succeeds Lincoln
Vice President Andrew
Johnson succeeded
Lincoln as president.
Lincoln’s assassination
enabled Radical
Republicans to gain
control of Reconstruction.
The Radical Republicans
were members of the
Republican party, who
wanted to punish the
former Confederate states
for causing the Civil War.
Military Reconstruction
First, the
Radical
Republicans
refused to
allow the
Confederate
states to
reenter the
Union until
they had
undergone a
period of
military
occupation.
In other words, the former Confederate states were under the
rule of a general in the United States army, and American
military troops remained stationed in the South.
Military Reconstruction
The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided
the former Confederate states into five military
districts. The occupation forces were to guarantee
that Federal Reconstruction policies were followed.
A southern legislature during the
"Carpetbagger" days. An engraving
from a drawing by A. Bertall.
This legislation also turned out the
sitting state governments which
had very closely resembled the
southern state governments of
1861. New elections were
scheduled and new state
constitutions were to be drawn up,
incorporating the 13th and 14th
amendments to the U.S.
Constitution and giving freedmen
the vote, before the states could be
readmitted to the Union.
Civil Rights for African Americans
Second, the Radical
Republicans also believed
in aggressively
guaranteeing voting and
other civil rights to AfricanAmericans.
A primary school for freedmen at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. An
important part of Radical
Reconstruction was the passage
of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill.
Established on March 3, 1865,
this Bureau played an important
role in helping the former slaves
adjust to their new lives.
Civil Rights for African Americans
The Radical Republicans,
who controlled Congress,
repeatedly clashed with
President Andrew Johnson
over the issue of civil rights for
freedmen (freed slaves).
Johnson, who had succeeded
Lincoln as president, was a
native of Tennessee, racially
prejudiced, and unwilling to
extend citizenship rights to
former slaves.
The Provost Guard in New Orleans rounding up vagrant former slaves, 1864.
What alarmed many Radical Republicans about the state governments created
under Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plans was their treatment of newly
freed African Americans. Such persons' freedom was sharply curtailed in states
like Louisiana by codes and vagrancy laws that were designed to keep
freedmen under tight control, working primarily as unskilled laborers.
Johnson’s
Impeachment
The Radical
Republicans became
so frustrated with
Johnson’s efforts to
prevent their program
on behalf of freedmen
that the House of
Representatives
impeached him.
However, the United
States Senate failed by
one vote to remove
President Johnson
from office.
Impeachment
Impeachment is the process of bringing an official
to trial for misconduct in office. Under the
Constitution the House of Representatives may
impeach – bring formal charges against – a
president for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes
and misdemeanors.” The United States Senate
then sits as the jury at the president’s
impeachment trial. If two-thirds of the senators
vote to convict the president, then he is removed
from office.
Civil War Amendments
To carry out their program to help AfricanAmericans the Radical Republicans added
three amendments to the United States
Constitution. These three amendments,
known as the “Civil War Amendments”,
were a major political result of the Civil War
and Reconstruction.
Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment permanently abolished
(ended) African-American slavery in the United States.
The House of Representatives on January
31, 1865, as it voted for the Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution, which
abolished slavery. Proposed early in 1865
as the Civil War was winding down, it was
ratified by three-fourths of the states on
December 18, 1865, removing any
lingering doubt about the legality of
emancipation. President Andrew Johnson,
who had succeeded Lincoln as president,
reluctantly agreed to include ratification of
this amendment as a requirement for
readmission of the former Confederate
states to the Union as part of his
reconstruction plan.
Fourteenth Amendment
A New York City African-American parade in
support of the 15th Amendment, April 1870.
The Fourteenth
Amendment granted
American citizenship
to all AfricanAmericans and said
no state could
“deny…any person
within its jurisdiction
the equal protection
of the laws.”
In other words, the Fourteenth Amendment
prohibited the states from denying any American
equal rights under the law.
Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth
Amendment gave
African-American
males the right to
vote by
guaranteeing
voting rights
regardless of
“race, color, or
previous condition
of servitude”
(slavery).
Corey Street, Richmond. When the Confederate authorities abandoned
Richmond on April 2, 1865, they burned numerous facilities to keep them out of
Union hands. Some of the fires raged out of control and destroyed substantially
more than was intended. Here, a Richmond street still smolders. Union cavalry
horses are tethered to the iron fence in the foreground. Photographs such as
this are grim portents of the total wars of the 20th century.
