1. Georgia and the American Experience
Chapter 9:
Reconstruction and the New South
Study Presentation
This slide introduces Chapter 4, “Settlement of the Thirteenth Colony.”

2. Section 1: Lincoln and Reconstruction
Section 2: Reconstruction in Georgia
Section 3: Georgia’s Redemption Years
Section 4: The New South
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3. Section 1: Lincoln and Reconstruction
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What were Lincoln’s plans for rebuilding the South after the Civil War?
This is an essential question for this section of the chapter.

4. Section 1: Lincoln and Reconstruction
What words do I need to know?
freedmen
Freedmen’s Bureau
Reconstruction
disfranchise
Thirteenth Amendment
Nullify
assassinated

5. Section 1: Lincoln and Reconstruction
What people do I need to know?
Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth
Andrew Johnson

6. Conditions in Georgia at the end of the war:
farms were in ruins
homes, railways, bridges,roads were destroyed or in need of repair
not enough food
banks were closed – Confederate money was worthless
the state owed $20,000,000 in war debt
25,000 Georgians had died of wounds or disease – many more were crippled and could not work

7. The Freedmen Problems of freedmen (former slaves):
homeless
hungry
uneducated
free for the 1st time
no property or goods
Many former slaves feared re-enslavement
Most whites had difficulty treating freeman as free persons

8. The Freedmen’s Bureau
Started as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands by U.S. government in 1865
Its job was to help freed slaves and poor whites with basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter
The purpose shifted to education
Set up 4,000 primary schools
Started industrial schools for jobs training
Started teacher-training schools
Missionaries started schools like Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Clark College

9. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
Lincoln wanted to rebuild and return the south to the Union as soon as possible
“Reconstruction” would have two parts:
Southerners would be pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance;
When 10% of voters had taken the oath, the state could rejoin the Union and form a state government.
Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865 during a play at Ford’s Theater by actor John Wilkes Booth.
Vice President Andrew Johnson took over as President.

10. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
Lincoln’s plan to reconstruct the south was challenged. Some northerners called “Radical Republicans” thought the south should be more severely punished.
The Radical Republicans wanted to make sure the freedmen retained their new rights.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured and imprisoned.

11. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
In addition to Lincoln’s requirements, President Johnson added a few more. Southern states had to:
approve (ratify) the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery);
nullify their ordinances of secession;
promise not to repay money borrowed during the war.
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12. Section 2: Reconstruction in Georgia
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What changes occurred in Georgia during Reconstruction?
This is an essential question for this section of the chapter.

13. Section 2: Reconstruction in Georgia
What words do I need to know?
provisional
discrimination
Black Codes
Fourteenth Amendment
carpetbagger
scalawag
Ku Klux Klan

14. Section 2: Reconstruction in Georgia
What words do I need to know?
suffrage
Georgia Act
Fifteenth Amendment
impeach
sharecropping
credit
tenant farming

15. Section 2: Reconstruction in Georgia
What people do I need to know?
James Johnson
General John Pope
Henry McNeal Turner

16. The Constitutional Convention of 1865
President Johnson appointed James Johnson as Georgia’s provisional Governor.
Governor Johnson held a Constitutional Convention. The representatives voted to abolish slavery and repeal the ordinance of secession.
Elections were held in November 1865 for a new legislature.
The General Assembly voted to extend rights to freedmen.

17. Black Codes
Black Codes were laws passed to keep freedmen from having the same rights as whites.
Didn’t allow blacks: the same jobs as whites, the right to vote, the right to marry a white person, jury service, or the right to testify.
Blacks could be: whipped as punishment, forced to work from sunrise to sunset six days per week, or put in jail if they didn’t have a job.

18. Congressional Reconstruction
Congress was angry about Georgia’s Black Codes, so it passed the Civil Rights Act of This law gave:
citizenship to all freedmen;
the federal government power to intervene any time civil rights were taken from freedmen.
The 14th Amendment was passed granting citizenship to freedmen and required “equal protection under the law.”

19. Congressional Reconstruction
Congress required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment.
Georgia and most of the other southern states refused.
Congress abolished these states’ governments and put them under military rule.
Georgia was ruled by General John Pope.
Pope was required to register all male voters – black and white. These voters would elect new representatives to form a new state government.

20. Constitutional Convention of 1867
Georgia male voters elected delegates to the convention to create a new state constitution.
Delegates were carpetbaggers (northerners who had moved south), scalawags (southerners who sided with the Republicans), and blacks.
Accomplishments of the Convention:
A new constitution ensuring civil rights for all citizens;
Free public education for all children;
Women were allowed to control their own property.
Georgia had satisfied Congress, so General Pope and his troops left the state.

