Download Reconstruction

Class Lecture
Introduction
 When the Civil War ended in 1865, Georgia, along
with the rest of the south faced great challenges.
 The southern states to which war weary
Confederate soldiers returned home was not as
they had left it.
 Destruction
1. Homes
2. Factories
3. Railroads
4. Stores
Introduction
 There wasn’t enough food & many people were starving.
 Confederate paper money was worthless, and numbers of
banks had closed their doors.
 Many of the adult white male population died during the
war, or returned home unable to work because of their
injuries.
 Some who had land sold it to raise cash badly needed for
rebuilding.
 Life was particularly hard in Georgia because of all of the
destruction. People had to live in makeshift housing or in
tents.
African Americans
 Four million former slaves (freedmen) faced even
greater hardships.
 Examples
1. Homeless
2. Uneducated
3. Few possessions, little clothing
 African Americans drifted from place to place
looking for food, shelter, work, and lost family
members (spouses, children, and other family
members or friends that had been sold away from
them during slavery.
Social Order
 When the Civil War broke the chains of slavery, it also
destroyed the old social order of master and slave.
 A new relationship had to be forged between blacks and
whites in the southern states.
 Racial attitudes made that difficult.
1. Blacks feared that their old masters would try to enslave
them.
2. Whites found it difficult to accept blacks as free persons
and did not accept them as equals.
 White fear of African American drifters, and rising crime
rates in the black community (often a necessity to find
food), caused southerners to create vigilante groups such as
the Ku Klux Klan.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
 In response to the needs of struggling whites and
freedmen, the United States government
established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen,
and Abandoned Lands in March 1865.
 Its first commissioner was Union General Oliver O.
Howard.
 The original purpose of the agency was to help
both blacks and whites cope with their everyday
problems by offering them clothing, food, and
other necessities.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
 However, after a while, the bureau’s focus changed
so that it became concerned primarily with
helping freedmen adjust to their new
circumstances.
 They tried to help African Americans by giving
them
1. The Right to Vote
2. Land
3. An Education
 Southern whites felt completely abandoned by the
U.S. Federal Government.
The Birth of Modern Racism
 It was in this social climate that modern racism was born.
 Feeling abandoned by the Federal Government, southern
whites had a growing resentment for the African American
community (who benefited from government policy).
 Unable to lash out against the Federal Government, whites
lashed out against the weaker black community.
 Hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan demonstrated their
frustration toward Washington, D.C. by beating, and
lynching African Americans, burning their homes, and
houses of worship.
Reconstruction Plans
 Lincoln’s Plan
 10% Plan - lenient, state had to outlaw slavery, 10% of
voters in each state must pledge allegiance to Union
 Johnson’s Plan
 Similar to Lincoln's, but he did not let former
Confederate officers and wealthy landowners vote; he
also made states ratify the 13th Amendment (this
amendment ended slavery)
 Congressional Reconstruction
 Headed by Radical Republicans; they created the
Freedmen’s Bureau; they passed the 14th and 15th
Amendments to the Constitution and made the
southern states ratify these amendments as well as the
13th; US military governed the southern states;
Confederate officers were denied political power
Reconstruction Legislation
 13th Amendment: abolished slavery
 14th Amendment: makes blacks citizens (no
discrimination based in race)
 15th Amendment: gives blacks the right to vote
 Reconstruction Act: Congressional Reconstruction
(same thing)
Groups in Reconstruction
 Radical Republicans: Congressmen wanting to destroy
power of slaveholders and make changes (blacks can
become citizens and vote)
 Freedmen’s Bureau: agency to help former slaves and
poor whites with clothes, food, and other necessities
 Scalawags: Southern Republicans
 Carpetbaggers: Republicans who moved South after the
war
 KKK: secret organization to keep freedmen from
exercising rights through terror
 Sharecroppers: farmers who were given a few acres of
land, tools, seeds, etc. by the landowner in exchange for
part of the crop
 Tenant farmer: farmers who rented the land, only small
profit, but better than sharecroppers
African-Americans in Reconstruction




Looked for family members
Tried to get an education
Began new churches
Became involved politically by voting or running for
office
 Henry McNeal Turner--raised in South (free black), AME
preacher, served in Union army, elected state senator; he
and 26 other black legislators were denied acceptance by
the majority white General Assembly; after protest and US
support, the legislators were able to participate in the 2nd
legislative session
Reconstruction in GA
 Constitutional Convention of 1865: the government of
Georgia repealed secession and abolished slavery—
they did this in order to reenter the Union
 Constitutional Convention of 1868: move convention
(and capital) to Atlanta, they passed the 14th
amendment, whipping was abolished, and they set up
the poll tax
End of Reconstruction
 By mid-1870’s everyone tired of Reconstruction due
to: high taxes put South deeper in debt, whites
gained power as troops withdrew, South fought
against policies
 Presidential Election of 1877 disputed
 Democrats and Republicans agree to give victory to
Rutherford B. Hayes if Hayes will withdraw troops in
South--marks the end of Reconstruction
Effects of Reconstruction
 Positive
 Negative
 Rebuilt South and
 Most blacks still in poverty
restored the Union
 Blacks denied rights with
 Stimulated economic
KKK, poll tax, literacy test,
growth
grandfather clause
 Passed 13th, 14th, and 15th  Racism continued
amendments
 South bitter at Republicans
 Freedmen’s Bureau
and federal government
helped
 South still not
industrialized
Reconstruction News Article
Write a two-paragraph news article about the ending of
Reconstruction. Include the following:
1. Why it ended (disputed election)
2. How it ended (compromise)
3. What it means for Georgia (end of withdrawal)
4. Overall effects, both positive and negative of
Reconstruction