Reconstruction
The Civil War and Reconstruction also had an
important economic and social impact on the
United States. First, the Southern states were left
embittered and devastated by the Civil War.
Farms, railroads, and factories had been
destroyed throughout the South, and the cities of
Richmond and Atlanta lay in ruins.
Sherman Destroys Atlanta
Sherman's men tearing up
rails. After capturing Atlanta,
Sherman marched southeast
toward Savannah, intent on
destroying the Confederate
morale and ability to make
war. His men developed a
special talent for ruining
railroad equipment and
facilities as they marched
across Georgia and South
Carolina.
Gathering and burning railroad ties, Sherman's men would
place the rails in the fire until their centers were red hot, and
then twist them into unusable shapes, frequently bending the
rail around a tree and creating the "Sherman bowtie“.
Reconstruction
As a result,
the South
would remain
a backward,
agriculturebased
economy and
the poorest
section of the
nation for
many
decades
afterward.
This 1884 scene on a Mississippi cotton plantation reflected southern agricultural
practices and a society that had changed little since before the war.
Industrialization
Second, the North and Midwest emerged
from the war with strong and growing
industrial economies. This development laid
the foundation for the sweeping
industrialization of the nation (other than the
South) during the next half-century and the
emergence of the United States as a global
economic power by the beginning of the
twentieth century.
Transcontinental Railroad
Finally, the completion of the
nation’s first transcontinental
(across the continent) railroad
at Promontory, Utah soon
after the war ended (1869)
connected the Atlantic and
the Pacific coasts. This
transportation development
A Union Pacific Railroad advertisement
intensified (increased) the
for the grand opening of the first
westward movement of
transcontinental railroad, May 10, 1869.
settlers into the states
The railroad barons' race to complete a
between the Mississippi River transcontinental rail passage was
and the Pacific Ocean.
interrupted by the Civil War, but resumed
almost immediately after Appomattox.
Election of 1876
The Reconstruction period
ended following the
extremely close presidential
election of 1876. In return
for support in the electoral
vote from Southern
Democrats, the Republicans
agreed to end the military
occupation of the South.
A cartoon about Rutherford B. Hayes'
election as president in 1877. Called the "Let
'em alone policy," it shows Hayes bringing an
end to Reconstruction by plowing under the
carpetbag and bayonet rule in the South. The
cotton bales being loaded and the factory
with smoke coming from its chimney are
symbolic of the New South, which rose from
the ashes of Confederate defeat and military
Reconstruction.
Electoral College
A map of the votes in the
1876 election. The election
was extremely close, resting
on the contested election
returns from four states.
Under the Constitution,
the electoral college is
the group of people who
cast the official votes
that elect the President
and Vice President. A
state’s number of
electoral votes equals its
total representation in
Congress, which is its
number of members in
the House of
Representatives plus
two for its U.S. senators.
Compromise of 1877
• Known as the
Compromise of 1877,
this political deal
enabled former
Confederates who
controlled the
Democratic party to
regain power in the
Southern states.
To win the support they needed, the Republicans met with several key southern
congressmen and drew up the Compromise of 1877, promising to remove the
remaining federal troops from the South if Hayes were elected. The southern
Democrats promised in turn to support Hayes' election and not to infringe upon
the rights of African Americans in the South. The deal was struck, Hayes was
elected and Reconstruction came to an end.
Jim Crow Era
It opened the door to the “Jim
Crow Era,” the period in which
Southern states required racial
segregation (separation) of
blacks and whites in public
schools, transportation, and
other public facilities.
This sharecropper plowing his field in 1901
would have been disenfranchised by poll
taxes and "grandfather clauses," and rigidly
segregated by "Jim Crow" laws in schools,
hotels, hospitals, and other public facilities.
Jim Crow Era
During the era of Jim Crow,
African-Americans in the South
lost most of the political gains
they had made during
Reconstruction, including the
right to vote and sit on juries.
In short, Reconstruction’s end
marked the beginning of a long
period in which AfricanAmericans in the South were
denied the full rights of
American citizenship.
Established in 1866 as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, the Klan soon took
on a more sinister role as the terror arm of the Democratic party in the South.
Made up of white men from all classes of southern society, its members
disguised themselves, in robes and hoods, intimidating and killing African
Americans and white members of the Republican party. The Klan's goal was to
reestablish white supremacy by overthrowing the Reconstruction governments.