21. African Americans in Politics
The election of 1867 was the first time African Americans had voted.
Several African Americans were elected to Georgia’s General Assembly.
Rev. Henry McNeal Turner was one of the first black men elected in Georgia.
The African Americans elected to the General Assembly were expelled in 1868.
It was argued by whites that civil rights laws gave blacks the right to vote but not to be elected.

22. Ku Klux Klan
Secret organization – originally started as a social club for men returning from the war.
Members hid behind robes and masks.
The group terrorized blacks to keep them from voting.
As a result, Congress passed “The Georgia Act” and sent troops back to Georgia.
The act required Georgia to pass the 15th Amendment giving all males the right to vote.

23. Economic Reconstruction
Without slaves, landowners needed laborers to work their large farms.
Two systems emerged: tenant farming and sharecropping.
Cotton was Georgia’s most important crop.
Continuous growing of tobacco and cotton ruined the soil on many farms.
Railroads expanded across the state.
Savannah and Brunswick became important shipping ports.
Atlanta began its growth into an important business center.

24. Tenant Farming and Sharecropping
Landowner provides a house, land, equipment, animals, fertilizer and seeds.
The landowner issued credit to the worker to buy medicine, food, clothing and other supplies.
The landowner gets a share of the crop and crops to pay any debt owed.
Sharecroppers rarely had any cash.
Landowner provides house and land.
Landowner received a set amount of cash or a portion of the crop at the end of the season.
Tenant farmers usually made a small profit.

25. The End of Reconstruction
The African Americans who had been expelled from the General Assembly in 1868 were readmitted by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1870.
The Assembly approved the 14th and 15th Amendments.
Georgia was readmitted to the Union, again, ending Reconstruction.
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26. Section 3: Georgia’s Redemption Years
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How did Georgians work to improve their state after Reconstruction?
This is an essential question for this section of the chapter.

27. Section 3: Georgia’s Redemption Years
What words do I need to know?
redemption
white supremacy
Bourbon Triumvirate
ally
temperance
convict lease system

28. Section 3: Georgia’s Redemption Years
What people do I need to know?
Joseph E. Brown
Alfred H. Colquitt
John B. Gordon
Rebecca Latimer Felton
Tom Watson
Leo Frank

29. The Bourbon Triumvirate
Democrats controlled Georgia’s government after Reconstruction.
Powerful Democratic leaders, known as the “Bourbon Triumvirate” were Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon.
Their goals were:
expand Georgia’s economy and ties with industries in the North;
maintain the tradition of white supremacy.

30. Decline of the Bourbon Triumvirate
“Independent Democrats” criticized the Bourbons for not attending to the needs of the poor or improve education and working conditions in factories.
Leaders William and Rebecca Felton worked to improve conditions for poor Georgians using newspapers to highlight problems in the state.
The convict lease system “rented” prisoners to companies to use as workers. It took many years for the poor conditions the prisoners endured to be brought to light and changed.
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31. Section 4: The New South ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What changes occurred to create the era of the “New South” in Georgia?
This is an essential question for this section of the chapter.

32. Section 4: The New South What words do I need to know? New South
normal school
segregation
Grange
Farmers’ Alliance
co-op

33. Section 4: The New South What people do I need to know? Henry Grady
Joel Chandler Harris
Sidney Lanier
Charles Henry Smith

34. The New South Era
Challengers to the Bourbon Triumvirate wanted Georgia to be more industrialized.
Henry Grady was a speaker and newspaper editor.
Grady described Georgia as a place which could have competitive industry and more efficient farming.
Grady envisioned improved race relations in a “New South” which left its antebellum past behind.

35. Education in the New South Era
Funding to provide elementary education for all children in Georgia grew slowly from
Teachers were paid a little more than farm hands and had little or no training.
Normal schools were started to train more teachers.
The “school year” was only three months long which allowed children to work on farms or in factories.
The state constitution of 1877 did not allow for school beyond 8th grade and segregated black and white students.

36. The Arts of the New South Era
Several Georgians gained fame for their work as writers:
Joel Chandler Harris’ most famous work was Uncle Remus: His Sayings and Stories;
Sidney Lanier was one of the best known poets of his time;
Charles Henry Smith wrote satire for newspapers in Georgia.

37. Agriculture in the New South Era
Crop prices declined through the 1870s.
The Grange and the Farmers’ Alliance started out as social groups but began to reorganize to put pressure on lawmakers to find ways to help farmers.
Georgia created the first state to have a Department of Agriculture.
Co-ops allowed farmers to work together to buy goods and equipment at a lower cost.
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