INB pg. R-13 Reconstruction EQ: How did life change for African Americans when slavery was abolished?

Reconstruction Reconstruction: The time period after the Civil War when the South was rebuilding and being brought back into the country. (1863 – 1877) At that time, Republicans were the progressive party, Democrats were the conservative party. President Lincoln wanted to heal the nation’s wounds rather than punish the Southern states. When he was assassinated, new President Andrew Johnson had two goals: Have Southern states create governments loyal to the Union and respected Federal authority Abolish slavery

African American Gains Constitutional Amendments: 13th: Ended slavery 14th: Gave citizenship to African Americans 15th: Gave voting rights to all men The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, medical care, education and land to blacks & loyal whites in the South. The Military Reconstruction Act replaced old Southern state governments with federal military leaders until new state governments loyal to the Union could be established. With blacks gaining the right to vote and whites who had supported the Confederacy losing theirs, about 1/5 of those newly elected to the government were African Americans.

White Response Amnesty Act of 1872 allowed most former Confederates to vote again. With that, Southern Democrats worked to keep blacks from exercising their newly gained rights. Secret terrorist societies were created to drive African Americans out of political life. Sharecropping seemed like a good system. Whites would divide their land into pieces to rent to blacks for a share of the crops. Blacks would borrow money for seed and supplies to be paid back when the crops were harvested. Few made enough to pay back that money Instead, it kept many African Americans in debt and poverty.