1. “Out of the Ashes”: Reconstruction

2. Questions of reconstruction
Who will direct it? The South, the President or Congress?
How will the states be readmitted?
What will happen to former Confederates?
What will happen to the 4 million former slaves?

3. The South
Cities in ruins.
Economy destroyed by war and inflation.

4. End of the War
Lincoln Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth April 14, 1865
Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President.

5. Andrew Johnson

6. Radical republicans
Believe freedmen should be able to vote and hold office

7. Freedmen Formalize marriages Try to find lost family
Some move to the North
Churches become primary institutions that support and tie communities together
However, freedom does not mean equal rights.

8. Freedmen’s Bureau Designed to help freedmen settle
To provide food, clothing, medical care and education to freedmen
Ends in 1872

9. The Veto
If congress passes a bill (new law), the President must approve it by signing it.
A president may veto (reject) the new law.
Congress can overrule a Presidential veto with a 2/3 majority vote

10. Presidential Reconstruction
Lincoln never recognizes Southern states as leaving the Union
10 percent plan
Congress wants stricter rules for readmission

11. Wade-Davis Bill Response to 10 percent plan Passed by Congress
Requires 50 percent of states voters to take oath of allegiance
Lincoln “pocket vetoes” the bill

12. Black Codes Trap freedmen in forced labor contracts
Forbid African-Americans from serving on juries
Harsh sentences for small or fabricated crimes.
Help establish sharecropping system

13. Sharecropping Tenant works land and pays rent to land owner
Landowners often take advantage of freedmen
Many tenant farmers, especially African- Americans, become indebted to landowners.
Way of reestablishing old slave system structure

14. Reconstruction Amendments
Thirteenth Amendment (1865) - Abolishes slavery
Fourteenth Amendment (1866) - Gives state and federal citizenship to African-Americans (but not the vote)
Fifteenth Amendment (1870) - Gives African- American men the right to vote.

15. Congressional reconstruction
More radical
Want to counter Black Codes
Congress fears representative power of readmitted Southern states
By 1866, Johnson has pardoned 13,000 former Confederates who are now taking control of state governments.

16. Radical Reconstruction
African-Americans elected to state and federal government positions
Referred to by Southerners as “radical regimes”
Help create new state constitutions establish public schools, public works, and new tax systems. Also secure property rights for women.

17. Radical Reconstruction
Reconstruction Act (1867) - Divides South into five military districts, each commanded by a general
Military will enforce new laws
States must ratify Fourteenth Amendment
Freedmen must be allowed to vote

18. Johnson vs Congress Johnson frequently vetoes bills passed by Congress
Congress then overrides veto
In 1868, Congress impeaches Johnson
Johnson later acquitted

19. Ulysses S. Grant
Elected President 1868

20. Ku Klux Klan Established in 1866 Response to Reconstruction policies
Use threats and violence to oppress freedmen

21. End of Reconstruction
Ends in 1877 with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)
Compromise of 1877
South becomes mostly Democrat
Many accomplishments of Reconstruction reversed in South by 1890’s.