Reconstruction

Definition: Reunite the country and to build a Southern society not based on slavery Major questions: 1.What should be done to Southerners who rebelled? 2.What should Southern states be required to do to be re-admitted into the Union? 3.What should be done for the Freedmen?

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan 1.When 10% of the state’s voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union, the state could form a new government and constitution – one than banned slavery 2.Offered amnesty to white Southerners, but not Confederate leaders 3.Grant the right to vote African Americans who were educated or had served in the Union army *Would not force Southern states to grant equal rights to African Americans

Opposed Lincoln’s Plan Felt Lincoln’s plan was too mild – Confederates needed to be punished Felt Congress should control the Reconstruction policy Radical Republicans

Wade-Davis Bill Harsher than the Ten Percent Plan Majority of white males in a state had to swear loyalty to the Union Only white males who didn’t take up arms could vote at the state constitutional convention – former Confederates could not hold office Both plans abolished slavery Lincoln refused to sign the bill!

Freedman’s Bureau Government agency (part of the War Department) created at the end of the Civil War to help former enslaved persons Distributed food and clothing and provided medical care Established schools, provided transportation, and helped to acquire land

Backlash

Lincoln Assassinated April 14, 1865 Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth captured and shot to death

Andrew Johnson’s Restoration Plan “White men alone must manage the South” Only southern Senator to support the Union during the war Supported state rights and had no desire to help African Americans

First part of plan: Most Southerners granted amnesty once they swore an oath of loyalty to the Union Second part of plan: Wealthy landowners and Confederate officials could only be pardoned by Johnson

Third part of plan: Johnson appointed governors and required states to hold elections for state constitutional conventions (African Americans not allowed to vote); states must ratified the 13th Amendment

Reaction to Johnson’s Plan Radical Republicans opposed the plan!!!! Congress refused to seat new Southern representatives – thus not admitting the states back into the Union Passed the 14 th Amendment Passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Impeached Johnson

Black Codes Passed in by Southern state legislatures Aimed to control freed men and women and to enable plantation owners to exploit African American workers To Northerners, codes reestablished slavery in disguise

13th Amendment Passed in January, 1865 Amendment abolished slavery in all parts of the Union

14th Amendment Passed in June, 1866 Congress wanted to ensure that African Americans would not lose the rights that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted (act ended the Black Codes and contradicted the 1857 Dred Scott decision) Amendment granted full citizenship to all individuals born in the USA

14th Amendment No state could take away a citizen’s life, liberty, and property “without due process of law,” and that every citizen was entitled to “equal protection of the laws” Note: The term citizen did not include Native Americans

First and Second Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Congress took control of the Reconstruction process 10 Southern states divided into five districts controlled by the military States now had to ratify the 14 th Amendment to be readmitted into the Union African American males permitted to vote in state elections Former Confederate leaders could not hold office

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Radical Republicans opposed Johnson’s plan -- too lenient Passed the Tenure of Office Act -- limited Johnson’s power Trial began March, one vote short of the 2/3 majority needed for removal

Election of 1868 Most Southern states rejoined the Union by 1868 Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, won the election gaining 214 of 294 electoral votes

15th Amendment Passed in February, 1869 Amendment prohibited the state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude Note: Women were not granted to vote until the 19th Amendment (1920)

African Americans in Government Some African Americans (Southern Republicans) begin to hold office in the House of Representatives and the Senate Blanche K. BruceHiram Revels

Scalawags and Carpetbaggers Scalawags – Southern whites who supported Republican policies during Reconstruction Carpetbaggers – name given to Northern whites who moved to the South after the Civil War and supported the Republicans

Jim Crow Laws Freedom does not mean equality Laws created to keep races apart -- Called segregation

Plessy v. Fergusion 1896 court case that upheld Jim Crow laws and segregation “Separate, but equal legal”

Jim Crow Laws

Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan is the name of a number of past and present fraternal organizations in the United States that have advocated white supremacy and anti-Semitism; and in the past century, anti-Catholicism, and nativism.

The Klan's first incarnation was in 1866 Founded by veterans of the Confederate Army, its main purpose was to resist Congressional Reconstruction, and it focused as much on intimidating "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" as on putting down the freed slaves It quickly adopted violent methods, and was involved in a wave of 1,300 murders of Republican voters in 1868

A rapid reaction set in, with the Klan's leadership disowning it, and Southern elites seeing the Klan as an excuse for federal troops to continue their activities in the South The organization was in decline from 1868 to 1870, and was destroyed in the early 1870s by President Ulysses S. Grant's vigorous action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).

Some Improvements as a Result of Reconstruction By 1870 about 4,000 schools were established with approximately 200,000 students -- but, most schools segregated by race Some African Americans were able to buy land and farm; most turned to sharecropping -- rented land, housing, and materials from a landowner in return for a percentage of their crop; for most, sharecropping was little better than slavery

Reconstruction Ends Election of 1876 marked the end to Reconstruction; Why? –Radical leaders disappeared –Racial prejudice throughout the country was accepted –Corruption in Grant’s administration weakened the Republicans –Congress passed the Amnesty Act -- Act pardoned most former Confederates, thus now allowed to vote; now more support for the Democratic Party

Election of 1876 disputed; Compromise of Hayes (Republican) won by narrow margin, but compromise included various favors to the South including ending Reconstruction by the federal government Reconstruction officially ends in 1877 when U.S. federal troops were removed from the South

Reconstruction Success: –Helped the South recover from the war and begin rebuilding its economy –African Americans gained greater equality Failure: –South still a rural economy and most people still poor –U.S., especially the South, created a segregated society “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” -W.E.B. DuBois