1. Reconstruction
By Miss O.

3. Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
Executive order by President Lincoln
Freed all the slaves in the southern states that had “rebelled”

5. U.S. Constitution Changed
After the Civil War, 3 amendments were added to the Constitution.
Amendment = changes to the Constitution

6. 13th Amendment
1865
Made slavery illegal anywhere in the United States or its territories.

7. 14th Amendment
1868
Granted US citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States and grants them equal protection under the law.
All former slaves were now US citizens with rights.

9. 15th Amendment
1870
Guarantees the right to vote to any US citizen, regardless of race or color, even if he was a former slaves.

10. What is reconstruction?
Re + construction  re-building
The years directly after the Civil War are called “Reconstruction,” because the South was slowly being “rebuilt.”

11. Richmond in Ruins

12. Problem 1: Help the newly freed slaves
Needed: housing, education, clothing, food, and jobs
No money
Destroyed farms, towns, and businesses

13. Freedmen’s Bureau
Government agency that tried to help freed slaves, or freedmen.
Provided food and medicine
Started schools and sent teachers to Virginia for the children

15. Problem 2: Replant the ruined crops and rebuild plantations
No jobs
No training except for farming
Plantation owners need help to replant large, ruined fields
No money to pay
the former slaves

16. Sharecropping Freedmen and poor farmers rented land from a landowner.
Instead of paying money for rent, they promised to pay the owner with a share of the crop.

17. Good Idea or Bad Idea?
At first, sharecropping seemed like a good idea.
Plantation owner was able to get his farm planted and working again.
The sharecropper had a place to live and could earn money from farming.
Problems between how much “rent” was and how much the crops were sold for.

19. Problem 3: Fix towns, railroads, and bridges
Find jobs in the cities repairing railroads, towns, and bridges.

21. Problem 4: Fix the ruined economy
Confederate money had no value
Banks in the South had closed.
Economy no longer had slaves to rely on
Virginia would have to build factories and shops in the cities to get their economy going in other ways rather than just farms.
More people moved to the cities.

22. Confederate money

23. Problem 5: Establish a state government
Southern states did not have legal governments any more
Disorganized
Congress’ plan to bring the South back into the Union.

24. Bring South into the Union again
Ban (end) slavery
Each state had to rewrite their state constitution
Give newly-freed African American men the right to vote
Ask to be re-admitted to the Union
Took almost 5 years