1. The Reconstruction Era
Notes
The Reconstruction Era

2. What to do now??
The war was over, now the U.S. had to move forward and work to solve problems
Many questions:
How should the North & South be reunited?
What rights should former slaves have?
Should former Confederates be punished?
How would the South’s economy survive without slavery?

3. Reconstruction
Reconstruction: The term for rebuilding the South and bringing the Southern states back into the Union
Period of history that lasted from

4. Andrew Johnson
After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson became president
Similarities between them:
Both believed that once the war was over,
it was time to move on (don’t punish South)
Differences between them:
He was a Democrat
He sympathized more with Southerners
He didn’t think giving African Americans the right to vote was a good idea
Why did Lincoln choose him?
He wanted a VP from a different political party to show unity
Johnson’s political beliefs would cause him a lot of trouble with a Radical Republican Congress during his presidency

5. What to do with freedmen?
“The freedman (former slave) was free from the individual master but a slave of society. He had neither money, property, nor friends. He was free form the old planation, but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet. He was turned loose, naked, hungry, and penniless to the open sky.”
-Frederick Douglass
What is he trying to say in this quote?

6. Freedmen’s bureau
Congress, led by the Republican Party, created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help former slaves
Specific things F.B. did to help former slaves:
Provided food & medical care
Helped improve wages and working conditions
Gave away some land for them to start small farms
Built free public schools

7. How would states rejoin the Union?
Johnson’s requirements for former Confederate states to rejoin the Union:
Rewrite state constitution
Elect new state government
Repeal (take back) act of secession
Cancel war debts
Ratify (approve) 13th Amendment
**By fall of 1865, every state had met these requirements**

8. New governments in the south
New state governments in the South were still led by mostly wealthy white planters.
These governments tried to find ways to resist African American equality.

9. Black Codes
The laws put in place by many Southern state governments that attempted to control former slaves were called black codes.
Three main purposes:
Limit rights of freedmen
Help planters find workers to replace slaves
Keep blacks at bottom of social order

10. 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was also passed, declaring that no state had any right to treat some citizens as less equal to others.
“Equal protection under the law”
President Johnson did not agree with this Amendment
Called for voters to throw Republicans out of the government

11. Congress limiting Johnson’s power
Johnson’s relaxed policies toward the South didn’t sit well with Radical Republicans in Congress.
Congress passed 2 laws to limit Johnson’s power.
Command of the Army Act: Limited his power over army
Tenure of Office Act: Prevented him from firing people working in the government without Congress’ permission

12. Impeaching a president
What does it mean to impeach a president?
To charge them with misconduct
Who conducts an impeachment trial?
The Senate

13. Impeaching Andrew Johnson
Why was Johnson impeached?
He broke the Tenure of Office Act—removed his Secretary of War without Congress’ approval.
Stanton was a supporter of the Radicals
What was the outcome of Johnson’s trial?
35 guilty votes to 19 not guilty votes—one vote short of the 2/3 majority needed to convict and remove him.
He lost basically all of his political authority.

14. Tenant farmers and Sharecropping
Tenant Farmer: Farmers who pay rent for the land they work
Sharecropping: When planters rent out small plots of land to tenant farmers in exchange for approximately ½ of crops raised
A tenant farmer farms on a small plot of land owned by a landowner.
As their “rent,” they would have to give the landowner a share of the crops raised on the land

15. Was sharecropping successful for most freedmen?
NO!!
In actuality, life was a lot harder for some than when they were slaves—most were in debt.

16. Voting in the South
Congress banned former Confederates from voting in the 1868 election
3 groups were allowed to vote:
Freedmen
White southerners who had not supported secession (called scalawags)
Northerners who moved south after the war (called carpetbaggers)

17. 1868 Presidential Election
Ulysses S. Grant won the election because of support from black voters.
Defeated his opponent, Horatio Seymour, who wanted to end Reconstruction and return the South back to white voters.

18. 15th Amendment
Radical Republicans recognized the need for black votes in order to maintain power.
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution was passed, protecting the right of African American men to vote
Remember: No women (white or black) could vote at this time

19. Why Southern whites hated reconstruction
New governments/laws had been “forced” on them by Yankees
Blamed high tax rates on new leaders
Seeing former slaves voting/holding public office

20. White Terrorism
The Ku Klux Klan was the most famous white terrorist organization, formed to remove African Americans from public offices.
They would threaten African Americans, and if they ignored their threats, they would kidnap, beat, torture, or even kill them.

21. Amnesty
Amnesty: An official pardon for people who have committed an offense
By 1872, most Americans were losing interest in Reconstruction, so the Amnesty Act was passed, allowing former Confederates to vote again.

22. 1876 Election
The 1876 election of Rutherford B. Hayes was controversial, and he was only elected on the basis that he would give southern states the “right to control their own affairs.”
Within a few months, Reconstruction had ended.

23. What happened after reconstruction?
Spending cuts on education, closing many schools for Black children.
Loss of voting rights due to strict laws.
Segregation in public places.

24. methods to prevent black voting
Literacy Tests: Take a test to see if you can read before being allowed to vote
Rigged to fail Black voters, many of whom had very little education
Poll Tax: Have to pay a tax in order to vote
High enough that most Blacks couldn’t afford to vote
Grandfather Clause: Did not have to pay a tax or take the test if your father/grandfather could vote on January 1, 1867.
No Blacks could vote on that date, so it applied only to whites

25. Segregation
Jim Crow Laws were laws enforcing segregation of blacks and whites in the South after the Civil War.
Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court case in which it was stated that “separate but equal” was Constitutional

26. Outcomes of Reconstruction
African Americans were free to leave the South and settle in new places
The Constitution allowed black men to vote
More black children got to go to school
The South slowly began to rebuild its economy
Segregation spread throughout the South
KKK & other groups participated in violent acts
Widespread poverty due to sharecropping and limitations on jobs