1. The Reconstruction Era
Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C., Photographed by George N. Barnard. 165-SC-53.

2. Reconstruction
Reconstruction ( ) – period during which the United States began to rebuild after the Civil War and included the process by which the federal government readmitted former Confederate states.

3. After the War South lay in ruins (destroyed)
Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed food, clothing, & jobs
President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the rebuilding of the South
Ruins seen from the Circular Church, Charleston, S.C., B-4667.

4. Lincoln and Johnson Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan –
argued that the southern states had never left the Union because secession was illegal– one nation indivisible
when 10% of voters pledged allegiance to the U.S. – state could be readmitted to U.S and create a new government.
very lenient – goal was to readmit southern states as quick as possible, not to punish the South
States had to abolish slavery to return.
Many in Congress didn’t like Lincoln’s plan & wanted a stricter form of Reconstruction

5. Wade-Davis Bill
A bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans.
 In contrast to President Abraham Lincoln's more lenient Ten Percent Plan, the bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take the Ironclad oath to the effect they had never in the past supported the Confederacy. 

6. Wade-Davis Bill
Ironclad oath-  By requiring officials and voters to swear they had never supported the Confederacy, it limited the political activity of ex-Confederate soldiers and supporters. 
Lincoln blocked this bill with a pocket veto.

7. Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867-
These acts divided the south into five military districts.
Each district was placed under military leadership and new elections were held with voting only allowed by Congress' approved voters, which were mostly former slaves.
Each state was also required to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments after drafting new state constitutions.

8. Reconstruction Plan of Andrew Johnson
Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction – also very lenient toward the South
In each southern state, a majority of voters must swear loyalty to the U.S.
Each state must approve the 13th Amendment
Then each state could rejoin the Union
Andrew Johnson, Vice President & President

9. Response to Johnson’s Plan
Southern States met Johnson’s demands
Republicans in Congress outraged because African Americans were not allowed to vote & former Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress

10. Acts of Congress
Freedman’s Bureau was created by Congress and established March 1865
It gave food, clothing, & other kinds of help to the freedman.
Sharecropping – many African-Americans rented land from plantation owners in return for a share or percentage of the total crop produced

11. Sharecropping
Sharecropping

12. Radical Reconstruction
After the war, most southern states quickly ratified the 13th Amendment.
Then passed Black Codes, which limited the rights of African Americans.
Radical Republicans in Congress decide to take over Reconstruction
They wanted to break the power of the southern planters and to make sure African Americans had the right to vote.
Radical Reconstruction

13. Radical Republicans
Radical Republicans – northern members of Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, who opposed Lincoln’s Ten Percent plan and Johnson’s plan
Wanted to punish the southern slave owners
Wanted to give African-Americans the right to vote
Graft- gaining money illegally through politics in order to maximize the benefits to private interests.

14. Radical Reconstruction (continued)
14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S. are citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.
15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be denied to citizens because of their race or color or because they were once enslaved.
Reconstruction Act – Southern states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men must be allowed to vote,…
Johnson vetoed these acts & Congress overrode his veto; Congress eventually tried to impeach him

15. Reconstruction Under Grant
18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877.
In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against Horace Greeley.
Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction.
He supported amnesty (pardon) for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans.

16. Reconstruction Under Grant
He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South to protect rights of Southern blacks, and suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders.
Panic of Promoted scores of smaller banks to close and caused the stock market to plummet.

17. Politics in Post War South
Republican Party in the South relied on 3 groups during reconstruction
African Americans – right to vote guaranteed by 15th Amendment
Sharecropping – many African-Americans rented land from plantation owners in return for a share or percentage of the total crop produced
Scalawags – Southerners who became Republicans
Carpetbaggers – Northerner Republicans who moved to the South

18. The Collapse of Reconstruction
Anti-Black Violence
Election of 1876
Compromise of 1877

19. The Collapse of Reconstruction
Anti-Black violence – goal was to prevent African Americans from voting
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) – violent terrorist organization devoted to white supremacy

20. The Collapse of Reconstruction
Election of 1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
Tilden won the popular vote, Hayes won the electoral college
South upset and disputed the election

21. The Collapse of Reconstruction
Compromise of 1877 – agreement to settle the disputed election
Hayes (Republican) = president
Republicans would end military occupation of the South ended
White Democrats took control of southern state governments = “Redemption”
“Redemption”- the overthrow or defeat of Radical Republicans (white and black) by white Democrats, marking the end of the Reconstruction era in the South.

22. Reconstruction Ends
Reconstruction ended after presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes made a private deal with southern politicians.
After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy began to emerge in the South.
Southern whites pass new laws to deny African Americans equal rights.
Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, & Grandfather Clauses
Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching
Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)

23. Civil War Pictures from the National Archives http://www. archives
Many Reconstruction