PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION

Partner Discussion Imagine that you live in the North/South as the Civil War is ending. 1. How do you feel about the other side? 2. What are your concerns about the South rejoining the U.S.? 3. What would you want to make sure the other side does or does not do?

Reconstruction Key Goals: Bring the South back into the union Integrate and protect freedmen

The Status of the South African-Americans: Plantation owners 4 million new freed people Many homeless, jobless and hungry Some migrated North, others looked for jobs Plantation owners Lost slave labor worth $3 billion Many had to sell their property Poor white Southerners Many couldn’t find work Often started migrating west

1890 African-American population in 1890

Clip 1 Explains the impact of Emancipation & the idea of “40 Acres”

Lincoln’s 10% Plan Lincoln’s idea during war – Dec 1863 Pardon to Confederates who swore allegiance to the Union States could create new state Constitutions after 10% of the people in the state had sworn allegiance States could then hold elections

Lincoln’s 10% Plan This idea offered a tone of forgiveness But Congress wanted to punish the South The 10% plan never went into effect

2. Wade-Davis Act 1864-Congress’s Radical Republicans thought the 10% plan was too lenient Proposed Wade-Davis Act Required Confederates to take an oath and swear they had never willingly borne arms against the U.S. Lincoln let this Act die in a pocket veto Significance: Goal was more to punish the South

13th Amendment Passed in 1865 Amendment to the Constitution Ends slavery in the United States

What are the biggest/most important differences between Lincoln’s 10% Plan and the Wade-Davis Act?

PHASES OF RECONSTRUCTION

Groups Southern Democrats – Want a system as close to slavery as possible Lincoln – More moderate Republican Radical Republicans – Hate slavery, want the South to give A-As rights Johnson – Southerner who sympathized with the South

Questions in the South throughout Who will do the work? How will blacks be “controlled?” Will the South survive the upheaval?

Attitude Inventory Which statement do you agree with more… A. It is more important for a country to have equality for its people than a strong, unified government OR B. It is more important for a country to have a strong, unified government than equality for its people

Chronology of Reconstruction 1864-1865 – Lincoln 1865-1867 – Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction 1867-1877 – Radical Reconstruction 1877 – End of Reconstruction “Redemption” Phase

President Johnson Southerner who was allied with poor whites Was chosen as Lincoln’s running mate to try to get Lincoln Southern support

PHASE 1: Presidential Reconstruction States had to void secession and abolish slavery Allowed states to hold Constitutional Conventions

How the South Responds They begin passing laws called “Black Codes” What did these codes do? Sec. 3 …No Negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any Negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any Negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence. Sec. 6…No negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing form the president of the police jury….

Black Codes – The Big Picture Rights: Marriage Owning property Restrictions: Labor Housing Leisure time Weapons ownership Violation of the Black Codes lead to fines or forced work

Violence Violence against African-Americans “Value” of the African-American KKK emerges Lynching of blacks and whites Secretly and targeted (rather than mob violence) Systematic murder of about 1,300 voters

Analyze Presidential Reconstruction Was Reconstruction a success under Presidential Reconstruction? Why or why not? Discuss

Phase 2 : Radical Reconstruction Radical Republicans see the problems of Reconstruction under Johnson They push through a completely different approach: Civil Rights Act 14th Amendment States had to ratify to re-join Control of the South Military districts Confederates temporarily can’t vote, African-American men can

14th Amendment “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Citizenship & due process for everyone born in the U.S.

Legal Impact African-Americans elected to office More than a dozen in Congress Hundreds elected to state legislatures 2,000 held office Push through 15th Amendment Gives all African-American men the right to vote

Social Impact Freedmen’s Bureau Wipe out Black Codes… Food, shelter, medical care for poor Education Wipe out Black Codes… But Sharecropping is established to take its place

Sharecropping Freedmen rent land/materials/tools Whites own the land Freedmen only get “shares” Forever in debt

Analyze Radical Reconstruction Was Reconstruction a success? Compare its successes (or lack thereof) under Presidential & RR Reconstruction. Why or why not?

“Redemption”

Strange Fruit, by Billie Holiday Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop What does this song suggest about the Reconstruction-era South?

During Radical Reconstruction… Grant elected (1868)

Compromise of 1877 Republican Rutherford Hayes lost popular vote to Samuel Tilden Electoral vote disputed Southern Democrats agreed to give Hayes the win if: He took federal troops out of South Give $ to South for railroads and levees

Reconstruction Dies In South… Former Confederates pardoned, return to power Democrats from South blocked national reforms Supreme Court limits 14th and 15th Amendments, lets states “protect” rights

“Redemption” After Reconstruction ends The South claims this is a period of “Redemption” From the perspective of Southern whites They are the ones who feel they are being redeemed – regaining what they’d lost Time of anxiety and fear in the South

During Redemption KKK reemerges Jim Crow laws Enforce complete segregation African-Americans’ homes, barns were burned Suppression of voting Directly – threats and whips Gerrymandering Literacy tests

Literacy Test Take the literacy test

African-American Vote Wiped Out Louisiana Over 130,000 African-Americans registered to vote Four years later: Down to 5,300

Lynchings 1882-1901 – More than 100 lynchings a year recorded Over 5,000 up until 1960s Festival lynchings – advertised in the paper. Trains sold tickets. Bodies destroyed. Often when black men are accused of rape. It was seen as a “manly” act – to protect white women.

Analyze Redemption What does this time period suggest about the successes or failures of Reconstruction?