The Basics of Reconstruction United States after the Civil War

Journal ***Quiet for the music*** What is “Reconstruction”? How did Lincoln make readmission to the Union Easy? Why didn’t Lincoln get to finish his plan?

Rewind Review Civil War ended Emancipation of slaves Broke & decimated south Huge life loss on both sides Abraham Lincoln (4:46)

Lincoln Assassinated On April 14, 1865, five days after the war ended Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth thought that killing Lincoln would save the confederacy.

Fords Theater

John Wilkes Booth Gun that shot Lincoln

Reconstruction The time period after the Civil War is known as Reconstruction. After the war the south needed to be rebuilt due to total war. ***Worksheet***

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan In order for a Confederate state to rejoin the Union they had to do the following: Write a new state Constitution Elect a new state government Repeal the act of secession Cancel all war debts against the Union Ratify the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery.

Freedmen’s Bureau A group that provided food & medical care to blacks & whites living in the south. The bureau was necessary b/c after the war most slaves had no means to make a living.

The Black Codes The black codes served three purposes. 1-To limit the rights of freedmen. After the war former slaves were given the right to marry, own property, work for wages, & sue in court. However they could not vote or serve on juries in the South.

The Black Codes 2-To help planters find workers to replace their slaves. These codes required freedmen to work. If they did not have jobs they were arrested and hired out to planters.

The Black Codes 3-To keep freedmen at the bottom of the social order in the South. Segregation in public places

Civil Rights Act of 1866 This act struck back at the Black Codes by declaring all freedmen to be full citizens with the same rights as whites. To ensure this act was followed Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which declared former slaves to be citizens with full civil rights “No state, shall…deny to any person…the equal protection of the laws.”

15th Amendment This amendment stated that a citizen’s right to vote “shall not be denied…on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Its purpose was to protect the right of African American men to vote.

The Right to Vote? Southern states passed laws requiring citizens who wanted to vote to pay a poll tax. The tax was set high enough so that many African American living in the south could not afford to pay.

The Right to Vote? Other Southern states required citizens to pass literacy test to show they could read before they could vote. These test were set up to fail any African America, regardless of his education.

The Right to Vote? Both of these laws applied to blacks and whites living in the south. However, whites were excused for paying the poll tax or taking literacy tests due to the “grandfather clause.” The clause stated taxes & tests did not apply to any man whose father or grandfather could vote on January 1, 1867. Since no African Americans could vote on that date, the clause only applied to whites.

Jim Crow Laws Laws enforcing segregation in public places in the south after the civil war.