1. Reconstruction Standard 4.6

2. What is Reconstruction? Reconstruction –  a time period after the Civil War  the federal government protected the rights of newly freed slaves  the federal government sought to rebuild the political union of the North and South.

3. The South The federal government did not think it was their responsibility to rebuild the South’s economy. It was the job of the citizens to rebuild the South’s economy. The government was basically saying that this was their mess, and mostly their fault, and they had to clean it up.

4. Problems in government Many Confederate leaders are still in power after the Civil War. They refused to protect the rights of freed slaves, so the first Reconstruction plan did not work. A second plan was put into place which also brought in military power from the US. This took away any power from these former Confederate leaders.

5. 13 th Amendment The 13 th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states that slavery of any kind is illegal.

6. 14 th Amendment The 14 th Amendment to the Constitution gave African Americans their new rights. Some of these new rights were that African Americans were citizens of the U.S., provided due process, and had to provide equal protection to all citizens.

7. 15 th Amendment The 15 th Amendment of the Constitution gave African Americans the right to vote.

8. Freed slaves and politics Many freed slaves were voted into political offices. Many were Representatives and Senators. Robert Smalls was one of them. The elite did not like this. African Americans could now vote, own property, serve on juries, and be elected to legislature. Racial tensions begin to arise.

9. Racial tensions Anyone who helped with reconstruction was called a “scalawag”. Many whites refused to serve in government as long as African Americans were serving. The rising of the KKK was an issue as well. They tried to intimidate African Americans by burning homes, churches, and businesses. This was to discourage them from voting or exercise any of their rights.

10. Education Reconstruction called for the first form of public education system for all its citizens. Very good for poor whites and newly freed African Americans. Schools were segregated, or separated, into black and white schools due to so much tension.

11. Economy Plantation system had collapsed after the war. Cotton did remain the dominant crop. Sharecropping was now a large part of the agricultural south. Sharecropping was when the landowner provided the land, tools, and seeds for planting. The laborers (usually freed African Americans) provided the work. In exchange for their work, they were given a portion, or share, of the crop.

12. Mills Textile mills begin to pop up in the south by the 1880s. Textile mills used running water (from rivers) to provide the power to run the machines that turned cotton into cloth.

13. Reconstruction ends Reconstruction officially ends in 1877. Troops withdrawl from SC. Almost immediately after the military left SC, white leaders in SC regained control of the state government and began to pass laws designed to limit the rights and freedoms of African Americans.