The Reconstruction Era

The Nation Moves Toward Reunion ► ► Union politicians… ► ► Debated on Reconstruction ► ► Lincoln… ► ► Goal was to reunify the nation ► ► Some… ► ► Harsh Reconstruction ► ► Punish the South

The Freedmen’s Bureau Aids Southerners ► ► designed to aid freed slaves and relieve the South’s immediate needs ► ► Delivered food and healthcare ► ► Began to develop a public school system for both black and white southerners ► ► Reunite families separated by slavery

President and Congress Clash ► ► Lincoln – 10 Percent Plan ► ► A state could be re- entered back into the Union if 10 percent of the voters of the 1860 election gave an oath of loyalty ► ► Radical Republicans… ► ► Favored punishment ► ► Wade-Davis Bill (pocket- veto) did not sign it ► ► Iron-clad oath – 50 % (future loyalty and past purity)

Andrew Johnson ► ► 13 th Amendment – south had to accept it ► ► Ended slavery ► ► New president promised to uphold the state’s rights ► ► Freedmen’s Bureau – vetoed ► ► Civil Rights Act – vetoed ► ► Tenure of Office Act – vetoed ► ► Fired Secretary of War Stanton ► ► Impeached ► ► Act of bringing charges against an official ► ► Senate – narrowly voted not to remove him

The Reconstruction South ► ► Radical Republicans… ► ► Divided the South into 5 military districts ► ► Under the command of Union generals ► ► Condition of readmission ► ► Required to grant the vote of African American men ► ► Passed 14 th Amendment… ► ► Guaranteed full citizenship and rights for every person born in the U.S.

African Americans Gain Political Rights ► ► Radical Reconstruction… ► ► Many white southerners were not eligible to vote ► ► African American men… ► ► Signed up to vote ► ► 1868… ► ► Many southern states had elected officials and were dominated by a strong Republican Party ► ► 15 th Amendment… ► ► No laws guaranteed the right to vote to African Americans ► ► No male citizen could be denied the right to vote

Freedmen Rebuild Their Lives ► ► First time… ► ► Celebrate their marriages ► ► Make choices on where to reside ► ► Freed women… ► ► Care for families and leave field labor ► ► Importance of education

The Ku Klux Klan Uses Terror Tactics ► ► Used terror and violence against African Americans and their white supporters ► ► Chief goal of Klan attacks… ► ► Keep African Americans from voting

Reconstruction Comes to an End ► ► After a decade … ► ► Northerners began to lose interest ► ► 1873 ► ► Series of bank failures ► ► Political scandals during the Grant administration ► ► 1871… ► ► Troops were withdrawn ► ► 1872 ► ► Congress dissolved the Freedmen’s Bureau

Southern Democrats Regain Power ► ► One by one… ► ► Southern states reinstated wealthy white southern men as governors and sent former Confederate leaders to the U.S. Congress ► ► 1874 Elections ► ► Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives

Black Codes ► Tried to restrict the movement of the new freedmen ► Vagrancy ► Prohibited to enter towns without permission ► Could not marry whites

Election of 1876 Ends Reconstruction ► Presidential election… ► Signaled the end of Reconstruction ► Democratic Candidate ► Samuel Tilden ► More popular votes ► Republican Candidate ► Rutherford B. Hayes ► Electoral vote – in dispute ► Florida – South Carolina – Louisiana ► Congressional committee declared Hayes the winner ► Promised to remove troops from the South

Historians Evaluate Reconstruction ► Was Reconstruction a success or failure? ► Some things were changed forever ► Radical Republicans failed in most of their aims ► Political rights ► Failed ► Voting Rights for African Americans ► Taken away ► De jure segregation… ► Legal separation of the races

What were the Reconstruction goals of the Radical Republicans? ► ► To bring the South back into the Union through punitive reorganization

What political gains did African Americans make in the early phases of Reconstruction? ► ► They became full citizens with the attendant rights, including, for adult males, the right to vote

How did the influence of Radical Reconstruction in the South erode? ► ► North’s waning interest in the Reconstruction ► ► A national economic downturn ► ► Political scandal in the Grant administration ► ► Emergence of white Democratic power in the South