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The Civil War and
Reconstruction
A Nation Rebuilds
A. The War Begins
1. The Civil War was fought between the
Union (North) and the Confederate
(south) states when some Southern states
wanted the right to secede.
A. The War Begins
2. The ability to make your own choices, as
a state, is known as States’ Rights.
~Decide if they want Slavery
~Decide if they want to be a part of the
Union
Federal
Powers
State
Powers
A. The War Begins
3. Slavery had grown so fast in the South
because cotton was a huge Cash Crop
that needed lots of man hours.
~As King Cotton grew, so did slavery, and
so did the tensions with the Union
A. The War Begins
4. The Civil War officially began when Union
troops fired on Fort. Sumter, a naval base
that was created by the Union but was
now in Confederate territory.
~The war lasted from April 1861 to April
1865 and it is the deadliest war American
has been in
A. The War Begins
5. Although Texas enlisted many soldiers,
most of the action did not take place in
Texas because it was so far away.
A. The War Begins
6. One exception is the
Battle of Palmito
Ranch. This battle
was fought in South
Texas on May 12,
1865.
A. The War Begins
~The armies didn’t know that the war had
officially ended before they fought (too
far away to know)!
A. The War Begins
7. Once word of General Robert E. Lee’s
surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant
became known at Appomattox Court
House, people wondered what would
happen to the confederate slaves.
B. Slavery after the War
1. Confederate states did not want to
release their slaves, and since most were
illiterate and uneducated there was no
way for the slaves to know that President
Abraham Lincoln had called for their
freedom with his Emancipation
Proclamation.
B. Slavery after the War
2. Releasing the slaves in the south was also
halted when Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth, a confederate
supporter on April 15, 1865.
B. Slavery after the War
3. Slaves were eventually aware of their
freedom in June of 1865, when the
information had leaked into the South
after General Gordon seized control of
Galveston on June 19.
~Juneteenth is still celebrated today in
many southern communities
B. Slavery after the War
4. Freedom however was not easy for most
slaves. Slaves had no rights, no citizenship,
and often could not find work. Some
freed slaves offered to stay on their
master’s plantation and work for little pay.
~This was often the only place and
people they knew.
C. Reconstruction
1. The period of time after the war is
known as Reconstruction because the
country had to rebuild itself politically,
economically, and socially.
C. Reconstruction
Before
After
Politically
Two
Countries
One country
Economically
Two
independent
money systems
One superior
class of Whites
One integrated
money system
Socially
A socially mixed
system of
people with
different rights
and liberties
C. Reconstruction
2. Once the war was over, the Union
mandated that the old Confederate states
follow a series of laws and obligations
before they could have full rights like
Northern States.
C. Reconstruction
3. The South was divided into five military
districts, known as Martial Law, making
sure the South was fairly treating all
people (Including African Americans).
C. Reconstruction
~Martial Law: A temporary enforcement of
rules by the Military in a time of
emergency.
C. Reconstruction
4. Also to ensure African American’s rights,
the Freedman’s Bureau was created to
protect the rights of former slaves.
~Carry out these rights was often hard
because many whites opposed these new
laws.
D. Effects of War on the South
1. The south faced many challenges of
rebuilding their states after the war.
D. Effects of War on the South
2. The southern economy was in ruins.
~Their money was worthless, railroads
and farms were destroyed, not many jobs
available
D. Effects of War on the South
3. Freed blacks faced even more problems:
~the Klu Klux Klan violently protested
African American Rights, owning land was
often unobtainable, and education was
scarce and limited.
D. Effects of War on the South
4. Freedom for
Blacks often
meant a life of
poverty and
setbacks.
D. Effects of War on the South
5. Black Codes
were created to
keep African
Americans from
improving their
life financially
and politically.
D. Effects of War on the South
~These codes were unofficial laws put in
place in the south to limit the basic
human rights and liberties of blacks
during the era of Reconstruction
D. Effects of War on the South
6. Sharecropping, or renting land from a
plantation owner and paying them in
crops, was also a way to keep African
Americans down.
D. Effects of War on the South
~Rent was so high that people usually only
grew enough to eat and pay rent, leaving
nothing for profit.
E. Getting Past the War
1. Reconstruction lasted four years and
during this time Texas had to create a new
Constitution.
E. Getting Past the War
2. This constitution had to remove slavery
from Texas and protect freedmen (not the
same as equal rights).
E. Getting Past the War
3. Texas created the Constitution of 1876,
which is still the one that governs our
state today.
E. Getting Past the War
4. Texas faced many challenges after the war,
but Texas was able to recover faster than
some states due to the new and booming
cattle industry that would soon sweep
the state.