RECONSTRUCTION

RECONSTRUCTION The period of time following the Civil War in which the US government rebuilt and readmitted the defeated southern states to the Union. Richmond, Virginia - 1865

Plans for Reconstruction Presidential Plan Provided a quick and straightforward plan for readmitting the southern states into the Union. Critics thought that the President should be harder on the South. -Create provisional, or temporary, state government -Meet the following requirements: -Officially prohibit slavery -Nullify, or cancel, the ordinance of succession; declare the act of secession to be illegal -Cancel Confederate debts (not to be paid) -Adult white males take Oath of Allegiance -Confederate government officials, high ranking army officers, and those who had $20,000 or more in cash or property request a pardon from the President -Write a new state constitution, hold elections, and resume operations as a state in the United States Abraham Lincoln: 1861 – 1865 Andrew Johnson: 1865 – 1869

Lincoln’s plan made it easy for the nation to be united again Lincoln’s plan made it easy for the nation to be united again. Lincoln, however, could not see his plan through. On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play with his wife.

Sic Semper Tyrannis John Wilkes Booth believed he was helping the Confederates by assassinating President Lincoln President Andrew Johnson appointed Andrew Jackson Hamilton as provisional governor of Texas after the war. 5

Congressional Plan Much harsher than the Presidential Plan The South: Was divided into five military districts, each under control of an army officers required to write new state constitutions that guaranteed rights for African Americans required to repeal Black Codes Adult white males required to take the Ironclad Oath stating that they had never voluntarily served in the Confederate Army or given aid to the Confederacy

Amendments and Laws to help Freed Slaves Thirteenth Amendment Fourteenth Amendment Fifteenth Amendment

Thirteenth Amendment Slavery is abolished! Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Slavery is abolished!

Fourteenth Amendment Citizenship to all persons born in the United States. This gave most African Americans citizenship. Guaranteed equal protection of the laws. No state can “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. What is due process?

Fifteenth Amendment 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 condition of servitude. African American men have the right to vote!

Freedmen's Bureau Formed by the U.S. Congress to assist former slaves Provided food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. Tried to find jobs for freedmen. Opened schools for African Americans Helped poor whites as well. Provided medical care for over 1 million people.

Inequality Continues Black Codes: Laws limiting the rights of African Americans Voting Restrictions: Poll Taxes: required voters to pay a fee each time they vote. Literacy Tests: required voters to read in order to vote. Grandfather Clauses: If voters father or grandfather had been eligible to vote in 1867 the voter did not have to take the literacy test. Black Codes -If a freedman didn’t have a job, he could be put in jail. -A freedman could not leave one job to take another without permission from both the old and the new employer. -A freedman had to obey and respect his employer. -Vagrancy laws restricted the time of day when a freedman could be out in public and the places he could go.

Inequality Continues Jim Crow Laws: Southern states pass laws that separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, and even cemeteries. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) spreads terror through the use of violence and lynchings.

FREEDOM…

BUT NOT EQUALITY!

Laws against Equality JIM CROW LAWS Southern states pass laws that separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, and even cemeteries.

KKK Spreads Terror

VIOLENCE

Lynching