1. Objectives
Explore how Congress and the President clashed over Reconstruction.
Describe the impact of Reconstruction on the South.
Explain how Reconstruction came to an end.

2. Terms and People
Thirteenth Amendment – an amendment to the Constitution ending slavery
Fourteenth Amendment – an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing full citizenship status and rights to every person born in the United States
Fifteenth Amendment – guaranteed that no male citizen should be denied the right to vote on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

3. With the end of the Civil War, the task at hand was Reconstruction, bringing the South back into the Union.
Lincoln hoped to bind the wounds of the ruined South. Others wanted to punish the South.

4. This federal agency was to Aid freed slaves
Lincoln and Congress agreed on the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau just before the war ended.
This federal agency was to
Aid freed slaves
Attend to the South’s immediate needs.
While debate over Reconstruction went on, Lincoln was assassinated.
Andrew Johnson became President. 4

5. Johnson wished to restore political power to southerners if they swore allegiance to the United States.
Radical Republican congressmen disagreed, instead favoring punishment for the South.
Congress voted to impeach the President. Though Johnson was not removed from office, he lost control of Reconstruction.
Andrew Johnson

6. Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution
Content
13th Amendment
Ended slavery
14th Amendment
Guaranteed full citizenship status and rights to every person born in the United States, including African Americans
15th Amendment
Guaranteed that no male citizen could be denied the right to vote on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” 6

7. By 1868 many southern states had black elected officials.
Radical Republicans gained control of Congress and designed an ambitious Reconstruction plan.
They divided the South into five districts controlled by Union generals.
They required southern states to grant the vote to black men and pass the 14th Amendment.
By 1868 many southern states had black elected officials. 7

8. African American men and women legalized and celebrated their marriages and built strong churches.
Formerly enslaved people carved out new lives.
Freedmen’s Bureau schools filled up and many black adults and children learned to read.

9. They used terror and violence to keep African Americans from voting.
Organized secret societies like the Ku Klux Klan appeared in the South, despite continued military occupation.
They used terror and violence to keep African Americans from voting. 9

10. Northerners began to lose the will to remake the South.
Most troops were withdrawn from the South in Southern white Democrats regained power by discrediting African American politicians.
The 1876 election of Rutherford B. Hayes marked the end of Reconstruction.
Rutherford B. Hayes

11. Historians debate whether Reconstruction was a success or a failure.
The physical and economic rebuilding of the South began at this time, and the nation was permanently reunited.
Political rights of African Americans disappeared and de jure segregation became the law in southern states.

12. Section Review
QuickTake Quiz
Know It, Show It Quiz 12