Download Political, Economic, and Social Impact of the War and Reconstruction

Political, Economic, and
Social Impact of the War
and Reconstruction
South After the War
Lincoln’s Plan
Political Effects
Lincoln’s view that the United States
was one nation indivisible prevailed.
He believed that Reconstruction would
quickly restore legitimate southern
state governments that were loyal to
the Union
Lincoln also believe in not punishing
the South
The government should act “with
malice towards none, with charity for
all…to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
President Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in
Washington just a few days after Lee’s
surrender at Appomattox.
This enabled the Radical Republicans
to punish the South
Lincoln’s Assassination
Radical Republicans
Got their name because they were
strongly antislavery and, unlike
Lincoln, not willing to forgive the
Confederates
Clashed repeatedly with President
Andrew Johnson
The states that seceded were not
allowed back into the Union
immediately.
Put the South under military
occupation (martial law)
Divided the South into 5 military
districts, each under command of a
general
Radical Republicans aggressively
pursued voting and other civil rights to
newly freed slaves
Three Civil War Amendments
13th – Slavery was abolished
permanently in the US
14th – States were prohibited from
denying equal rights under the law to
any American
Black Codes
15th – Voting rights were guaranteed
regardless of “race, color, or previous
condition of servitude” (former slaves)
Compromise of 1877
An extremely close race for president
between Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
and Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican).
Tilden won the popular vote but
Southern Democrats offered their
electoral votes to Hayes if would end
military occupation in the South.
The results of the Compromise of 1877
was the end of the Reconstruction
Period.
This opened the door to the “Jim Crow
Era” and began a long period in which
African Americans in the South were
denied full rights of citizenship.
Economic and Social Impact
Southern states were left embittered
and devastated by the war.
Farms, railroads, and factories
destroyed throughout the South
Richmond and Atlanta were in ruins
South would remain backwards for
decades
North and Midwest emerged with
strong and growing industrial
economies
Laid the foundation for sweeping
industrialization of the nation (except
the South)
The nation would emerge as a global
economic power by the beginning of
the 20th century
Completion of the Transcontinental
Railroad intensified the westward
movement of settlers in the states
between the Mississippi and Pacific.