1. With the person next to you, in the next 3 minutes…
Bell Ringer
With the person next to you, in the next 3 minutes…
SHARE
AND
EXPLAIN
your chart homework.

2. Objectives Describe the presidential transition from Johnson to Grant
Identify and Outline several pieces of Reconstruction Legislation
Detail Reconstruction change and the resistance to that change
Define Poll Taxes and Literacy Tests
Identify Jim Crow Laws and their impact
Discuss the official ending to Reconstruction

3. Johnson’s Impeachment Trial
Johnson attempted to veto the Reconstruction Act, but his veto was overridden by the majority in Congress. Congress (specifically the H of R) attempted to impeach Johnson for failing to carry out his duties as President. The impeachment failed.
But…
In the next Presidential election in 1868, Ulysses S. Grant won easily.

4. Grant’s Presidency
Ulysses S. Grant won the election in 1868 and was re-elected in 1872, however, his presidency was full of scandals and corruption.

5. Major Reconstruction Legislation
Provisions
Freedmen’s Bureau Act
( )
Offered medical aid and education to freed slaves and war refugees
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all black
14th Amendment
(ratified 1868)
Makes all people born in the US or naturalized are full citizens; said any state that refused to let all men vote would forfeit their seats in Congress; forbade Confederate politicians from holding future office
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Abolished all governments set up under the Confederacy; divided Confederate states into 5 military zones; set up readmission (constitution with slave rights listed & ratify 14th)
15th Amendment
(ratified 1870)
No one can be denied the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
Enforcement Act of 1870
Protected voting rights of African-Americans and gave the federal government the power to enforce the 15th amendment

6. Bell Ringer You have 3 Mins!
With the person next to you, go through each of the following pieces of Legislation from Reconstruction:
Freedmen’s Bureau Act
Civil Rights Act of 1866
14th Amendment
Reconstruction Act of 1867
15th Amendment
Enforcement Act of 1870
You have
3 Mins!

7. Reconstruction Change
Political
This era in American history was dominated by the Republican Party (the anti-slavery party)
Scalawags = southerners that joined the Republican Party
Carpetbaggers – northerners that moved south
15th Amendment
Blacks went to the polls to vote in record numbers
Hiram Revels becomes the first black Senator
Conflicting goals inside the Republican Party will cause disunity within the party
Economical
The plantation system fell apart
Wide spread labor shortages in the south
SHARECROPPING SYSTEM
Landowners divided their land and gave it to the workers
They were given land, seeds, and tools to work the land
At harvest time, these sharecroppers had to give part of the harvest to the landowner (generally half)
As these workers saved money, they could lower the “payment”
Former Slaves
Freed slaves left the plantations
Tried to find family members they have been separated from
Seek education/schools and literacy rates increase drastically
Built black communities
Began attaining positions of power (slowly)
Cotton No Longer King
During the war, demand for southern cotton fell because Europe increased their production
To help, cotton farmers increased production hoping to increase demand…..that doesn’t work

8. Reconstruction in the South
Open opposition to Reconstruction policies helped bring it to an end. Many whites took direct (and open) action to ensure that blacks would/could not exercise any of their new freedoms/powers.
Economics
Opposition groups attacked blacks who worked in jobs other than farming.
Some southerners refused to do business with blacks.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Organization formed of whites to use violence to intimidate blacks
Goal was to restore white supremacy
Wanted to force all Republicans out of positions of power
VIOLENCE
In the 10 years after the war, thousands of black men, women, and children were killed. Churches, schools, property are all destroyed.

9. Reconstruction in the South
Enforcement Acts
( )
Congress attempted to stop the violence. They had little success, so they used the Army…
which was an action that was found “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court.
Amnesty Act (1872)
Returned the right to vote and the right to hold office to former Confederates

10. Black Challenges in the South
Secret Societies
Example: KKK
Primary weapon = intimidation
Army used against these types of organizations
As white power grew, the need for these societies decreased
Poll Taxes
Southern states imposed a tax on every person that wanted to vote
Don’t pay the tax….you don’t vote!
Literacy Tests
Required voters to read and write
Freedmen’s Bureau Act expired and so did funding (left blacks with no access to $ for education)
States would require blacks to attend separate schools
Poll Taxes
Many poor whites could not afford the poll tax and were illiterate
Clauses said if their father/grandfather was eligible to vote in 1866, so could they

11. Jim Crow Laws
Required the separation of blacks and white in schools, parks, public buildings, and public transit
Battle against by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Became firmly established in southern states after Reconstruction
Declared legal by supreme court in Plessy VS Ferguson decision

12. Jim Crow Laws: Court Cases
PLESSY VS FERGUSON
Established segregation to be legal as long as “equal but separate” facilities were available to blacks
CIVIL RIGHTS CASES (1883)
Ruled that slavery was abolished but that discrimination by individuals was not prohibited by the Constitution

13. Bell Ringer
1) For the following things, identify the target group and the purpose for:
Poll Taxes
Literacy Tests
Grandfather Clause
2) Also, identify what the Jim Crow Laws did!

14. The Election of 1876
Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden. Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes.
Scandal had dominated the Republican Party (it was divided) but the Democratic Party was alive and strong in the south
Tilden won the popular vote, but the electoral college vote was contested. Four states has disputed returns….so which votes would count?
A commission was formed to determine the outcome. The Electoral Commission was dominated by Republicans. All questionable votes were given to Hayes. Democrats agreed to the commissions decision in return for the Compromise of 1877.

15. Compromise of 1877
In order for the southern states to accept the commission’s decision in the election of 1876, Hayes HAD to agree to…
Withdraw all troops that remains in the south
Name a southerner to his cabinet
Support federal funding on internal improvements in the south
The Compromise of 1877 marks the end of the Reconstruction Era