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Reconstruction
October 22, 2012
After the war…
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When the Civil War ended in 1865,
many soldiers on both sides went home
to drastic changes
In the north, many men had died or
were captured and had not returned
In the south, the economy was
devastated, the money useless, and
many men were either dead or missing
Civil War Prisons Andersonville
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During the war, those who weren’t killed in battle
were often taken prisoner by the other side
A notorious prison that housed Union soldiers was in
Andersonville, GA
There was not enough food, water, or shelter for all
the prisoners housed there
After the war, the director of the prison was executed
for excessive cruelty
The federal government made the site of the prison a
national cemetery where 13,700 Union soldiers are
buried
Putting the country back
together…
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During the closing days of the Civil War,
President Lincoln had developed a plan to
rebuild the South and restore seceded states
to the union as quickly as possible
This process was known as Reconstruction
There were 3 major Reconstruction plans
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Lincoln’s Plan
The Congressional Plan
Johnson’s Plan
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
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Lincoln’s plan had 2 major steps:
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First: all southerners, except for highranking Confederate leaders, would be
pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance
to the United States
Second: when 10% of the voters in each
state had taken that oath, the state would
be permitted to form a legal government
and rejoin the Union
Congressional Reconstruction
Plan
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Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated
before his plan went into effect
Many members of Congress felt that the
South should be punished for starting the war
They felt like the South should be treated like
a conquered country
Congress pushed the new president, Andrew
Johnson, to enact harsher measures against
the South
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
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At first, Johnson’s plan was not that much different
than Lincoln’s
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He expanded the list of people who would not receive a
general pardon
However, he soon bowed to Congressional pressure
and added more requirements for the South to rejoin
the Union
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Southern states had to first approve the 13th Amendment
They also had to nullify their ordinances of secession
They also must promise not to repay those that financed the
Confederate war effort
13th Amendment
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During and after the war, 3 new amendments
were added to the U.S. Constitution
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The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are known as the
Reconstruction Amendments
The 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery
in the U.S.
It was passed in January 1865
Southern states had to ratify (approve) this
amendment before being allowed re-entry into
the Union
14th Amendment
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This amendment granted citizenship to
freedmen and forbade any state from
denying anyone “equal protection of the law”
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It was passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868
It was passed in response to “Black Codes”,
which were laws that had been passed in
many southern states in 1865 that restricted
the rights of freedmen
15th Amendment
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The 15th Amendment granted all black
men the right to vote regardless of
“race, color, or previous condition of
servitude”
It was passed in 1869, and ratified in
1870
Black Legislators
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In 1867, African-Americans voted for the first
time in Georgia
29 African-Americans were elected to the
Georgia house and 3 were elected as Georgia
senators
Henry McNeal Turner was one of the black
men elected to the Georgia senate
However, in 1868, all were expelled on the
grounds that even though the Constitution
gave them the right to vote, it did not give
them the right to hold public office
Freedom for slaves
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With the end of the war, slaves were
freed in the South
They faced huge hardships
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Most were homeless, uneducated, and had
little more than the clothes on their back
In an effort to help the newly freed
slaves, the US government established
the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865
Freedmen’s Bureau
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The official title is the Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
At first, the purpose was to help both former
slaves and poor whites cope by offering them
clothing, food, and other necessities
After a while, the focus changed to only
helping the freed slaves adjust to their new
lives
An important focus was education
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The Bureau established primary schools, industrial
schools, and teacher-training schools
A struggling economy
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With the freedom of the slaves, farmers
and planters needed people to work
their land
There were many former slaves and
landless whites that needed jobs
There were 2 options available:
sharecropping and tenant farming
Sharecropping
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This option was available to workers who had
nothing to offer except their labor
Workers would live on the land and the landowners
provided the land, tools, animals, seed, and fertilizer
The workers would give the owner a share of the
harvest
They had to buy everything on credit until the money
from the harvest came in
However, after giving owners their share and paying
their bills, most workers had very little left over for
their own and most stayed in constant debt
Tenant Farming
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Tenant farming was similar to sharecropping
except the workers would have their own
equipment, seeds, and fertilizer
After the harvest, tenants would pay the
owners a set amount of cash or a part of the
harvest
Because they owned more of their own
supplies than sharecroppers, they often made
a small profit
Ku Klux Klan
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During Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan
became a force in Georgia
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It started as a social club in TN for returning
soldiers, but eventually evolved into a terror group
The Klan’s main purpose was to keep
freedmen from exercising their new civil
rights, especially the right to vote
Many freedmen were terrorized when they
went to the polls to vote
There were many reports of beatings,
whippings, and even murder
Questions:
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1) What was Andersonville?
2) What were conditions like at
Andersonville?
3) How many Reconstruction plans
were there?
4) What were the 2 major steps of
Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan?
5) How did the U.S. Congress feel
about the South after the war?
6) What did Johnson add to the
Reconstruction plan?
7) What did the 13th Amendment
do?
8) What did the 14th Amendment
do?
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9) What did the 15th Amendment
do?
10) Who was elected to the Georgia
senate but eventually expelled?
11) What was the original purpose
of the Freedmen’s Bureau
12) What was an important focus
for the Freedmen’s Bureau
13) What were the 2 options
available to farmers after the war?
14) What is sharecropping?
15) What is tenant farming?
16) What was the main purpose of
the Ku Klux Klan?