1. Reconstruction
In Texas,

2. War is Over! But…
Since the Confederacy lost the war, much of the South was destroyed, and money was hard to come by.
African Americans were free, but many were without food or shelter.
Tensions and differences between many Northerners and Southerners continued after the war.

3. What WAs reconstruction?
Reconstruction was a period of rebuilding in which the Southern states were gradually brought back into the Union.

4. Juneteenth
Because of distance and the war, many African Americans did not immediately learn about the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
The news finally reached Galveston, Texas on June 19th, Juneteenth became a celebration for the freedom of enslaved Texans.

5. FREE AT LAST???
Since most slaves were uneducated and their only skill was farming, they often stayed in the South and worked on plantations.
Poor whites and freed slaves would rent a small plot of land from plantation owners and a large percentage of their crops were sold for profit by the landowners. Poor whites and freed slaves were left with little to sell and feed their own families.
This was called sharecropping, which was not much better than slavery.

6. The Freedman’s Bureau
Former slaves were often referred to as freedmen.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was a government agency whose job was to provide relief to the thousands of people, black and white, who had been left homeless by the Civil War.

7. Two Plans for reconstruction
Lincoln and Johnson wanted…
Congress Wanted…
To restore the Union as quickly as possible
To go easy on the South
Stricter standards for admitting the Southern States back into the Union
To protect the freedom of African Americans in the South

8. Southerners oppose reconstruction
Texas elected ex-Confederates to Congress in an attempt to counter the Radical Republican control of Congress.
Texan representatives refused to ratify the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which granted rights to African Americans.
Southern states enforced black codes, or laws limiting the rights of African Americans.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) used violence and threats to prevent African Americans from voting.
As a response to Southern opposition, Congress declared military rule in the South until states met certain requirements of Reconstruction.

9. Reconstruction Ends
On March 30, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation that Reconstruction in Texas was over. By the end of the year, all of the Southern states had rejoined the Union on the Radical Republicans’ terms.

10. Constitutional Changes after the Civil War
13th Amendment-abolished slavery

11. Constitutional Changes after the Civil War
14th Amendment - extended citizenship rights to former slaves and established due process under the law

12. Constitutional Changes after the Civil War
15th Amendment-extended voting rights to all males, including former slaves, of voting age

13. RECONSTRUCTION TIMELINE IN TEXAS
DATE EVENT(s)
1865:
Civil War Ends Freedman's Bureau is established.
Lincoln is assassinated.
Thirteenth Amendment is ratified.
1866:
Civil Rights Act is passed over Johnson's veto.
1867:
First Reconstruction Act.
1868:
Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. Ku Klux Klan begins.

14. RECONSTRUCTION TIMELINE IN TEXAS
1870
15th Amendment is ratified
1876
Texas writes a new Constitution and is readmitted with full rights as a state in the United States
1881:
Tuskeegee Institute is founded to educate freedmen :
Blacks are effectively deprived of the vote in the South
1896:
Plessy vs. Ferguson legalizes segregation throughout the United States