RECONSTRUCTION

RECONSTRUCTION The period in U.S. history which followed the Civil War, during which the Confederate states were restored to the Union.

THE TWO BIG QUESTIONS Should the Confederate states be punished? What should be done to help the former slaves?

PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION Lincoln’s plan— pardon all Southerners who took an oath of allegiance to the Union; they could then set up state governments and write constitutions.

PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION Johnson’s plan—the same as Lincoln’s, but Confederate leaders were not pardoned. Southern states began organizing under this plan.

PROBLEMS AROSE… Southern states began passing black codes— laws restricting the civil rights of freed slaves. Confederate leaders were elected to Congress.

A NEW RECONSTRUCTION PLAN Radical Republican plan—the Republicans in Congress became angry and made a very harsh plan to punish white Southerners.

Andrew Johnson became president when Lincoln was assassinated.

ANDREW JOHNSON Southerner and former slave-holder He disagreed with the Radical Republican plan Congress impeached (brought charges against) Johnson in 1868.

IMPEACHMENT In cases of impeachment, the Senate acts as a jury during the trial that is held. A 2/3 vote is needed for conviction and removal from office. Johnson kept the office of president by one vote.

RECONSTRUCTION ENDS Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in Federal troops were removed from the South because of an agreement Hayes made to become president.

LASTING EFFECTS OF RECONSTRUCTION Public school system in the South Solid South—support for the Democratic Party that lasted for 100 years

EFFECTS, CONT. 13 th Amendment— abolished slavery 14 th Amendment— citizenship 15 th Amendment— suffrage

EFFECTS, CONT. Segregation was firmly established in the South through Jim Crow laws. Violence was used to keep blacks from exercising their civil rights (KKK) Voting restrictions

Jim Crow laws separated whites from blacks in every aspect of Southern society.

VOTING RESTRICTIONS Poll tax—pay a fee to vote Literacy test—had to be able to read and write to vote Grandfather clause— allowed poor, illiterate, white Southerners to vote

GRANDFATHER CLAUSE Exempted anyone from the literacy test and the poll tax if their father or grandfather had been eligible to vote in All black Americans were slaves in 1850, so the clause did not apply to them.

PLESSY v. FERGUSON (1896) The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal if “separate, but equal” facilities or access was given to blacks. This made Jim Crow laws constitutional.