Analyze the effects of Reconstruction on the Southern states and the impact of the Slavery Amendments on African Americans RECONSTRUCTION

 Reconstruction – the period of time following the Civil War attempting to integrate the South back into the Union and securing civil and voting rights for freed slaves.  After the War, the Southern economy is destroyed  Unable to rely on slave labor  Monetary system is destroyed  Transportation systems destroyed  Congress divided over treatment of South  Some want an easy transition to move on  Abraham Lincoln supports easy transition  Assassination of Lincoln leaves US without strong leader  Some want to treat harshly for rebelling WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTION?

 Emancipation Proclamation  Issued in 1863 during war  Does NOT free slaves  Lincoln has no legal authority in South at the time  13 th Amendment, 1865  Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude except in cases of criminal conviction.  Southern states required to accept the 13 th amendment before rejoining the Union. SLAVERY AMENDMENTS

 Government agency created to assist former slaves  Provided  Food  Housing  Education  Health care  Employment  Finding family members  Tuskegee Institute  First of many all-black colleges to form in South  “40 Acres and a Mule”  Difficult to enforce in South right after War  Bureau agents frequently bullied FREEDMAN’S BUREAU

 “Black Codes”  Southern states pass laws to control how former slaves will work in society – vagrancy laws.  In most places, it is simply the same as the former slave codes  Allowed to marry and own property  Prohibited from voting, testifying in court against whites, serving in state militias, or publicly voicing complaints about conditions.  Threat of violence used as fear tactic to keep former slaves “in their place.” SOUTHERN REACTION

 Military Reconstruction Act  Places southern states under military control  US Army used to force South to obey new laws  Splits South into 5 Districts with Army in charge  Congress impeaches President Johnson  14 th Amendment  Guarantee of citizenship and due process – rights cannot be taken without  15 th Amendment  Guarantees right to vote not based on race  Still MEN ONLY OCCUPATION OF SOUTH

 Most freed slaves stayed in or returned to the South  Need to find employment  Familiar  South resists Republican laws  “carpetbaggers” – people from the North that came South to assist or sell products  “scalawags” – Republicans in South  Black Representatives  First blacks in Congress from the South  Blacks also elected to state legislatures  Formation of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)  Formed by Confederate General, Nathan Bedford Forrest  Originally started to resist against new Republican and Army policies in South  Soon becomes a vigilante group SOUTHERN RESISTANCE