 Five days after the Civil War ended, Lincoln was assassinated while watching a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.  His assassin was John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Southern sympathizer.  Booth escaped and was found days later in a barn.  Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated.  Vice President Andrew Johnson became President.

 Reconstruction was the time period after the Civil War in which the nation was rebuilt, especially the South  The South was physically, economically, and politically destroyed.  What would all of these freed slaves do?

 During Reconstruction, a group called the Radical Republicans controlled Congress. Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner led this group.  They wanted to destroy the power of former slaveholders.  They wanted African Americans to have full citizenship, including suffrage (the right to vote).

 Outlawed slavery in America  Many former slaves were reunited with their families.  Many became sharecroppers or tenant farmers.  Sharecroppers: farmers who worked someone else’s land & gave at least ½ of the profit to the landowner at harvest time.  People in the North called sharecropping the “continuation of slavery”.  Tenant Farmers: Rented the land and kept the profit from the harvest.

Reconstruction Plan Describe the Plan Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Reconstruction Act of 1867 (Congressional Reconstruction)

 Different groups had different ideas on how to rebuild.  Was the Executive Branch or the Legislative Branch in charge of Reconstruction?

Reconstruction Plan Describe the Plan Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan The government would pardon all confederates who swore allegiance to the Union, except high ranking officials After 10% of those who voted in 1860 took the oath & wrote a Constitution, they could form a new state government and gain representation in Congress

Reconstruction Plan Describe the Plan Johnson’s Plan (Presidential Reconstruction) Each confederate state could be readmitted to the Union if it would meet several conditions Each would have to withdraw its secession, swear allegiance to the Union, annul Confederate war debts, and ratify the 13 th Amendment.

Reconstruction Plan Describe the Plan Reconstruction Act of 1867 (Congressional Reconstruction) Divided the confederate states into 5 military districts, each headed by a Union general. The voters in the districts (including blacks) would elect delegates to conventions in which new state constitutions would be drafted In order to reenter the Union, state constitutions had to ensure that black men could vote & the state had to ratify the 14 th Amendment

 During Reconstruction, Congress approved the passage of the Freedmen’s Bureau.  It assisted former slaves and poor Southern whites by distributing food and clothes, and establishing hospitals, teacher training programs, schools, and industrial institutions.

 Civil Rights Act of gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws (called black codes)  14 th Amendment- made all people born or naturalized in the U.S. citizens. Also gave citizens equal protection under the law  15 th Amendment- no one could be denied the right to vote because of race, color or previous condition of servitude

 Led by Radical Republican, Thaddeus Steven, Congress voted to impeach Johnson.  He was found not guilty by one vote.  Johnson did not run for re- election.

 Former Union General, Ulysses S. Grant, was elected President of the United States.  He was a good general, but not a good politician.  His administration was plagued with corruption.

 With the efforts of the KKK, the Democrats came to power again in the South.  This time period is known as “redemption”.  Democrats controlled the state governments in the South.  They also gained power in Congress.

 The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.  In the election of 1876, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President by one electoral vote.  Instead of the Democrats making a big issue out of the election results, they made a deal with the Republicans.  The Democrats would allow Hayes to stay President, if the Republicans would pull the military out of the South.

African American men who could vote for the first time

1. Searched for loved ones 2. Went to school 3. Able to hold paying jobs 4. Established churches 5. Could travel freely 6. They could run for political office & vote

 General Sherman promised freed slaves who followed his army 40 acres per family and use of an army mule  Some actually received this as payment  Today, this has come to imply that African Americans deserve payment (reparations) for the work their ancestors did for this country as slaves

 To restore white supremacy  To prohibit African Americans from exercising their rights as citizens *  To terrorize those who wanted progress for African Americans

 Discrimination and racist attitudes still existed  Jim Crow laws established (segregation laws; laws that separated the races) Examples: literacy tests, poll taxes, Grandfather clause

 The 13 th, 14 th, 15 th Amendments gave rights to African Americans  African Americans established churches, schools, and civic organizations