Download black codes - Diboll Junior High School

RECONSTRUCTION
UNIT 12
Reconstruction and
the Changing South,
1863–1896
Postwar Problems
North
• Returning Union soldiers needed jobs.
• Yet, because the government was
canceling war orders, factories were
laying off workers.
Postwar Problems
South
Destruction—Homes, barns, bridges and the railroad
system were destroyed. The cities of Columbia, Richmond,
and Atlanta had been leveled.
Economic ruin —After the war, Confederate money was
worthless. People who had loaned money to the
Confederacy were never repaid. Many banks closed, and
depositors lost their savings.
A changed society —Almost overnight, there was a new
class of freedmen—men and women who had been slaves.
What would become of them
Early Steps Toward Reconstruction
Reconstruction —the rebuilding of the South
Lincoln’s Plan, called the Ten Percent Plan
• A southern state could form a new government after 10
percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the
United States.
• The new government had to abolish slavery. Voters
could then once again elect members of Congress.
• The plan offered amnesty, or a government pardon, to
Confederates who swore loyalty to the Union. Former
Confederate leaders could not be given amnesty,
however.
Early Steps Toward Reconstruction
Wade-Davis Bill, a rival Republican plan.
Lincoln refused to sign the bill.
• A majority of white men in each southern
state had to swear loyalty to the Union.
• Anyone who had volunteered to fight for
the Confederacy would be denied the right
to vote or hold office.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Congress and the President did agree on one plan. One
month before Lee surrendered, Congress passed a
bill creating the Freedmen’s Bureau, a government
agency to help former slaves. The agency helped poor
whites as well.
–
–
–
–
Gave food and clothing to former slaves.
Tried to find jobs for freedmen.
Provided medical care.
Set up schools. Most of the teachers were volunteers from
the North.
– The Bureau created colleges for African Americans,
including Howard, Morehouse, and Fisk.
Lincoln’s Assassination and
Johnson’s Inauguration Lead to
Conflict
• President Lincoln was assassinated on
April 14, 1865. Andrew Johnson became
President. He proposed a Reconstruction
plan:
• A majority of voters in each southern state
had to pledge loyalty to the Union.
• Each state had to ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment, which banned slavery
throughout the nation.
Lincoln’s Assassination and
Johnson’s Inauguration Lead to
Conflict
• The southern states quickly met Johnson’s
conditions. The President approved their
new state governments in late 1865.
• Southern voters elected representatives to
the Senate and House.
Lincoln’s Assassination and
Johnson’s Inauguration Lead to
Conflict
• Republicans in Congress were outraged
that many of those elected had held office
in the Confederacy. No southern state
allowed African Americans to vote.
• Congress refused to let southern
representatives take their seats.
Instead, they set up a Joint Committee on
Reconstruction to form a new
Reconstruction plan.
Radical Reconstruction
• How did Congress react to the
passage of black codes in the South?
• How did Radical Republicans gain
power in Congress?
• Why was President Johnson
impeached?
Congress Reacts to Black Codes
black codes— laws passed by southern states that
severely limited the rights of freedmen
How did black codes affect freedmen?
– Black codes granted some rights. African Americans
could marry legally and own some property.
– Black codes kept freedmen from gaining political and
economic power. They forbade freedmen to vote, own
guns, or serve on juries.
– In some states, African Americans could work only as
servants or farm laborers. In others, they had to sign
contracts for a year’s work.
Congress Reacts to Black Codes
How did Congress react to black codes?
– Angered by black codes, Republicans charged
that Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction plan had
encouraged the codes.
– Republicans were also angered by southern
white violence against freedmen.
Congress Reacts to Black Codes
How did Congress react to black codes?
• The Joint Committee on Reconstruction
accused the South of trying to “preserve slavery
. . . as long as possible.”
• When President Johnson ignored the report of
the Joint Committee, members of Congress
who were called Radical Republicans vowed to
take control of Reconstruction.
Radical Republicans Gain Power
• Radical Republicans had two main goals.
• Break the power of wealthy planters who had
long ruled the South.
• Ensure that freedmen received the right to vote.
• Radical Republicans needed the support of
moderate Republicans. Most southerners
were Democrats. Republicans could control
both houses if southerners were barred from
Congress.
Radical Republicans Gain Power
• To combat the black codes, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Act in April 1866. It
gave citizenship to African Americans.
• Republicans proposed the Fourteenth
Amendment, which granted citizenship to all
persons born in the United States. It
guaranteed citizens “equal protection of the
laws” and said that no state could “deprive
any person of life, liberty, or property without
due process of law.”
Radical Republicans Gain Power
• In the Election of 1866, President Johnson
opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and
urged voters to reject the Radicals.
Southern violence convinced many
northerners that strong measures were
needed, so they backed the Republicans.
Republicans won majorities in both houses
of Congress.
Radical Republicans Gain Power
• The period that followed the election is
often called Radical Reconstruction.
Congress passed the first Reconstruction
Act in March 1867. It threw out state
governments that had refused to ratify the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Reconstruction Plans
Plan
Ten Percent Plan
Wade-Davis Bill
Johnson Plan
Proposed by
President Abraham
Lincoln (1863)
Republicans in
Congress (1864)
Conditions for
Former
Confederate States
to Rejoin Union
• 10 percent of
voters must
swear loyalty to
Union
• Must abolish
slavery
• Majority of white
• Majority of white
men must swear
men must swear
loyalty
loyalty
• Former
• Must ratify
Confederate
Thirteenth
volunteers cannot
Amendment
vote or hold office • Former
Confederate
officials may vote
and hold office
President Andrew
Johnson (1865)
Reconstruction Act
Radical
Republicans (1867)
• Must disband
state
governments
• Must write new
constitutions
• Must ratify
Fourteenth
Amendment
• African American
men must be
allowed to vote
Andrew Johnson Impeached
• Because Johnson tried to limit the
effect of Radical Reconstruction,
Congress tried to remove him from
office.
