Rebuilding America After the War

 With the Civil War over, the nation entered a time of Reconstruction

 In 1865, just 5 days after the end of the war, a Confederate supporter, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theater.

 Democrat, Andrew Johnson appealed to the South because he was once a slave owner.  His idea of Reconstruction was called Presidential Reconstruction  Northerners felt like this plan was too lenient

 Radical Republicans felt that Johnson’s plan was ineffective because…  It failed offer full citizenship to African Americans  The President was over Reconstruction instead of Congress  The entire voting population had to pledge allegiance to the Union instead of just 10%

 13 th Amendment: ended slavery throughout the United States in 1865  Just 1 year later, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was supposed to give citizenship rights to freed slaves.  14 th Amendment: guaranteed that no person regardless of race could be deprived of the rights to life, liberty, or property without a trial.

 Johnson opposed much of those laws.  In 1868, he tried to fire the Sec. of War, Edwin Stanton because of his ties to Lincoln and the Republicans.  Congress impeached him for over stepping his powers as president

 The last major Reconstruction law was the 15 th Amendment, which stated that no citizen should be denied the right to vote by the US or any state.

 Since the 13 th Amendment freed slaves, Freedmen had to adjust to life after slavery.  Most had no land or money so they turned to sharecropping  Some tried tenant farming, where they could pay rent to farm the land and keep the crops they grew

 The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to provide clothing, meals, medical attention, education, and even land to Freed slaves and some poorer whites.  While the program would help many, it lacked strong support and ended after 4 years.

 Religion became very important to most African Americans.  Within the church they could discuss issues within the black community.  Ministers became leaders in spirituality and politics!

 While it seemed that life would be improving for Freedmen, laws and hate groups negatively affected their everyday lives.  Many states in the South passed Black Codes to keep African Americans at a disadvantage. ▪ Blacks couldn’t meet together after sundown ▪ They couldn’t own firearms or weapons ▪ They couldn’t rent property in cities

 Some whites committed violent acts against Freedmen. The largest and most notorious group to do this was the Ku Klux Klan

 Southern states began passing Jim Crow Laws that required African Americans and whites to use separate public facilities.  Many in the south tried to avoid following the 15 th Amendment by requiring voters to pass a literacy test or pay a poll tax before voting.  Some were protected by the grandfather clauses which stated that if their ancestors could vote in the past they could vote

 These issues led to Segregation in the South  De jure Segregation is based on law  De facto Segregation is based on social habits

 Booker T. Washington – former slave that founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama  W.E.B. DuBois – 1 st African American to get a Ph.D. from Harvard. He also helped establish the NAACP  Ida Wells-Barnett – led movements against hate groups and helped DuBois with the NAACP