1. Reconstruction
Rebuilding the South

2. Problems in the South South is in ruins. Cities are destroyed
Freed slaves had nowhere to go
Black and white refugees in need of food, shelter, and a job
Confederate money was worthless and banks closed. Many people lost their life savings.

3. Opposing Plans Lincoln’s 10% plan Wade-Davis Bill
Easier for southern states to rejoin the Union.
10% of a state’s voters needed to swear an oath of loyalty to the U.S.
State gov’t would have to end slavery.
Amnesty to former Confederates who took an oath, except government leaders and top military officers.
Wade-Davis Bill
Passed by Congress
50% of a state’s voters would need to swear an oath.
Anyone who had voluntarily fought for the Confederacy was not allowed to vote.
Lincoln did not sign it into law.

4. Lincoln wanted to win support in the South for the Republican party so his Reconstruction policy was lenient.
Radical Republicans wanted a stronger policy towards the South so that the former Confederate leaders couldn’t rise to power again.

5. Freedmen’s Bureau Freedmen were slaves who had been freed by the war.
The Bureau did many things for Freedmen in the South, such as:
Setting up schools to teach them how to read and write.
Helped find jobs and resolve disputes between whites and blacks.
Setup some of the first colleges that African-Americans could attend.

6. Lincoln’s Assassination
Lincoln was shot 5 days after the Civil War ended.
He was killed by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, while attending a play at the Ford’s Theater.
Vice President Andrew Johnson became President.

7. President Johnson also proposed a lenient plan of Reconstruction.
The 13th Amendment was passed that banned slavery and forced labor throughout the country.

8. Johnson’s Plan Amnesty for former Confederates
Allowed southern states to organize governments and elect members to Congress
States had to abolish slavery.
Congress refused to follow his plan and didn’t let the southern senators participate.

9. Black codes Critics said it replaced slavery with near-slavery.
Varied by state, but many didn’t let African-Americans vote, serve on juries, or own guns.
If they couldn’t pay a fine, they could be hired out to the person who does.

10. Radical Republicans Two goals Began “hard” or Radical Reconstruction
prevent former Confederates from taking over southern government again
giving the freedmen the right to vote.
Began “hard” or Radical Reconstruction

11. Radical Reconstruction
President Johnson
Majority of white men must swear oath of loyalty
Must ratify 13th Amendment
Former Confederate officials may vote and hold office
Radical Republicans
Must disband state government
Must write new state constitution
Must ratify 13th and 14th Amendments
Must allow African American men to vote

12. Johnson and Congress fought over how to rebuild the South.
Radical Republicans have enough votes in Congress to pass laws without Johnson.
The 14th amendment made all people born in the U.S. citizens, guaranteed equal treatment, and prevented discrimination.
They remove the gov’ts of the southern states that didn’t ratify 14th amendment. Military was sent in to control the state.
By 1868, 7 southern states were welcomed back to the Senate and House of Reps.

13. Republican supporters
Scalawags- southerners supporting new Republican governments
Carpetbaggers- northerners who went south (opportunists, former Union soldiers, aid-givers)
African Americans (Hiram Revels - 1st Black Senator)…

14. African-Americans gain the right to vote and elect the first black members of Congress. Hiram Revels takes Jefferson Davis’ spot in the Senate.
The Radicals try to impeach President Johnson.
Election of Ulysses S. Grant is elected President .
500,000 African Americans voted in the election, mainly for Republicans
15th Amendment secures the African American right to vote. KKK used intimidation to prevent them from voting.

15. End of Reconstruction
President Grant appointed many friends to office and they were corrupt.
People began to distrust the Republicans
Many people in the North and South began to grow tired of Reconstruction and wanted to remove the troops from the South
After only 12 years of Reconstruction, the Republicans lost control of the southern states to the Democrats.

16. Successes & Failures of Reconstruction
Schools built for Black & white children
Women could own property in many states
Gov’ts rebuilt RRs, telegraph lines, bridges, and roads (infrastructure)
Rebuilding is expensive -- taxes raised
Government corruption in the North & South

17. Election of 1876
Republicans said they would continue Reconstruction while Democrats said they would end it.
Democrats won the popular vote, but the electoral vote was disputed.
Congress appointed a commission to resolve the dispute. The commission was made of mainly Republicans so they gave the electoral votes to the Republican candidate, Rutherford Hayes.
The Democrats did not dispute the results because Hayes made a back-room deal with to end Reconstruction and remove the troops.

18. African Americans lose their rights
Because their rights were protected in the Constitution, the Southern states had to find other ways to restrict the rights of African Americans.
Poll tax and literacy test were used. Whites were “grandfathered” in.
Segregation and “Jim Crow” laws became legal.
Supreme Court case, “Plessy v. Ferguson”, ruled “separate, but equal” was allowed.

19. Cycle of poverty
Many African Americans and poor whites became sharecroppers.
Many skilled African American artisans could no longer find work after Reconstruction due to racism and Jim Crow laws.
They were forced to take any job they could find, which were often low paying.

20. “New South”
Following Reconstruction, the economy recovered and grew dramatically.
Southern farmers had record setting crop yields.
Many factories were started and the South began making their own products instead of getting them from the North.