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RECONSTRUCTION 1865-1877
Reconstruction centered around
three central questions:
1. On what terms should the defeated
Confederacy be reunited with the
Union?
2. Who should establish these terms,
Congress or the President?
3. What should be the place of the
former slaves in the political life of
the South?
President Lincoln’s Plan,1863
Wartime Reconstruction
“with malice toward none, charity for all”
supported lenient plans for
Reconstruction
10% Plan
provided for a generous
amnesty
supported the 13th Amendment
Wade Davis Act
Congress’ response to Lincoln – States
could be readmitted if:

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Majority male population took loyalty oath
Adopt new Constitution abolishing slavery
Adopted by convention of those who never
born arms against the U.S.
Lincoln pocket veto’s Bill
Andrew Johnson
Background shaped his
approach
Born in poverty
As a politician spoke out
against planter society
– champion for common
man and nonslaveholding whites
Loyal to union when
Tennessee seceded
Thought everyone
should have slaves– not
just the wealthy
minority
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
State must repeal law by which state
withdrew from Union
Abolish slavery and ratify 13th amendment
U.S. would not pay Confederate war debt
Allowed former rebels
to regain control in
the south by 1865
Freedmen’s Bureau
Created to deal with
former slaves
Distributed food
Established schools
Help former slaves
find jobs
Help former slaves
obtain land
Black School in the south set up by Freedmen’s
Bureau
South’s Response to Freeman’s Bureau
Black Codes established in
South
Limited rights of blacks

Prohibited from entering cities without permission,
regulated legal rights including marriage
Equivalent to slavery
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Restricted the right to hold and sell property
Dictated hours of labor, duties and behavior
Type of work regulated – South Carolina – had to
obtain license or certificate from a judge to purse
work besides agriculture
Johnson vs. Congress
President vetoed
Republican bills
President did not
approve the use of
army to support
reconstruction
President removed civil
servants who were too
helpful to Congress
Led to impeachment
trial – violation of the
Tenure of Office Act
Impeachment failed by
1 vote
Radical Reconstructionists
Radical leaders,
Charles Sumner and
Thaddeus Stevens
Wanted to keep
South out of the
Union and change
its economy
Radical Congress 1866-1869
Passed Civil Rights
Act
Authorized federal
government to use
force to enforce laws
14th amendment
15th amendment
Congress’ Reconstruction Plan
Reconstruction Act of 1867
States must ratify 14th amendment
South divided into 5 military districts –
only people voting black men and white
men who had never participated in the
rebellion
Constitution guaranteeing
Blacks the right to vote
Military Districts
No Women Voters
Women Suffrage
advocates upset over
13th, 14th, and 15th
amendments
Women had gathered
petitions and helped
Blacks gain their rights
Stanton and Anthony
campaigned against the
amendments – inserted
the word male into the
Constitution for the first
time
Election of 1868
Rewarded friends with
offices – many corrupt
or incompetent
Tenure of Office Act –
could not remove
Credit Mobilier scambank took bribes from
railroad companies and
funneled them to
Congress
Economic Issues
Panic of 1873

Paper currency
issued during Civil
War caused inflation
Specie Resumption
Act 1879

Put country back on
gold standard
Blacks in Southern
Government
Blacks served in the
state legislature
Blacks at one time
held the majority in
legislature in South
Carolina
Some well educated
while others were
field hands with no
education
Carpetbaggers
Play a key role in
southern government
Defined as “men of bad
character" who came
from the North to work
in the South, to
"manipulate and
exploit" the black vote
and political office and
economic privilege
Sharecropping
Farms rented to blacks
Supplies sold on credit
at inflated prices
When crop came in,
went towards debt
Crop never covered
debt which increased
each year
Kept blacks poor
Ku Klux Klan
“Invisible Empire of the South”
Organization that
scared blacks
against voting,
seeking jobs
Resorted to violence
and terror
Group undermined
abolitionist’s work
White Supremacy
Compromise of 1877
Election of 1876
Votes in four southern
states disputes
House created special
electoral commission –
8 out 15 Republicans
Republicans agreed to
end reconstruction –
Hayes wins election
“His Fraudulency”
End of Reconstruction
Heritage of Reconstruction in
the South
Segregation
Poll taxes
Grandfather clauses
Literacy tests
Supreme Court upheld “Jim Crow” laws