1865-1877

April 1865 Union forces surrounded Lee’s army near the town of Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia

General Lee surrendered to General Grant on April 9, 1865 – this officially ended the Civil War.

On April 15, 1865 – six days after Lee’s surrender – President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

“There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen. Now he belongs to the ages.” -Edwin M. Stanton

About 620,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War, making it the deadliest conflict in U.S. history. (North – 370,000 and South – 250,000)

Some 90,000 Texans served, thousands were wounded or killed during the Civil War.

“I came home in May 1865, not scrappy as I started but, well versedin hardships, privations, dangers and the art of war. All I wanted inthis life was some old clothes and something to eat.”

The cotton trade collapsed in Texas and the State Government ran to Mexico and no one knew who was in charge.

Left: Atlanta after Civil War; Above: Ruins of Richmond

After the end of the Civil War slaves in Texas didn’t know about the Emancipation Proclamation

Union General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston in June 19, 1865 and read the Proclamation

This let all the slaves in Texas know they were free – it is now celebrated each year as Juneteenth

“We were working one daywhen somebody came by

andtold us we were free, and westopped working. The bossman came up, and he said hewas going to knock us off thefence if we didn’t go back towork. He called for hiscarriage, and said he wasgoing to town to see what

thegovernment was going to do.Next day he came back andsaid, “Well you’re just as freeas I am.”

General Gordon Granger

Many former slaves now Freedpeople left the plantations for the first time and traveled the roads of Texas.

Many went to the court house to get their marriage legalized.

Others searched for family members who had be separated/sold away from them

Some gathered at military post hoping for jobs and protection.

The U.S. government wanted to help freedpeople and bring the southern states back into the Union. This was known as Reconstruction and lasted from 1865-1877.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

The U.S. Government tired to help freed slaves find jobs and homes and legal aid.

The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to help freed slaves out.

Because they had no jobs freedpeople went back to the plantations to get work.

The Freedmen's Bureau help make contracts between the owners and the workers.

Helped start schools• By 1870 more than 9,000 African Americans

were enrolled in 150 schools.

Became President after Lincoln was assassinated

Voters had to take an oath of loyalty to the U.S. High-ranking Confederate officials and wealthy

people had to apply for a presidential pardon. Before a state could come back into the union

they had to make a new state constitution. Then the states had to ratify, or pass, the 13th

Amendment. This is known as Presidential

Reconstruction

Andrew Johnson17th President of the United States

Many southern legislatures passed Black Codes

These laws denied African Americans their Civil Rights• Individual rights guaranteed by the U.S.

Constitution

Radical Republicans• Believed the U.S Congress should take a

greater role in the Reconstruction of the South

Civil Rights Act 1866• Gave citizenship to African Americans and

guaranteed them basic rights• President Johnson veto this act• Congress overrode Johnson veto

14th Amendment• Granted citizenship and equal rights to African

Americans • However, most of the South refused to ratify it

Reconstruction Acts – March 1867• Marked the beginning of Congress taking

control of Reconstruction – this is known as Congressional Reconstruction

Congress divided the South into 5 military districts

States had to write a new constitution giving black men suffrage, or the right to vote and ratify the 14th Amendment

President Andrew Johnson tried to block Congress Reconstruction and they impeached him• Impeach means to bring charges of

wrongdoing against a public official

In 1868-1869 Texas convened a Constitutional Convention – it was largely controlled by the Radical Republicans.

Gave equal rights to African Americans and the right to vote• 15th Amendment – gave the right to vote to

African Americans Term of governor was moved for 2 to 4

years. Attendance at school was required by law.

In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed an act to restore Texas to the Union.

Southerners had nicknames for people after the Civil War:• Scalawags were Southerners who

supported the Republicans• Carpetbaggers were Northerners who

came to the South after the war to make money. Their bags were made out of carpet.

Obnoxious Acts• The laws passed by the Republicans• Obnoxious means very unpleasant.

Cartoons depicting Carpetbaggers in the South

On December 24, 1865 six middle-class Confederate veterans from Tennessee created the Ku Klux Klan.

Southerners seemed to take out on blacks all their anger at the Federal government. They casually attacked and killed blacks whose bodies were left on the roads. This kept freedmen from expressing their political views.

A political cartoon depicting the KKK and the Democratic Party as continuations of the Confederacy.

Reconstruction started to end when Democrats started to be elected to public offices

Richard Coke was elected Governor of Texas in 1873

January 19, 1873 marked the end of Reconstruction in Texas

Richard Coke

Once the Democrats got power back they wanted a new Constitution.

They undid basically everything that the Constitution of 1869 did – weakened power of the governor.

Governor Coke’s marked a 100 year period of Democratic rule in Texas.

Redeemers• Southern Democrats who wanted to restore

the South to the way it was before the war Segregation

• The Forced separation of people of different races in public

Jim Crow Laws• The laws that the Democrats passes that

enforced segregation

Tenant Farmer• People who couldn’t afford land would rent

land to grow crops• Often had to give part of the crops they

raised to pay rent Sharecroppers

• Farmers who lacked land, and supplies to farm had to share land and materials

• Had to grow the most valuable crop—cotton to pay off debt