GREAT! We won… NOW WHAT? RECONSTRUCTION: 1865 – 1877

The southern economy was crushed. People had very different ideas about how to proceed.

What will happen with the 4 million freedmen? Poor, uneducated, no skills other than farming, no food, no clothing, no shelter

- left freedmen uneducated and poor Sharecropping – a system of farming in which a farmer rented land and provided labor in return for a share of the crop - left freedmen uneducated and poor

Tenant Farming – “Rent” the land from the owner Tenant Farming – “Rent” the land from the owner. Better, than sharecropping but still a miserable existence.

Freedmen's Bureau - federal agency designed to provide jobs, education, food, clothes and shelter for freedmen and whites in need.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan - Like the Civil War didn’t happen - Pardons to those who took oaths of loyalty - Recognize Southern government when they abolished slavery and 10% of voters took loyalty oaths GENERALLY SPEAKING: GIT R’ DONE

Lincoln assassinated April of 1865

13th Amendment abolished slavery in U.S.

Lincoln’s V.P. was Andrew Johnson FORMER SLAVE HOLDER SOUTHERNER could not control Congress

- Blacks could not own or rent "Black codes" - Limited the rights of Blacks - Mississippi barred interracial marriages (death) - Blacks could not own or rent

“Radical Republicans” TOUGH on the South South was divided up into 5 military districts New state govt. must grant blacks right to vote Prohibited Confederate officials from holding office As a result, many state govt. in South were filled with Republicans and African Americans!

Scalawags: derogatory term used to describe white southerners that supported the NEW Southern government

Carpetbaggers: Northerners who came South to aid in Reconstruction, but took advantage of the poor Southern condition. Known for their bags covered in carpet-like material which they filled with stolen goods.

14th Amendment (1866) – defined citizenship and gave equal protection of the law

South can’t be part of Congress until 14th is passed Whites went on a rampage killing hundreds of blacks killed

It was SO bad that in 1868 Congress impeached (charged) Johnson using the Tenure of Office Act which forbade the President from firing a member of the Cabinet. Johnson remained in office by ONE vote.

Gave black men the right to vote 15th Amendment Gave black men the right to vote "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous conditions of servitude."

Ulysses S. Grant – President in 1868 Filled with scandal Weakened Republican Party and Reconstruction As a result, most white Southern males voted Democrat (in reaction to the Republicans) Democrats would dominate the South for the next 100 years

Samuel Tilden (Democrat) Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) Election of 1876 Tilden wins popular vote - dispute about electoral vote Compromise of 1877 A Republicans controlled commission created to investigate electoral problems gives election to Hayes. Democrats go along with Hayes winning the election IF: - the federal troops are withdrawn from the South - a Southerner is put in the Hayes cabinet Federal $ was given to improve the South END of Reconstruction Samuel Tilden (Democrat) Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)

Ku Klux Klan Things go back to the way they were before the Civil War. Whites take over in South. By the 1900’s, Black’s rights had been severally limited. Ku Klux Klan

Literacy Tests must be able to read and write and pass a test to vote Poll Taxes fee to vote Literacy Tests must be able to read and write and pass a test to vote Grandfather Clause – must be a son or grandson of a man eligible to vote in 1867 to vote

Plessy v. Ferguson legalizes Jim Crow Laws that segregate public facilities “Separate But Equal”

http://www.mosallbhbl.org/u.s.history-civilwar