Rebuilding the Union Objective: explain the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment; evaluate effects of Reconstruction

Civil Rights Act of 1866 Defined citizens as all those born in the United States (except Native Americans) Stated citizens were entitled to equal rights regardless of race

Fourteenth Amendment Proposed in 1866; passed in 1868 Defined citizens as all those born in the United States (except Native Americans) Offered citizens “equal protection of the law” Declared any state that kept African Americans from voting would lose representatives in Congress Johnson & most former Confederate States refused to support it

Reconstruction Act of 1867 Moderate & Radical Republicans joined to pass Act Divided south into 5 military districts Took voting rights away from the prewar ruling class Required states to give all men (including black men) the vote and to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before they could be readmitted

Begins period known as Radical Reconstruction where Congress controlled it

New Southern Governments Delegates chosen to draft new state constitutions About ¾ were republicans – many poor white farmers Called scalawags (scoundrels) for going along with Radical Reconstruction ¼ of the republicans were known as carpetbaggers

Carpetbaggers – white northerners who rushed to the south after the war Accused of seeking only to get rich or gain political power Rest were African Americans – half had been free before the war and 80% could read Constitutions set up schools and gave the vote to all adult males