1. The Reconstruction Era

2. Goals of Reconstruction
1. Reunite the former
Confederate states
with the Union
2. Redefine the rights
and status of blacks
3. Literally rebuild the
South’s economy

3. Lincoln’s Plan Lenient 10% Plan – 10 % of 1860 voting pop. agreed
Don’t punish entire state
for actions of a few
leaders
Pardon high rank Confed.
Form a new state gov.
and constitution

4. President Andrew Johnson
Southern Democrat
Former slave Owner
Pro – South
Anti civil rights
Empty promises
Why was he Lincoln’s V.P.?

5. Johnson’s Plan Abolish slavery 13th Amendment
Declare secession illegal
Swear allegiance to Union
Pardon all southerners
Punish Confed. leaders
Confed. leaders could hold office
New state gov’t & const.

6. Congressional Plan Requirements 50% of state voters agree
Passed by Radical Republicans
Requirements
50% of state voters agree
Divide South into Military districts
Ratify 14th & 15th amend.
Disenfranchisement for Confed. leaders
Freedmen’s Bureau
New state gov. & constitution
More Punishment
for the South

8. Amendments: 13th - official abolished slavery
> made emancipation legal
14th - declared that all native born or
naturalized persons were citizens and
had the same rights as citizens
> nullified the Supreme Courts decision
on the Dred Scott case
15th - no one could be denied the right to vote
based on race, color, or previous servitude

9. “New” South Treatment & Progress for Blacks
Black codes passed in the South around 1865
> laws intended to stop the movement
of equality for blacks
> codes restored restrictions of
slavery

10. Black Code Examples Could not testify against whites
Could not rent or lease farmland
Could not testify against whites
Could not start their own business
Could not carry a weapon
Could not serve on a jury
Could not marry a white
Precursor to Jim Crow Laws
- literacy test
- poll tax
- grandfather clause

11. Freedmen’s Bureau Act 1865 Established by Congress
Assisted former slaves and poor whites
in South
Distribute clothes, food
set up hospitals, schools, and
teacher-training centers
* Greatest contribution - education

12. Sharecropping Advantages Drawbacks Endless Cycle w/out paying workers
- planters had land worked
w/out paying workers
- workers had a place to live
Drawbacks
- No income until harvest
- had to buy goods on credit
- had to work out of poverty
Endless Cycle

13. Civil Rights Act of 1866
Forbid black codes tried to strengthen the Freedmen's Bureau
President Johnson vetoed the bill
> drove a wedge between himself and
Congress
Congress overrode President Johnson's veto
> 1st time Congress had done this

14. Johnson's Impeachment 1867:
- to charge Federal official with a crime
Radicals felt Johnson was always working against reconstruction & not carrying out constitutional duties.
i.e. - removed military leaders who helped blacks
- vetoed Freedmen Act & Civil Rights Act
- violated the Tenure of Office Act

15. The Veto

16. Election of Grant 1868: Southerners were very against
15th amendment passed
~ due to fear of restrictions being
placed on blacks
for voting for Grant
KKK organized in
reaction
- southern democrats

17. African American Gains in Education
80% over age 20 were illiterate
Public and private organizations set
up education facilities
Hampton Institute (VA)
- college for blacks
By ,000 enrolled
in elementary schools

18. African American Gains in Politics
Held offices in local, state and federal positions
Many office holders were ministers
and teachers
South had few blacks in office

19. End of Reconstruction:
Reconstruction ended after a close presidential race in 1876
> Democrat - Sam Tilden
> Rep. - Rutherford Hayes
Close race was decided by 3 states
> SC, LA, and FL
- all still had military reconstruction gov'ts

20. Election Map, 1876

21. Compromise of 1877:
Southern Democrats would cast Republican electoral votes for Hayes
IF…. Hayes would remove the
last federal troops out of the South
Hayes agreed and removed military troops when he became President.
Officially ended Reconstruction

22. Jim Crow Laws Enacted between 1876 and 1965 State and local laws
Made segregation official
New generation in south more racist
Laws prevented equality for blacks
i.e. Segregation in public places

23. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “Separate but Equal”
30 yr old, Plessy (1/8th black jailed for sitting on a whites only railway car)
- he sued claiming unconstitutional
Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as both races had access to equal facilities.

24. African American Response to Jim Crow
Booker T. Washington
Believed that African Americans should focus on economic independence
He believed that protesting against discrimination would just cause more hostilities
Founded Tuskegee Institute in 1861

25. Ida B. Wells
Focused on stopping lynching's
Used editorials to convince African Americans to move out of the South
W. E. B. DuBois -
Believed that African Americans should fight against discrimination
He strongly protested the Jim Crow laws
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – founded in 1909 by DuBois, Wells and other leaders