Reconstruction

The time between 1865 and 1877 Three major tasks: The return of the Southern states The status of ex-Confederate leaders, The Constitutional and legal status of the African-American Freedmen.

Physical Toll of the War Destroyed 2/3 of the South’s Shipping industry 9,000 miles of railroad Destroyed farmland, machinery and 1/3 of all live stock Value of all Southern property dropped 70%

Human Toll of the War 364,000 Northerners 260,000 Southerners (1/5 of the white adult population killed, one out of three killed or wounded)

Southern Hardships Black Southerners- 4 million freed people. After a lifetime of forced labor they now found themselves homeless and jobless Plantation owners – Lost slave labor worth $3 billion and federal government could seize property. Poor white southerners- could not find work because of the competition from freedmen

Presidential Reconstruction was controlled by Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, with the goal of speedily reuniting the country. Radical Reconstruction, emphasizing civil rights and voting rights for the Freedmen. Redemption, , a reaction in which conservative white Southerners (calling themselves "Redeemers") overthrew the Republicans and took control of each state.

Presidential Reconstruction Lincoln- 10% Plan very forgiving! Offered a pardon (Official forgiveness) to any Confederate willing to take an oath to the Union and accept new slavery laws Denied pardon to Officials in Army/Gov’t Permitted states to hold new constitutional conventions after 10% of the population had sworn allegiance to the Union States could then hold election and resume in the union

Lincoln cont Opposition came from his own party, the Radical Republicans Radicals believed reconstruction should restructure society and give blacks true equality. Created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in January 1865, known as the Freedmen's Bureau.Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands

Johnson’s Reconstruction It pardoned Southerners who swore allegiance to the Union Each state could hold constitutional conventions (Without Lincoln's 10% requirement) States required to void secession, abolish slavery and renounce Confederate debt. State’s could then hold elections and rejoin the Union (Officially denied pardons to Confederate leaders but if they asked Johnson personally he would pardon them, giving 13,000 pardon’s in 1865)

Freedom Movement Freedom to own land (Forty acres and a Mule) Freedom to Worship Freedmen’s Bureau (First relief agency in US History- gave out clothing, medical supplies, and food more than 250,000 African Americans received their first education from it) Freedom to Learn ( % of black adults were illiterate)

“I never before saw children so eager to learn. Coming to school a constant delight and recreation to them… Many of the grown people [also}] are desirous of learning to read. It is wonderful how a people who have been so long crushed to the earth can have so great a desire for knowledge, and such a capability for attaining it.” –Charlotte Forten

Pop Quiz

What was Lincoln’s Plan Called?

Who’s Plan was more lenient Johnson or Lincoln?

Name two of the groups that suffered in the south?

Name one of the three issues faced in reconstruction.

Presidential Reconstruction While Johnson’s plan was in effect, white southerners wrote black codes. (Took away many of the rights of the freed African Americans- could not vote, serve on juries, curfews, vagrancy laws, rent land only in rural areas, pay fees to have a job…) In response Radical Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which guaranteed African Americans citizenship.

Fourteenth amendment- created in 1866 and ratified by states in 1868 which made civil rights part of the constitution. “All persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens… no state shall make or abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens” (13 th had been passed in 1865 to abolish slavery)

Civil Rights Act of guaranteed equal rights in public places. Johnson urged states not to ratify the 14 th amendment and Northerners were mad enough to sweep Radicals into the Congress who set about their own agenda.

Radical Reconstruction Strict Laws Imposed! Reconstruction Acts States who hadn’t accepted the 14 th amendment were put under military rule Ordered southern states to create new constitutions Required states to allow ALL qualified voter to vote Guarantee equal rights to all citizens. Ratify the 14 th amendments Barred those who had supported the Confederacy from voting.

The Fight Begins!!! Reduction of Presidential Power Johnson is Impeached 126 to 47 with 11 articles of impeachment Saved from impeachment by one vote Grant elected to presidency

Carpetbaggers- Southerners called the Northerners how came to the south carpetbaggers. Scalawags-white southerners who supported reconstruction

Freed African Americans- many had to return to the plantations where they had been enslaved. A system called sharecropping developed were a person farmed the land and paid a portion of harvest for the rent.

Fifteenth amendment passed in 1869 – the right of a person to vote could not be denied “on account of race, race, color or previous condition of servitude” former confederate soldiers formed a secret society known as the KKK – spread quickly through the South

Reconstruction ends Four reasons Reconstruction ends Corruption The economy (panic of 1873) Violence Democrats return to power Compromise of 1877 Hayes vs Tilden. Hayes made president and remaining troops removed from south.