1. EQ: Were African Americans really free during/after Reconstruction?
Angola for Life
13th Trailer
Reconstruction
GA Prison Statistics
EQ: Were African Americans really free during/after Reconstruction?

2. Reconstruction Lasted from 1865 to 1877
Rebuilding of the U.S. after the Civil War
Readmission of southern states to the Union
Lasted from 1865 to 1877

3. Presidential Reconstruction
Lincoln’s Plan
Wanted to be Lenient
Granted pardons for all Confederates who swore allegiance to the Union

4. Presidential Reconstruction
Andrew Johnson’s Plan
Almost the same as Lincoln’s plan
Created a plan for southern states to be readmitted to the Union
Each remaining Confederate state could be readmitted only if they:
Withdrew their succession
Swore allegiance to Union
Paid war debts
Ratified 13th amendment
Reconstruction is complete!

5. Problems with Presidential Reconstruction
Didn’t address needs of freed slaves  land, voting rights, protection of basic rights
Some states did not fully comply with the requirements, yet were readmitted and sent representatives to Congress

6. Thaddeus Stevens Radical Republicans
Angered by presidential reconstruction
Goals:
Punish the South
Give full citizenship to African Americans
Believed that Congress should be in charge of Reconstruction, NOT the president
Thaddeus Stevens

7. Congressional Reconstruction
Led by Radical Republicans
Provided legal and political rights to African Americans
Eventually sent Federal troops to the South to enforce laws and protect African American rights
Congressional Reconstruction

9. Created to assist former slaves & poor whites in the South
Distributed clothing and food
Set up hospitals, schools, trained teachers
Freedman’s Bureau

10. How is the white man depicted?
How is the black man depicted?
What is the purpose of this cartoon?
How might someone who knows nothing about the Freedman’s Bureau feel after seeing this?

12. Black Codes
Laws passed in Southern states that restricted African American’s lives
Restored many of the restrictions of slavery
Examples of some black codes:
African Americans could not:
carry weapons
serve on juries
testify against whites
marry whites
travel without permits
own land

13. Analyzing Black Codes With your partner:
Put the law in your own words.
Why was this law harmful to African Americans?
Be prepared to discuss your law with the class.
Analyzing Black Codes

14. Every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time.
Louisiana 1

15. No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within [this particular town]. Any negro violating this [law] shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence.
Louisiana 2

16. Servants shall not be absent from the premises without the permission of the master.
South Carolina 3

17. No person of color shall migrate into and reside in this state, unless, within twenty days after his arrival within the same, he shall enter into a bond with two [white men] as [guarantees].
South Carolina 4

18. Every civil officer shall, and every person may, arrest and carry back to his or her legal employer any freedman, free negro… who shall have quit the service of his or her employer before the expiration of his or her term of service without good cause.
Mississippi 5

19. All [African Americans] over eighteen years, found on the second Monday in January, 1866, or thereafter, with no lawful employment, or found unlawfully assembling themselves together and all white persons so assembling themselves with [them] shall be deemed [a wanderer or beggar], and on conviction… shall be fined and imprisoned.
Mississippi 6

20. 13th Amendment
Abolished slavery throughout the U.S.

21. 14th Amendment
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens of the United States
Established who was a citizen
Made it so African Americans were officially citizens

22. Said that no one can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
Officially gave black men the right to vote
15th Amendment

23. Formally charge a president with misconduct in office
Impeach
Formally charge a president with misconduct in office

24. Andrew Johnson Impeached
President Johnson and Congress did NOT get along during Reconstruction because their views on how reconstruction should happen were so different
Many of the bills passed by Congress were vetoed by Johnson and then Congress would override those vetoes

25. Andrew Johnson Impeached
Eventually, Congress got tired of dealing with Johnson and sought to impeach him
The House of Representatives charged him
The Senate found him not guilty so he remained president until the next election
He was the first president to be impeached

26. Ulysses S. Grant won the election of 1868
Grant only won the popular vote by 300,000. With 500,000 black votes cast, it was clear that former slaves provided the margin of victory

27. The Post-War South

28. The South was physically destroyed and the southern economy was in ruins

29. Plantations, towns, farms, cities all destroyed Population destroyed
Women and children malnourished or ill
1/5 of Confederate men died in the war

30. Southern state governments began public works programs to rebuild the South
Built roads, railroads, schools, hospitals

31. By 1870, all Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union
Republicans ran their governments

32. White southerners who joined the Republican party
Scalawags
White southerners who joined the Republican party
Viewed as traitors by other southerners
Most joined for selfish reasons

33. African Americans in Politics

34. Sharecropping
Tenant farming
Southern Economy

35. System where a landowner allows someone to use their land and in return gets a portion of their crop
Southern landowners required so much crop as payment that African Americans didn’t have any leftover to sell to make money
Kept African Americans in a “legal” form of slavery because they could never afford to leave the plantation
Sharecropping

36. Opposition to Reconstruction
Ku Klux Klan
Used fear and violence against African Americans & Republicans who wanted to give and protect African American’s rights
Opposition to Reconstruction

37. The End of Reconstruction
Scandals
Corruption
Bribery
Fraud
Economy tanks Panic of 1873
Democrats “redeem” the South & take over gov’t positions
The End of Reconstruction

38. Election of 1876 One of the most disputed elections
Neither candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, so Congress had to decide who would be president.
Election became bargaining chip for Democrats
Election of 1876

39. Democrats allowed the Republican candidate to become president in return for Republicans agreeing to withdraw Federal troops from the South and end Reconstruction
Compromise of 1877