1. Introductory Video on Reconstruction
REUNITING A NATION
Introductory Video on Reconstruction

2. IMPACT OF RECONSTRUCTION ON GEORGIA
Reconstruction in Georgia was a time of major change in the state following the devastation of the Civil War.
era lasted for a relatively short period of time ( )
After the Civil War, much of Georgia was decimated after Sherman’s March and four years of fighting.
Over 40,000 Georgians had been killed or wounded and many had lost their land entirely.
Due to the damage inflicted the United States attempted to reconstruct the South and used three different plans from to do so.

3. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION LINCOLN’S PLAN (1865)
Lincoln’s plan sought to help the South re-enter the Union quickly to heal the wounds of the war.
President Lincoln’s plan to allow Southern states back into the Union was simple:
All southerners, except for high-ranking Confederate civil and military leaders, would be pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance to the United States
His plan allowed for a Southern state to be readmitted into the Union if 10% of the population swore an oath of allegiance to the United States.
required to ratify the 13th amendment, which officially ended slavery in the United States.

4. LINCOLN’S ASSASSINATION
On April 14, 1865 Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor who was a Southern sympathizer.
Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in his theater box while watching a play.

5. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION JOHNSON’S PLAN (1865-1866)
President Johnson, was from the South, therefore he was extremely lenient with the southern states.
His plan was very similar to Lincoln’s, except he extended the group not granted general pardons to those who owned property worth more than $20,000.
Trouble began brewing again between the southern states and the Republican controlled Congress when several former confederate leaders were elected back into the fold.
In Georgia, former Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens was elected as a Senator.
“Radical Republicans,” (Northern Senators ) who favored harsher punishments for the South, refused to seat former Confederate leaders in the Senate.
Radical Republicans were appalled at the South’s treatment of the freedmen under laws that were called Black Codes.

6. 13TH AMENDMENT (1865)
A Constitutional Amendment that officially ended slavery

7. 14TH AMENDMENT (1868)
A Constitutional Amendment that granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed.
Equal protection under the Constitution for all citizens.

8. 15TH AMENDMENT (1870)
A Constitutional Amendment that prohibits states from denying voting rights to citizens based on race, color or previous condition of servitude.
Allowed black males the right to vote (suffrage).
Reconstruction Amendment’s Video

9. BLACK CODES
Laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War; under these laws, blacks were disenfranchised (not allowed to vote), testify against whites in court, and could not serve as jurors.
These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.

10. AFRICAN AMERICANS IN POLITICS
In 1867, Henry McNeal Turner and a few other black men were elected to the Georgia Senate.
They were kicked out in on the grounds that the Constitution gave blacks the right to vote, but not hold office.

11. KU KLUX KLAN (KKK)
An organization designed to limit African Americans from exercising their rights.
Members dressed in white robes and hoods so no one would recognize them.
Terrorized and intimidated blacks from voting.
Several reports of beatings, whippings and murders that often went unpunished.

12. CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION (1866-1867)
Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of This act lumped the South into five military districts with Georgia, Alabama, and Florida making up the third district. Under Military Reconstruction General John Pope served as the third district’s 1st military governor.
During this period, Georgia held another constitutional convention, this time in Atlanta. During this convention, Georgia created a new constitution that included a provision for black voting, public schools, and moving the capital to Atlanta.
After this convention, Republican Rufus Bullock was elected Governor and the Republican controlled General Assembly began its session. However, the military continued to be a presence in the state due to the continued actions of the KKK and Georgia’s refusal to pass the 15th amendment which gave African-American men the right to vote.
Georgia was finally readmitted into the Union in 1870 when reinstated Republican and black legislators voted for the passage of the 15th amendment. However, by 1872 southern Democrats called the “redeemers” were voted back into office and took control of the Governorship and General Assembly.

13. SHARECROPPER VS TENANT FARMER
Most African Americans in the South were forced to work as sharecroppers or laborers, for jobs were not all open to them.
Tenant Farmer: Brought “something to the table” ie, tools, plow, mules, seed, fertilizer and, of course, his labor
Sharecropper: Brought only his labor to the “table”
Land-owners always had the upper hand. Perhaps for the first time since colonization, there was a lot of labor for the land as opposed to a shortage of labor

14. TYPICAL SHARECROPPING “CONTRACT”
After the harvest, sharecropper would go to the land-owner to settle debt
Land owners charged sharecroppers for “furnish”, ie, food, clothes, seed, etc.
Given the social structure, black (and poor white) sharecroppers were in no position to challenge the while land-owners record keeping or figures
Blacks were taken advantage of by the white land owners who could barely read or write
American Voices – A Sharecropper’s Story

15. FREEDMAN’S BUREAU
Federal program established to help BOTH former slaves and poor whites
Initially helped with the basics: provided education, training, and social services for newly freed slaves
Over time, focus shifted to: education
4,000 primary schools
64 industrial schools (work skills)
74 teacher training schools