1. Unit 2
Reconstruction

2. Challenges of Reconstruction
How should Southern states be re-admitted to the Union?
Was it the President or Congress that had the power to set conditions for their re-admission?
Should former Confederate leaders be permitted to participate in public life, or should they be excluded or otherwise punished?
What was to be the position of the millions of former slaves (known as freedmen) in southern society?
How could the economy of the South be rebuilt?

3. Early Reconstruction Plans
Plans for reconstruction were made prior to the Civil War conclusion
A Freedmen’s Bureau was established to help former slaves adjust to freedom
Lincoln proposed a lenient 10% plan – each state needed 10 % of the population to pledge loyalty to the U.S. to be re-admitted
Congress proposed a harsher bill, the Wade-Davis Bill – Lincoln refused to sign it.
This trend will continue under Andrew Johnson
Congress also proposed the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery – it passed by the end of 1865

4. Presidential Reconstruction politics
Andrew Johnson became the 17th President after Lincoln was assassinated
He was a former slaveholder from Tennessee
Andrew Johnson was lenient in his efforts to pardon former Confederate leaders, allowing them to regain their former properties and citizenship rights
Andrew Johnson recognized the newly formed Southern state governments even though they mostly consisted of former Confederate leaders

5. Black Codes
Southern states took steps to withhold the right to vote from freedmen
Black Codes were based off former slave codes, preventing freedmen from voting, serving on juries, holding office, testifying again whites, or serving in the state militias.
The aim of Black Codes was to preserve the structure of Southern society, even though slavery was eliminated.

6. Congressional Reconstruction
Northerners were outraged at the election of Confederate leaders by Southern states and the new Black Codes
Moderate Republicans joined with “Radical Republicans” and passed a “Civil Rights” bill and a bill to enlarge the Freedmen’s Bureau
President Johnson vetoed both bills, but Congress had enough votes to override them
14th Amendment rewrote the terms of the Civil Rights Act to prevent denying African Americans or other minorities the rights and privileges of citizens
Each Southern state was required to ratify the 14th Amendment to be readmitted to the Union

7. Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
President Johnson opposed Congressional Reconstruction
Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in order to ensure their Reconstruction plan would be followed
When President Johnson removed the Secretary of War, Congress moved to impeach him
President Johnson was found not guilty by one vote, but the damage to his presidency was done
Later that year, Ulysses Grant was elected the 18th president
15th Amendment
Ratified in 1870, it prohibited states from denying any citizen the right to vote on the basis of race or previous “servitude” (slavery)

8. Reconstruction Governments in the South
Most “Carpetbaggers” moved to the South to help the freedmen, but some came for new economic business opportunities
Southern whites know as “Scalawags” supported Reconstruction efforts
Over 600 African Americans served as state legislators in Southern states.
Hiram Rhodes Revels became the 1st African American to sit in Congress
Southern state governments faced financial difficulties which resulted in corruption
Reconstruction efforts were doomed to fail once the North withdrew federal troops

9. Economics of Reconstruction
Some southern plantation were forced to sell part of their land, and others began the practice of sharecropping – work arrangement where landowners provided tools and resources and in exchange former slaves would provide a large share of their crops to the landowner
Other freedmen became tenant farmers – they rented the land, and used their own resources
Very few freedmen ever became landowners themselves
If a sharecropper or tenant farmer owed any money to the landlord, they could not leave the land until the debt was paid – this was called debt peonage
The South diversified their crop, and began investing in manufacturing – this was called the “New South”
Although manufacturing in the South did not rival the North, it was much greater than in pre-Civil War times

10. End of Reconstruction The disputed election of 1876
Results in Oregon, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina left neither candidate with enough electoral votes to win the election
A special Congressional commission was established and gave all 20 electoral votes to Hayes – Compromise of 1877
Hayes agreed to remove all federal troops from the South
With the troops gone, the South quickly returned to pre-Civil War governments and prevented African Americans out of the political process

11. 5 Reasons Why Reconstruction Failed
Northern & Southern whites were not ready to recognize African Americans as equals
Southern blacks remained dependent on their former masters for their employment
Freedmen lacked education and political experience
The Ku Klux Klan terrorized Southern blacks who attempted to assert their full political and social rights, frightening many into submission
The North lost interest in Reconstruction after an economic depression in 1873

12. Aftermath of Reconstruction
The South became segregated
Southern governments began stripping away African American rights
White mob justice became common – lynching an accused person without a fair trial
Southern states passed legislation to prevent freedmen from voting
Required African Americans pass Literacy Tests in order to vote
Added poll taxes so the poor could not afford to vote
Added “Grandfather Clauses” to allow poor and illiterate whites to still vote if they had qualified to vote in 1867

13. Racial Segregation
The South began passing a series of segregation laws, separating blacks from whites
Racial segregation in the South became know as “Jim Crow” laws
These laws were designed to circumvent the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
U.S. Supreme Court upheld these segregation laws in Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal)
As a result, nearly 2 million African Americans migrated to the North in the early 20th century. Those that stayed in the South developed strong community and church ties (later important to the Civil Rights Movement).