RECONSTRUCTION - Lincoln

Reconstruction referred to the period of time (1865-1877) when the government: Re-built the South after the Civil War And the process of re-admitting Confederate states back into the United States Charleston, SC 1865

NEED FOR RECONSTRUCTION Southern areas decimated Some areas - every building / bridge destroyed Atlanta completely destroyed Charleston, Richmond, Savannah heavily damaged

NEED FOR RECONSTRUCTION 2/3 railroads gone (torn up by Union army) Hundreds of thousands dead Thousands of others wounded

NEED FOR RECONSTRUCTION Confederate money is worthless People who bought CSA bonds – unpaid Banks close / go out of business Depositors lose everything

NEED FOR RECONSTRUCTION 4,000,000 former slaves new “freedom” No land of their own No jobs No education

Reconstruction Plans Lincoln Lincoln’s 10% Plan Southern states can form state governments after 10% of voters swear loyalty to the United States of America New governments must abolish slavery Can elect Representatives to Congress Many think Lincoln’s plan in too lenient

Reconstruction Plans Lincoln Wade-Davis Bill Majority of white males must swear allegiance to USA CSA volunteers denied the right to vote Cannot hold public office Includes all officers and the most educated Passed by Congress Vetoed by Lincoln

Radical Republicans Thaddeus Stevens Charles Sumner Two goals House of Representatives leader Pennsylvania Charles Sumner Senate leader Massachusetts Two goals Break the power of the Southern plantation owners Ensure right to vote for Freedmen

Lincoln is Assassinated On April 14, 1865, just 5 days after Lee's surrender, the president attended a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. As Lincoln watched the play, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, crept into the President's box. Booth, a Southerner, blamed Lincoln for the South's defeat. Now taking careful aim, he shot Lincoln in the head with a gun. Within a few hours the President was dead. Booth fled out of Washington and was later caught and killed in a barn outside of the city.

Lincoln is Assassinated Vice President Andrew Johnson became the President when Lincoln died. After Johnson became President his first duty was to ratify or approve the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery throughout the nation. The amendment passed on January 1865. Here is what the 13th Amendment said: Section 1 Neither slavery nor voluntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.