Reconstruction: The End of Slavery NCSCOS Goal 3 Page 25

Destruction following the Civil War SOUTHERN ECONOMY - Economy was totally destroyed Charred buildings, twisted railroads, demolished roads -Currency worthless Citizens have little to no money -No transportation system Destroyed during war Destruction following the Civil War

Destruction following the Civil War

SOUTHERN ECONOMY - No government authority Rebuilding state governments -Loss of slave labor 13th Amendment No one to farm - Growth of government to provide public services Built roads, bridges, schools, hospitals all with government money; Citizens have no money

LANDOWNERS -Plantation owners hardest hit Slaves gone Crops destroyed Fortunes lost Homes looted -Some radicals thought land should be divided to slaves as payment for slavery: “40 acres and a mule” for every slave -Land was never given to slaves

-Many slaves left the plantations Moved toward cities to look for jobs AFTER SLAVERY -Many slaves left the plantations Moved toward cities to look for jobs -Looked for missing family Separated during slavery, wanted to reunite -Others simply moved to new areas -Most did not have the money to buy any land Will still be tied to land on plantations “For we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them.” Houston Holloway

PLANTATIONS RESTORED -poor could not leave -Tenant farming Rent land from farmers, can keep all harvest -Sharecroppers Given plot of land, must share harvest with landowner -The absent idea of “40 acres and a mule” -Cotton no longer king Cotton prices plummet as other nations produce own cotton South turns to textile and tobacco-product mills

~Robert Fitzgerald from Delaware, 1867 FREEDMAN’S BUREAU -Created to help former slaves adjust Created and funded by Congress over Johnson -Provided education and schooling For all ages -Helped former slaves find work -Was never able to really help most former slaves -Land reform was most basic need of former slaves – needed land “I came to Virginia one year ago, erected a school, organized and named the Freedman’s Chapel School…have about 60 who have been for several months engaged in the study of arithmetic, writing, etc…their progress has been surprisingly rapid.” ~Robert Fitzgerald from Delaware, 1867

The Freedman's Bureau, established in 1865, provided relocation, education and medical relief to newly freed Africans, as well as Southern whites displaced during the Civil War. In 1866 the Freedman's Bureau opened 45 million acres of public lands in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida to settlers regardless of race. Many freedmen took advantage of the homestead opportunity, creating the first major wave of African-American land ownership.

Many people opposed the Freedman’s Bureau.