Download Reconstructing and Expanding America”

“Reconstructing and
Expanding America”
Reconstruction and Its Aftermath
1865-1877
Focus Question
• Who were the southern politicians who
claimed that the states were not morally
bound by postwar constitutional
amendments and so could restrict the
rights of the freed slaves.
• A- Carpetbaggers
• B- Radicals
• C- Scalawags
• D- Redeemers
Background
•
Reconstruction of America following the Civil War was extremely
difficult for Southerners whereas the Northerners where able to
rebuild and begin The new America. The North and the South
could not agree upon major issues such as; race, government,
politics, and what role women would play in society before the war
occurred, and not much had changed after the war ended. The Civil
War carried vast consequences for the nation’s future.
•
During reconstruction former slaves and many small white farmers
became trapped in a new system of economic exploitation known as
sharecropping in exchange for land, a cabin, and supplies. High
interest rates charged for goods bought on credit transformed
sharecropping into a system of economic dependency and poverty.
War Goals
• South War Goals were to become a
independent and sovereign Country.
• North War Goals were to bring the
13 states that succeeded back into
the Union.
Effects felt by the
North & South
•
The South lost 2/3 of their shipping industry, railroads, and 1/3 of all
livestock. People were heavily in debt, courts were not functional. 20% of
the militaries aged men were killed, 8% decline in the black population. The
south who were the leaders of the cotton industry had found itself in
despair. The southern society was greatly disrupted.
•
The North society began to boom. The steel and textile industry was
producing twice as much as the South. The North had a greater death toll
than the South despite those lost, the North population began to grow and
flourish.
•
•
•
•
Southern blacks were free
Southern whites went through class conflicts.
Southerners paid others to fight in the war on their behalf
Southerners had argued that blacks were inferior.
Presidential Reconstruction
1863
• President Lincoln indicates his post
war policy whereby rebel states
regain their legal standing when 10%
of its voters swear allegiance to the
Union and accept the end to slavery.
This was Lincoln’s way of a quick, nonpunitive presidential reconstruction.
President Lincoln’s Death
• 1865 President Lincoln is assassin.
Lincoln did not have a plan for
reconstruction after his death, so
when he dies all his plans for
American dies with him.
President Johnson
1865
• President Johnson did not share the views of Lincoln.
Johnson plan was to remove all rights of blacks, including
voting. President Johnson was extremely racist, didn’t like
the North or Plantation owners. The confederate states
received full rights under the Johnson plan. The North
became extremely concerned with Johnson’s plan. The
North began a radical reconstruction. Johnson was led by a
group of southern redeemers who felt that the states were
not bound by postwar constitutional amendments and so
could restrict the rights of the freed slaves.
The Emancipation
Proclamation
1863
• The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African
Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War, the 13th
Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were.
As a result, the mass of southern blacks now faced the
difficulty Northern blacks had confronted --- that of a
free people surrounded by many hostile whites.
• After the Civil War, with the protection of the 13th, 14th,
and 15th amendments to the constitution and the Civil Rights
Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they
were allowed to vote, actively participate in political
process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own
employment, and use public accommodations.
Unraveling Reconstruction
1865
•
•
•
•
KKK- Pulaski Tennessee
Started out as a social fraternity
1866-1867 becomes extremely violent
Nathan Bedford Forrest reorganized the KKK to a military
form.
• 1871 Congress held hearings on the Klan and passed a tough
anti-Klan law modeled after a North Carolina statute.
• 1870’s white southerners had retaken control of most
Southern state government and didn’t need the Klan as
much as before.
• White Southern Democrats won elections easily, and passed
laws taking away many rights that blacks had won during
Reconstruction.
Freedmen’s Bureau
1865
• Program that congress set up to assist newly
freed African- Americans by providing food,
medical care, and help with resettlement. The
Freedmen’s Bureau most notable task was the
development of over 1000 schools which trained
African Americans with an adequate education.
The Bureau ran out of funds shortly after and
was unable to prevent the emergence of Black
Codes. The Bureau was terminated in 1872.
Results of
Reconstruction
• The result was a system of
segregation which was the law of the
land for more than 80 years. This
system was called “separate but
equal,” which was half trueeverything was separate, but nothing
was equal.
The End of Part I
• Topics to be discussed later in Part II.
• 1. Civil Rights Movement
• 2. The role the North played after
Johnson’s reconstruction plan
• 3. Grant Administration
• 4. 1876 Election corruption Hayes (VS)
Tilden