Download Notes

USII.3a-3b/2009
A House Reunited
The end of the Civil War brought an end to the Confederacy.
Now it was time to reunite the once divided nation into one
country again.
This time of rebuilding was called
Reconstruction. Political leaders disagreed on how to treat the
Confederate states that had unsuccessfully fought for their
independence.
1. Predict why the period following the Civil War was
known as Reconstruction.
Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Army of Northern Virginia who
later became the president of Washington College (present-day
Washington and Lee University), urged Southerners to
reconcile at the end of the war and reunite as Americans when
some wanted to continue the fight.
Before the end of the war, Abraham Lincoln was elected to a
second term as President. The President knew his most
challenging task would be to reunite the country. His plan
called for reconciliation. Let the nation rebuild and move
forward. Lincoln did not believe the South should be punished
for the war; he wanted to bring the country back together as
peacefully and as quickly as possible. Preservation of the
Union was more important than punishing the South. Lincoln
spoke of his Reconstruction plan in his second inaugural
address on March 4, 1865.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind
up the nation’s wounds . . .”
The President’s plans were cut short when he was tragically
murdered on April 14, 1865, just five days after Lee’s
surrender. Lincoln’s death rocked the nation. Northerners had
lost the leader who had saved the Union. Southerners had lost
the leader who had promised an easy peace.
Big Ideas
2. Which Southern military leader urged Southerners to
reunite with the North at the end of the war?
3. What did Lincoln feel was more important than
punishing the South?
4. IN YOUR OWN WORDS, explain what Lincoln meant
by the quote from his inaugural address.
Upon Lincoln’s death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became
President. Johnson returned the rights of citizenship to most
Confederates who pledged loyalty to the United States. Their
states held elections, and state governments went back to work
as usual.
Johnson also required former Confederate states to abolish
slavery before they could rejoin the Union. The Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in December 1865.
It banned slavery in the United States and any of its territories.
Many Northerners were angry that the Southern states could
rejoin the Union so easily. They felt the Confederates should
be punished for their part in the war. White Southerners were
again being elected to office and running state governments.
However, few people talked about the rights of former enslaved
African Americans.
5. What was the basic provision of the Thirteenth
Amendment?
Before long the newly elected state legislatures in the South
passed laws to limit the rights of the former slaves. These black
codes were in reaction to the abolition of slavery and the
South's defeat in the Civil War. They were different from state
to state. However, in most states former slaves were not
allowed to vote. In some they were not allowed to travel freely.
They could not own certain kinds of property or work in certain
businesses. They could be forced to work without pay if they
could not find other jobs.
6. What was the purpose of the black codes passed by
many Southern legislatures after the war?
7. Although black codes varied from state to state, most
states included a law prohibited African Americans’ right
to __________________.
African Americans gained equal rights as a result of the Civil
Rights Act of 1866. It was the most important action by
Congress towards protecting the rights of Freedmen during
Reconstruction. The act, which authorized the use of federal
troops for its enforcement, declared that "all persons born in the
United States not subject to any foreign power, excluding
Indians not taxed," were citizens of the United States. Such
citizens were "of every race and color" and "without regard to
any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude."
To return to the Union, a state also had to approve the
Fourteenth Amendment that granted citizenship to all persons
born in the United States, except Native Americans, and those
who would later become citizens, guaranteeing all citizens
equal protection under the law.
As the Southern states began to write new state constitutions
and approve the Fourteenth Amendment, new elections were
held. For the first time African Americans began to hold office.
Congress replaced the President’s Reconstruction plan when
they saw the move to limit the rights of former slaves by
Southern legislatures. As part of its plan, Congress did away
with the new state governments and put the Southern states
under military rule. The South was divided into five military
districts where Union soldiers kept order, and army officers
were appointed to be governors. Southern military leaders were
not allowed to hold office or to vote. Before any Southern state
could reestablish its state government, it had to write a new
state constitution giving all men, both black and white, the right
to vote.
8. Under the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866,
what group was authorized by Congress to enforce its
requirements?
9. What was the basic provision of the 14th Amendment?
10. New elections held after the ratification of the
Fourteenth Amendment saw __________________
_____________________ holding office for the first
time.
11.As a result of the passing of black codes, Congress took
the power from the Southern legislatures and put the
Southern
states
under
the
supervision
of
_________________ _________________,
Congress then proposed the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Constitution. It ensured all citizens the right to vote regardless
of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This
Amendment was ratified in 1870 and designed to extend voting
rights and enforce them by law.
Frederick Douglass, a former abolitionist who fought to end
slavery before the war, fought for the adoption of constitutional
amendments that guaranteed voting rights. He became a
powerful voice for human rights and civil liberties for all.
12.What was the basic provision of the Fifteenth
Amendment?
13. What former abolitionist encouraged the adoption of the
Constitutional Amendments that pledged voting rights?
Although most Confederates accepted their defeat and the
abolition of slavery, others were against equal rights for former
enslaved African Americans. They did not want African
Americans to vote or to hold office, and they opposed the
Reconstruction governments. While the Constitution
guaranteed African Americans the right to vote, new laws were
put into effect to keep them from voting in the South. One was
called the “grandfather clause.” Grandfather clauses required
voters to have ancestors who had voted before 1867, which left
out the former enslaved African Americans. Laws were also
made that said people couldn’t vote if they couldn’t read or
write, which also included most former slaves.
14. EXPLAIN TWO (2) ways laws in the South prevented
African Americans from voting.