• On February 24, 1868, the House of
Representatives voted to impeach, or
bring formal charges against, Johnson.
Andrew Johnson Impeached
• The President could be removed from
office if two thirds of the Senate found him
guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
During Johnson’s trial, it became clear that
he was not guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors.
• In the end, the Senate vote was 35 to 19
against Johnson—just one vote shy of the
two thirds needed to convict him.
The Civil War Amendments
Thirteenth Amendment
Bans slavery throughout the
United States.
The Civil War Amendments
Fourteenth Amendment
Grants citizenship to all persons born in the
United States.
Guarantees citizens equal protection of the
laws. No state can deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property with due process of law.
The Civil War Amendments
Fifteenth Amendment
Forbids any state to deny any citizens the
right to vote because of race.
The South Under Reconstruction
• What groups of people made up the new forces
in southern politics?
• How did southern Conservatives resist
Reconstruction?
• What challenges did Reconstruction
governments face?
• How did many southerners become locked into
a cycle of poverty?
Southern Conservatives Resisted
Reconstruction
• Conservatives—white southerners who had
held power before the Civil War and who
resisted Reconstruction; they wanted the
South to change as little as possible.
• A few wealthy planters tried to force African
Americans back onto plantations. Many
small farmers and laborers wanted the
government to take action against
freedmen to stop them from competing for
land and power.
Southern Conservatives Resisted
Reconstruction
• Some white southerners formed secret
societies to help them regain power. The
most dangerous was the Klu Klux Klan, or
KKK. They conducted a campaign of terror
and violence to keep African Americans
and white Republicans out of office.
• White southerners accused northerners who
came to the South of hoping to get rich from
the South’s misery. The southerners called
these northerners carpetbaggers.
• Many white southerners felt that any
southerner who helped the Republicans was
a traitor. They called the white southern
Republicans scalawags.
The Challenges Reconstruction
Governments Faced
Despite their problems, Reconstruction
governments tried to rebuild the South.
They built public schools for both black and
white children, gave women the right to
own property, and rebuilt railroads,
telegraph lines, bridges, and roads.
The Challenges Reconstruction
Governments Faced
In rebuilding the South, Reconstruction
governments met several challenges.
– To pay for rebuilding, Reconstruction
governments raised taxes sharply. This created
discontent among southern whites.
– Some Reconstruction officials were corrupt,
which angered southerners.
A Cycle of Poverty
Some Radical Republicans talked about
giving each freedman “40 acres and a
mule” to help them get started, but that
never happened.
– A few freedmen were able to buy land.
– Many freedmen and poor whites went to work
on large plantations. These sharecroppers
rented and farmed a plot of land.
A Cycle of Poverty
– The planters provided seed, fertilizer, and
tools in return for a share of the crop.
– Most sharecroppers and small landowners
bought supplies on credit in the spring. In the
fall, they had to repay what they had
borrowed. If the harvest did not cover what
they owed, they sank deeper into debt.
The End of Reconstruction
• What events led to the end of
Reconstruction?
• How were the rights of African
Americans restricted in the South after
Reconstruction?
• What industries flourished in the “New
South”?
The End of Reconstruction
• By 1870, Radical Republicans were losing
power. Northerners were growing tired of trying
to reform the South. In addition, disclosure of
widespread corruption turned people against
the Republican party.
The End of Reconstruction
• In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act. It
restored the right to vote to nearly all white
southerners. They voted solidly Democratic and
kept many African Americans from voting.
The End of Reconstruction
• The election of 1876 ended Reconstruction.
After a dispute in the Electoral College, a
special commission set up by Congress settled
the election. The commission awarded the
election to Rutherford B. Hayes. Although he
was a Republican, he had privately agreed to
end Reconstruction once in office.
Restricted Rights for African
Americans in the South
Voting restrictions
• Many southern states passed poll taxes, requiring
voters to pay a fee to vote. Poor freedmen could rarely
afford to vote.
• States also passed literacy tests that required voters
to read and explain part of the Constitution. Since
most freedmen had little education, such tests kept
them from voting.
• Many poor whites could not pass literacy tests, so
states passed grandfather clauses. These laws stated
that if a voter’s father or grandfather could vote on
January 1, 1867, then the voter did not have to take a
literacy test. (No African Americans could vote before
1868.)
Restricted Rights for African
Americans in the South
Segregation, or legal separation of races
• In southern states, Jim Crow laws separated
blacks and whites in schools, restaurants,
theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds,
hospitals, and even cemeteries.
• In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme
Court ruled that segregation was legal so long
as facilities for blacks and whites were equal. In
fact, facilities were rarely equal.
Industry in the “New South”
“New South”—Atlanta journalist Henry Grady
talked of a “New South”— a South that used its
resources to build up its own industry and not
depend on the North.
Agricultural resources
– Southern communities started building textile mills
to turn cotton into cloth.
– New machinery revolutionized the manufacture of
tobacco products.
Industry in the “New South”
New industries
– Alabama made use of its large deposits of iron ore
and coal to become a center of the steel industry.
– Oil refineries sprang up in Louisiana and Texas.
– Other states produced copper, granite, and marble.
– Southern factories turned out cypress shingles and
hardwood