1. RECONSTRUCTION
CH 4
Section 4

2. Reconstruction
Period of rebuilding the United States after the Civil War
How to bring Confederate states back into the Union?
What to do with former slaves?
Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Congress all had different ideas

3. Lincoln’s Plan Lenient policy
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Gov’t pardon for all Confederates
Except high ranking officials and those accused of war crimes against prisoners
Pardoned only if allegiance sworn to Union
10% Plan
10% of voters in 1860 election swear allegiance
Confederate state could be readmitted and set up new state gov’t
Then could send reps to Congress
AR, LA, TN, VA readmitted

4. Radical Republicans angered
Sen. Charles Sumner (MA) and Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (PA)
Wanted to destroy political power of former slaveholders
Wanted to give full citizenship and voting rights to African Americans

5. Johnson’s Plan
Lincoln assassinated at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth
Differed little from Lincoln’s plan
Major difference:
Excluded high ranking Confederates and wealthy Southern landowners from taking the 10% oath
Pardoned 13,000 Confederates b/c “white men alone must manage the South”
Seven remaining states quickly agreed, except TX
Elected reps and sent to Congress

6. Congress refused new S. reps when they arrived to take seats
Moderate Republicans pushed new laws to combat Johnson’s weak plan
Enlarge Freedman’s Bureau
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Granted citizenship
forbade “black codes”
Johnson vetoed acts
“beyond anything “contemplated by the authors of the Constitution”

7. Congressional Reconstruction
Johnson’s vetoes overridden by Congress
Drafted 14th Amendment
Prevented states from denying rights/privileges to U.S. citizens
“all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.”
Republicans gained control of Congress
Reconstruction Act of 1867 passed
Divided confederate states into 5 military districts
States required to grant A.A. voting rights / ratify 14th Amendment
Then they could reenter the Union
Johnson vetoed legislation – veto overridden

8. Johnson’s Impeachment
Radicals thought Johnson was blocking Reconstruction legislation
Looking to impeach him
Johnson removed Sec. of War, Edwin Stanton
Grounds for impeachment under Tenure of Office Act
House impeached but Senate did not convict
Grant elected in 1868

9. Politics in Postwar South
Republican gov’ts in South conflicted
Scalawags – white Southerners who joined the Rep. party. Few committed to civil rights for blacks.
Carpetbaggers – northerners who moved to the South after the war
African Americans – wanted to exercise their voting rights but couldn’t read or write
Differing goals led to lack of unity

10. Why It Didn’t Work… Southerners frustrated Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Some refused to register to vote
Vigilante groups created
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Goals
destroy Republican Party
Throw out Reconstruction governments
Aid planter class
Prevent African Americans from exercising political rights
Killed 20,000 people

11. Other national crisis’ drew federal gov’t attention
Hayes elected Pres. In 1876
Federal troops withdrawn from South
14th and 15th Amendment remained
14th – granted citizenship to all people
15th – cannot prevent voting rights based on color